The Future of Economics (An Islamic Perspective) raises and tries to answer a number of crucial questions about economics. One of these pertains to the primary task of economics - is it just to analyse and predict or is it also to help a society actualize its vision? if realization of the vision is important, then there arises the question of what is the difference between the visions of Islam and conventional economics? Is it possible for economics to help realize the Islamic vision by taking into account only economic variables and analyzing just 'what is', as conventional economics does, or is it also neccessary to discuss the moral, psychological, social, political and historical factors that have led to the hiatus between the vision and the prevailing reality, and to suggest a strategy for bridging the gap? Has Islamic Economics been able to rise to the task and, if not, what needs to be done in the future.

Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi, the son of a rose-water merchant, lived in Basra from 974 to 1058 AD, a 'time of political turmoil. Despite ongoing disputes between the Abbasid caliphs and the military powers of the Shiite Buyids, al-Mawardi held the respect of both parties and was often called on to mediate between them. He served as a judge in several districts and was commended as a judge par excellence. He wrote on many subjects, including Qur'anic interpretations, religion, government, public and constitutional law, language, ethics and belles-lettres. The Ordinances of Government is believed to have been written under commission from one of the caliphs of Baghdad, as indicated in the author's preface. It has long been recognized as a classic in its field, much discussed by Arab authors and orientalists, quoted in courses on Islamic law and government. It contains insights into key issues of Islamic law, including the appointment of sovereigns, judges and military commanders, and their rights, responsibilities and duties; fighting apostates, insurgents and brigands; dividing the spoils of war; boundaries between countries, land reclamation and water supplies; land enclosure, tithes, taxes and alms; crimes and punishments; fornication, theft, drinking and adultery. Educated in Cairo, Dublin and the U.K., Professor Wafaa H. Wahba has followed an illustrious career teaching at different universities around the world. Professor Wahba is currently undertaking research in the U.S.A...read more

This book contains Significant excerpts on different topics from Shah Waliullah Dehlawi's masterpiece, Hujjat Allah al-Balighah. Hujjat Allah al-Balighah is one of the master works of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi, an important Muslim thinker of pre-modern South Asia. This work originally written in Arabic represents a synthesis of the Islamic intellectual disciplines authoritative in the 18th century. In order to argue for the rational, ethical and spiritual basis for the implementation of the hadith injunctions of the prophet Muhammad, Shah Wali Allah developed a cohesive schema of the metaphysical, psychological and social knowledge of his time. This work provides an extensive and detailed picture of Muslim theology and interpretive strategies on the eve of the modern period and is still evoked by numerous contemporary Islamic movements. In this Book Shah Wali Allah discusses matters of belief to social structure, from politics and statecraft to economy, from legal and juristic concepts to philosophical and metaphysical ideas. He addressed himself to the needs of this world but at the same time did not forget to respond to the requirements of ultimate success in the Hereafter. SHAH WALIYULLAH (1702-1763) Qutb al-Din Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Rahim, popularly known as Shah Wali Allah, lived at a critical juncture of Muslim history. India had enjoyed the peaceful and prosperous rule of the Mughals for more than 200 years, but by the time of Shah Wali Allah, mutually hosti...read more

ROLE OF THE STATE IN THE ECONOMY: AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE visits an important subject against a background of the collapse of state-managed economies. Articles included in this collection discuss how Islam seeks to orient economic agents towards ethical conduct and socially-responsible behaviour. The state is called upon to make up for moral and/or market failure to the extent possible within a framework of essential freedoms. Internalization of moral values and social concern is perceived as minimizing the need for social intervention which, nevertheless, has a place in the Islamic system. The middle road advocated by Islam is projected as a better alternative to exclusive reliance on the market, as now in vogue as a result of disenchantment with state management.

Following in the wake of the controversial paper by Mearsheimer and Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, this work by Petras (emeritus, sociology, State U. of New York at Binghamton) takes up the same topic with less restraint and a greater willingness to criticize Israeli crimes, US enabling of them, and the lobby that he views as substantially responsible for that enabling. Among the topics he explores the role of pro-Israel officials and journalists in the United States in taking the country into the disastrous war with Iraq, the role of the US in backing Israeli ethnocide in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and in attacking Lebanon, the arena of psychological warfare in which Israeli and Israel lobby "terror experts" who "project the violence of the executioners onto the victims," and an alternative explanation of the phenomenon of suicide bombers. Of particular interest to leftist critics of US policy towards Israel/Palestine will be the chapter in which Petras seeks to refute Noam Chomsky's dismissal of the power of the lobby.

This book discusses U.S. assistance to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war, U.S. conduct of the 1990 Gulf War, and the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in relation to their violation of the laws of neutrality, humanitarian law, the laws of war--and the law of the U.S. Constitution. The concluding chapter provides a guide to impeaching President George W. Bush for lying in leading the nation to war

Following the U.S. declaration of a "war on terror," Washington hawks were quick to label Iraq part of an "axis of evil." After a tense build-up, in March 2003 the United States and Britain invaded Iraq, purportedly to protect Western publics from weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But was this the real reason, or simply a convenient pretext to veil a covert agenda? Using official sources, Ahmed investigates U.S. and British claims about Iraq's WMD programs and in the process reveals the hidden motives behind the 2003 invasion and the grand strategy of which it is a part. He shows that the true goals of U.S.-British policy in the Middle East are camouflaged by spin, P.R. declarations and seemingly noble words. The reality can only be comprehended through knowledge of the history of Western intervention in the region. Ahmed demonstrates that such intervention has been dictated ruthlessly by economic and political interests, with little regard for human rights. He traces events of the past decades, beginning with the West's support for the highly repressive Shah of Iran, his subsequent usurpation by the Ayatollah's Islamist regime and the West's resultant backing of Saddam Hussein. The sponsorship of Saddam's tyranny-a self-serving tactic intended to strategically counterbalance Iran-included the supply of technology to build WMD, as well as tacit complicity in their use against Iranians and Kurds. Ahmed's meticulous research into the secret history of Western maneuvering...read more

Al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah is both the single most comp-rehensive account of the workings of Islamic governance and equally a highly influential theoretical outline of the nature of that governance. It is also as it were a snapshot of the inner workings of Abbasid power' at its height. Woven throughout it are the accounts of the first community of Islam and the judgements of the early scholars of the salaf which are the book's lifeblood and its light. The Author Abu'I-Hasan al-Mawardi (d. 450 AH) was a practising Qadi whose excellent judgement earned him the soubriquet "The Most Judicious of Qadis". Given that the role of Qadi far exceeds that of "judge" the author was well placed to describe the workings of power from within. Along with that, his excellence as a scholar allowed him to produce a work which is one of the undoubted classics of Islam. The Translator Dr. Asadullah Yate gained his PhD from Cambridge with his dissertation on Ibn Rusbd asJurist. He has succeeded admirably in translating this work accurately and in making it entirely readable.

A clear, integrated picture of the programme that Islam has to offer to realise the kind of well-being that it envisages, and to counter the different problems now facing mankind, particualrly in the economic field.Pages: 448.ISBN: 0-86037-217-0

A systematic and rigorous exposition of various aspects of the economics of Islam. These essays not only provide an overview of the various dimensions of Islamic economics but also convincingly establish the viability of the application of these concepts