Fiqh Foundations for Islamic
Economics
DL Lecture
18-10-2011
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Prof. Dr Muhammad Anas Zarka
Senior advisor,
Shura Sharia Consultancy , Kuwait.
Kuwait
18-10-2011
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-I-
Shariah and fiqh
What do we mean by Shariah, and is it different from Fiqh?.
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Shariah and fiqh-2
• The Sources of Islamic Shariah are the
Quran
• and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet
PBUH.
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Islamic Shariah comprises
• The beliefs, worldview and rules of behavior that are in the text Quran and the authentic Sunnah recommend.
• Shariah is Devine (comes from Allah suhanahu wa ta’aala).
•
• It is all good and all true, free from error.
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Fiqh is Human
• Fiqh broadly means the human understanding of Shariah.
• Fiqh is the product of human effort by scholars to interpret divine Sharia.
• Fiqh view ( ijtihad) of any scholar may be in error, but Shariah may not be.
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Fiqh has two meanings
• one broad and general;
• the other narrow and professional
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Fiqh narrower professional meaning
This meaning is
• Fiqh is knowledge of practical Shariah rules with their “ Shariah proofs.”
Practical = do’s and don’ts, i.e. beliefs are NOT covered in fiqh books, but in books on Aqeedah.
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Fiqh professional meaning
• Is the most commonly used in every day life and in Islamic economics.
• It is What we see in books on Islamic fiqh
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Scope of this lecture
• In this lecture I shall include in the
Foundations for Islamic Economics both Shariah, and Fiqh in its professional sense.
.
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-II-
Economics and Islamic economics
How is Islamic Economics different from conventional economics ?
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Economics defined
• Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.
• three components of economics are :
• Economic System
• Economic Analysis
• Economic Policy.
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• Economic System: It is the set of goals rules and institutions that society prefers to follow in its economic life.
• Economic systems are the major repository of the values and ideals that society wants to live up to in its Economic life.
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Islamic Economics defined
• as a branch of knowledge ( or an academic discipline), My preferred
Definition :
• Islamic Economics is : economics guided by Islamic Shari’ah and informed by human economic wisdom).
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Dual sources of IE
• Islamic Economics has two sources of knowledge :
• Shariah ( including fiqh )
• and conventional economics.
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Scope of Islamic Economics
• Its scope of study includes all societies both Muslim and non-Muslim;
• and all economic behavior, realities, institutions and policies, even when these do not conform to Shariah.
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Justification of wide scope of IE
• Islam is for all humans, so Islamic
Economics must know the human condition in order to effectively convey its message to humanity.
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Foundations in this lecture
• Include both Shariah and fiqh as inputs to Islamic economics.
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-III-
Guide to Sources of Shariah and Fiqh
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Content and sources
• It is useful in this lecture to differentiate the substantive content from the sources where it can be found.
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Content
• Text of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, and relevant explanatory books.
• Usul fiqh
• Maqasid al Shariah
• Detailed fiqh rulings
• Fiqh Maxims
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Maqasid Vs. maxims
• You may know that Majalat Al Ahkam Al
Adleeyah listed 99 maxims in its introduction
• Maqasid is much broader than maxims
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Sources
• Classical Fiqh books
• Are arranged Topic by topic.
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Examples of classical fiqh books
• A) Bedayat Al Mujtahid by Ibn Rushd. (
Arabic ) 2 volumes totaling about 730 pages. It is of the Maliki school, with comparative views about other schools.
• B) Al Mughni by Ibn Qudama. ( Arabic ).
(Hanbali school with comparative views about other schools)
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Kuwait Fiqh Encyclopedia
• ( Arabic ) 45 volumes available on CD also. It summarizes lucidly, topic by topic the classical views of all four Fiqh schools. Modern topics are NOT covered.
An Urdu translation is under way.
• Distinguishing aspects:..
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Al Zuhaily fiqh short encyclopedia
• Wahba Al Zuhaily – Al Fiqh Al Islami wa
Adilatuhu . Ten vols.
• An English translation of Vol. 5 on financial transactions by Prof. Mahmoud
EL Gamal is available.
• Distinguishing aspects:…
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modern textbooks on Fiqh
• Example. Shaikh Mustafa Al Zarqa Al
Madkhal al Fiqhi al ‘AAm
•
• Distinguishing aspects:…
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Modern topical Fiqh books
• Examples
• Yusuf al-Qaradawi : Zakat.
• Abdul Salam alAbbadi’s Ownership in
Islamic Shariah, 3 vols.
• Muhammad Al Siddiq Al Dareer Al
Gharar Fe Al Shariah Al Islamiya
• Distinguishing aspects:..
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The Text of Quran and Hadith
• Where to look for a given topic?
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Using Fiqh sources-1
• An economist unfamiliar with Fiqh is not likely to know in which fiqh topic to look for a subject of his interest.
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Using Fiqh sources-2
• One practical way is to seek the help of a fiqh scholar tell explain to him the topic you are interested in to guide you to relevant proper Fiqh topics.
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Using Fiqh sources-3
• The more durable solution is to take introductory course in Shariah and Fiqh.
One semester course is absolutely necessary. A second semester course is highly desirable.
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Accessibility
•
• Which of the above references is most accessible? By accessible I mean easily understood by non specialist who knows Arabic .
• My answer to that, all four references are intermediate in difficulty in terms of accessibility in the above sense. I will suggest the Kuwait
Encyclopedia as the first choice, then Wahba Al
Zuhaily then Al Mughni and Bedayat Al
Mujtahid .
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Handling the diversity in Fiqh rulings
• Build on the Fiqh majority view.
• Select a specific Fiqh view and base your analysis or policy on it. If you choose this option which is academically respectable, you must warn the reader that there are other views which you should briefly state.
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How to integrate Fiqh into
Islamic economics ?
• There are two purposes at least,
Analysis and policy .
• An example of analysis is to learn the rules of Zakat in order to analyze their impact on consumption and investment.
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Eliminating Riba as an example
• An example of policy is know the rules about Riba in order to design an economic system free from interest.
• Example :Report of Islamic ideology
Council in Pakistan on Eliminating interest from the economy.
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Another example of policy
• Dr. Chapra book Towards just monetary system is a detailed response to that question.
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Monopoly is another policy example
• knowing that Shariah prohibits monopoly.
How can you design a policy to eliminate monopoly in a modern economy?
• I’ve attached a paper I wrote on this.
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How to integrate Fiqh into
Islamic economics ?
• It is still an art and not a science.
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The End
• Al salaam Alaikum
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