Resuscitation of the Antique Economic System or Novel Sustainable System? Revitalization of the Traditional Islamic Economic Institutions (Waqf and Zakat) in the Postmodern Era

Abstract

The rapid growth of Islamic finance after 2000 has led to a new question on its practice. Critics of the current situation of Islamic finance contend that the newly developed Islamic financial products are not compatible with the ideal of Islamic economics, because these products are approved at patchwork screenings by a Sharia advisory board. After the middle of the first decade of the twenty first century, in order to overcome this situation, several new ideas were proposed by those who aspire the ideal of Islamic economics. First, they try to exploit the new areas of the practice of Islamic finance, where conventional finance could not ensure enough service or could cause negative effects. They focuses on microfinance lending and socially responsible investment (SRI) as concrete areas for applying Islamic finance. Second they recently focuses on the traditional Islamic economic institutions like waqf and zakat. The practices of these institutions are still alive in the contemporary Islamic world, although they are getting scarce in many regions. They are trying to activate these institutions using the scheme of Islamic finance, tapping a new market for Islamic finance. This paper identifies these new trends in Islamic finance, and considers the characteristics of the trends and historical implications, in particular, examines whether this revitalization can be regarded as the resuscitation of the antique Islamic economic system or the emergence of a novel system. After its boom in the 2000s, the practice of Islamic finance faces criticism by those who aspire the ideal of Islamic economics. They contend that the newly developed Islamic financial products are not compatible with the ideal of Islamic economics, because these products are approved at patchwork screenings by an internal Sharia advisory board. At the next section, this paper firstly clarifies the theoretical framework and historical background of the criticism by picking up two prominent previous instances which were found in the history of Islamic finance since 1970s. After the middle of the first decade of the twenty first century, in order to overcome this situation, several new ideas were proposed by both bankers and scholars. These ideas イスラーム世界研究 第 7 巻（2014 年 3 月）3–19 頁