Editorial

Abstract

This issue of the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences is thesecond in a series dedicated to a single theme. Presently our topic focuseson Islamic economics. The reader will find that the five featm articlescover a broad range of economic topics ranging from the role ofgovernment to the spiritual significance of jihad. We find that Islamcompells society to integrate ethics and economics. Indeed, the Muslimfinds that every aspect of life is sacred and that nothing is outside therealm of the Absolute; no aspect of life is profane because everything isattached to God. Consequently, trade-offs between the spiritual and thenonspiritual are out of the question and, therefore, there can be no theoryof choice without the introduction of ethics. The science of neoclassicaleconomics, on the other hand, takes its elements and observations outof their a priori Divine context and reduces the process of choice to aquantitative cornprison of utility, thereby denying the existence of qualitativedifferences requiring ethical choice. We have selected the title“Economics as Applied Ethics” because of the the underlying theme thatargues against this secular reduction of quality to quantity.The first article, “The Role of the Government in the IslamicEconomy” by Muhammad Akram Khan discusses the need for theIslamic government to secure social welfare. Detailing the areas in whichthe government has a duty to act, it goes on to discuss the Islamic justificationof its role in each area. According to Khan the fundamentalShari’ah requirement for government action is maslahah (lit. “benefit” or“interest”). Al-Ghazzali applies this as a legal indicator for securing benefitsor preventing harms that conform to the objective of the Shari’ah,namely, the protection of the five “essential values”-religion, life, intellect,lineage, and property. This Islamic definition of welfare is objectiveand opposes the modem, subjective concept of welfare defined in termsof “utility,” meaning, fulfilling people’s desires. According to this secularexplanation of welfare, something is good because it is desirablerather than being desirable because it is good- the latter constituting theIslamic concept of maslahah. Therefore, the modem conception of utilitycould be defined in terms of a utilitarianism for the nafs al-‘ammarah,not for the well-being of the entire person. Khan argues that it is ...