ISLAMIC ECONOMICS
ANNOTATED SOURCES IN ENGLISH AND URDU
Vol. 1
MUHAMMAD AKRAM KHAN
ISBN (hard case) 0 86037 127 1 ISBN
(paperback) 0 86037 128 X
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Islamic Economics Series General
Editor: Khurshid Ahmad
Published under the joint sponsorship of
The Islamic Foundation
223 London Road
Leicester, UK
and
The Institute of Policy Studies,
Islamabad,
Pakistan.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Khan,Muhammad Akram Islamic economics: annotated
Sources in English and Urdu
–
(Islamic economics series; 7)
1. Economics Religious aspects – Islam
– Bibliography
I. Title
016.330971671
II. Series
Z7164.E2
ISBN 0-86037-127-1 ISBN
0-86037-128-X Pbk
Typeset by
Hands Fotoset, Leicester.
Printed and bound by
Cromwell Press, Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire.
Introduction
Islamic Economics is still in its early phases of development, yet the progress made in refining the discipline over the last decade can justifiably be described as a breakthrough. It was in response to the challenge of contemporary economic thought and of the socio- economic movements of our time that the Muslim thinkers began to examine their own position, from the ideological benchmark of Islam, and to articulate the Islamic approach to major economic problems and challenges. Independence of the Muslim countries. from the colonial yoke and the Muslim people’s urge to rebuild their societies in the image of Islam accelerated this process.
Initially the emphasis was on explaining the economic teachings of Islam and offering Islamic critique of the Western contemporary theory and policy. During this phase most of the work was done by the ‘Ulama’, the leftists and Muslim social thinkers and reformers. Gradually the Muslim economists and other professionals became involved in this challenging intellectual enterprise. Perhaps the First International Conference on Islamic Economics, held in Makka in February, 1976 under the inspiring chairmanship of Dr. Muhammad Omar Zubeir, the then President, of the King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, represents a watershed in the history of the evolution of contemporary Muslim thinking on Economics, representing the transition from ‘economic teachings of Islam’ to the emergence of ‘Islamic Economics’.
Ever since this conference a number of international conferences and seminars have been held, each making a significant contribution towards promoting the discipline and bringing in greater rigor and sophistication to analysis. Four international institutes have emerged to organize teaching and research in Islamic Economics, namely, International Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, Jeddah; the Inter-
national Institute of Islamic Banking and Economics, Lefkosa, Kibris; the Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah; and the School of Economics, Islamic University, Islamabad. Around two dozen universities of the Muslim world are now engaged in teaching specialized courses in Islamic Economics, two of which (Islamic University, Islamabad and the University of Umm-ul-Qura, Makka) are developing fully- fledged Faculties of Economics, to undertake teaching of economics in all major branches from an Islamic perspective. These and many more developments during the last eight to ten years represent significant milestones on the road to Islamic Economics.
Greater interest in Islamic Economics is also reflected in the increasing outflow of literature in the field. It is becoming very difficult for ordinary readers and researchers to keep pace with the new literature, as it is appearing in almost all major languages used by the Muslims as well as in international languages like English, French and German. In a situation like this, the need for well- researched bibliographies has increased manifold. At least three useful bibliographies have appeared during the last few years. M. Akram Khan produced a bibliography in the early seventies which was published in a quarterly journal Islamic Education, Lahore, Pakistan. Professor Dr. Nejatullah Siddiqi’s bibliography was to be the most outstanding work so far.* A recent bibliography of Dr. Volker Nienhaust is a useful addition, as it includes some of the material published in the German language on this subject, something with which the non-German academic community was not very familiar. Now the Islamic Foundation, in co-operation with the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, is presenting the first annotated bibliography of the literature on Islamic Economics available in English and Urdu. This bibliography has been painstakingly prepared by Mr. M. Akram Khan, an honorary research fellow of the IPS. This bibliography is unique in a number of
*Contemporary Literature on Islamic Economics, 1978, International Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, Jeddah. The Islamic Foundation also included this in Studies in Islamic Economics (ed. K. Ahmad), 1980. t Literature on Islamic Economics in English and German, Cologne, 1982.
ways and is destined to be of immense help to all students and researchers in Islamic Economics.
First, this bibliography is properly annotated and as such should be a better guide to readers in finding out what they need. Although it is virtually impossible to be totally objective in writing annotations, as personal opinions are bound to creep in; yet every effort has been made to provide some standardized information about every entry. Even if some personal bias is conceded, it would be difficult to deny that this bibliography provides for the reader at least a useful conducted tour’ of the literature on Islamic Economics.
Secondly, the compiler has rendered a pioneering service by developing a classification for Islamic Economics. As this classification is based on, but not confined to, the classification used in the bibliographies produced by the American Economic Association, the professional economist will be more familiar with the arrangement.
Even a cursory look at the bibliography will show that Islamic Economics is very much like a multi-colored spectrum, and not a monolithic straight-jacket. What makes it Islamic Economics is the writer’s commitment to Islam, its original sources of the Qur’an and Sunnah as the real guide and point of reference. But once this perspective is set, there are many approaches and many shades of thought and analysis. There are wide areas for discussion and dissent. And this makes the entries rich in thought and variety.
Anyone who is trying to keep pace with new writings in the field would realize the economic content of Islamic Economics is increasing and becoming more refined and articulate. This is a very significant development and the present bibliography also bears it
out.
As a bibliography is an indispensable aid to research it is extremely necessary that the process of up-dating bibliographies should continue. The present bibliography brings the story to early 1982. It is proposed that after every three to five years either a new edition of this bibliography will be produced, or its supplements will appear. We hope other scholars will help us by sending their comments and also by identifying material not covered in this bibliography.
Before I conclude I would like to congratulate my brother
and colleague, Muhammad Akram Khan, for the valuable job he has done and would like to thank all colleagues in the Islamic Foundation who have seen the book through the press.
Leicester
20 February, 1983
Khurshid Ahmad
