Economic thought at the crossroads : development of a framework of Islamic Economic (IE) through intergration of knowledge (Iok)

Abstract

Economic thought has always been integral to human living. The recent few centuries have driven economic thought to ups and downs and set it at the crossroads whereby alternatives became more popular. The maturing consciousness of humanity has realized that mainstream neoclassical economics suffers from severe problems of philosophical foundations (ontology, epistemology, axiology and methodology) that even extant heterodox economics alternatives failed to address. Islamic Economics (IE) as a unique heterodox alternative questioned the foundations since inception and is appraised as such in this research. Thus, this research develops a framework of Islamic Economics (IE) development through Integration of Knowledge (IoK) based on Islamisation of Knowledge (IOK). A brief review of development of economics with relevant examples revealed that a physicalist ontology, rationalist epistemology, axiological futility and methodological deficiency persisted as foundational problems in mainstream and even present heterodox economics. However, parallel to IOK development, IE developed as a response to such western originated economic thought in early decades of the 20th century. The iṣlāḥ (reform) and tajdīd (renewal) movements of IOK and IE had hard time to actualise envisioned aspirations and lost the initial zeal by the end of the 20th century. Global popularity of knowledge integration led to a shift in IOK to IoK. This research appraises the IoK based on IOK. It analyses the trend of IOK and IE development to highlight the intention of integration within IOK foundational and some later writings and adopts IoK to develop IE. This research was conducted through literature survey, discourse and critical content analysis, simplified thematic meta-analysis and semi-structured interviews of relevant individuals to obtain their expertise and scholarly insights about the six-stages of the IoK framework for IE development based on IOK. The identified themes in systematic trend analyses of IOK and IE development facilitated construction of the framework and identification, extraction and operationalisation of IoK methodological principles as criteria for IE theory appraisal and validation within the framework. The trend analyses, interview findings and narrative smoothing discussion thoroughly validated the framework’s acceptability and viability for IE development and most importantly the methodological principles’ role in appraising and validating IE theories. Besides the highlight of the discussion of interview experts’ corroboration of the IoK framework and methodological principles, it equally supported the findings of trend analyses themes based on which the framework was developed, and linked findings with extant literature and theories. This is followed by some examples on how the framework can be applied in Islamic banking and finance, welfare economics, waqf and Sustainable Development Goals. Some recommendations on future research are given to demonstrate how the framework has multidisciplinary implications and as such has the potential to resolve not only problems and issues within mainstream or existing heterodox economics but those of other disciplines integratively as well.