Can There Be an Economics Based on Religion? The Case of Islamic Economics
- Published in Economics and Business
As an undergraduate student at the International Islamic University Malaysia, my experience in studying economics was quite unique in the sense that while being exposed to mainstream neoclassical economics, there was an explicit mention that economics was to be taught in a ‘comparative’ and ‘critical’ manner. At the same time, due to events of the late 1970s and early 1980s, developing ‘Islamic economics’ was one of the goals in a few Muslims countries, including Malaysia. I discovered that there was also a ‘mainstream school’ among those writing on Islamic economics, modeled along neoclassical lines, working almost within the boundaries of neoclassical theory, with some adjustments to incorporate teachings/norms/values that reflected certain requirements of Islam.