Economic fitness and energy justice transition in Africa: empirical evidence from political, environmental, and governance pathways

The increasing prevalence of debt-based sales has become an inseparable feature of modern economic development, including within contemporary Islamic trade. Transactions that were traditionally conducted on a cash basis have gradually shifted toward deferred payment and installment systems, which are now widely normalized through various contractual arrangements. This shift poses conceptual challenges within fiqh al-mu‘āmalah, particularly regarding the position of the cash principle, which classical jurisprudence regards as a normative foundation for ensuring contractual clarity, certainty of ownership, and transactional justice. This article aims to examine debt-based sales practices in modern Islamic trade and to assess the relevance of the cash principle in preserving the substantive values of Islamic commercial law. This study employs a qualitative normative research method using the approaches of fiqh al-mu‘āmalah and Islamic economics. Data were collected through library research and documentation of transactional practices, classical fiqh texts, fatwas, regulatory frameworks, and contemporary Islamic economic literature. The data were analyzed using normative and comparative techniques to evaluate the conformity of non-cash sales practices with Sharia principles. The findings reveal that debt-based sales have become the dominant pattern in modern Islamic trade, leading to a gradual shift from real exchange transactions toward long-term financial obligations. While the cash principle remains formally acknowledged, its substantive role has been significantly reduced in practice. This study argues that the cash principle remains highly relevant as a normative and ethical benchmark for assessing transactional justice. The implications of this research highlight the need to reinforce the substantive framework of fiqh al-mu‘āmalah so that contemporary Islamic trade practices remain aligned with the objectives of justice and public welfare in Islamic economics.

The Islamic Moral Economy (IME) that was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s offers a morally sound alternative to conventional economics focusing on justice and equity. Based on Islamic values, it encourages social responsibility, shared prosperity, and sustainable development using a unique economic and financial system. Islam is the predominant religion in Bangladesh, and the idea of an IME has drawn significant attention. Therefore, this study aims to provide an overview of the IME, and explore the contemporary state of the IME in the social context of Bangladesh. It also attempts to critically examine the multi­dimensional obstacles that hinder the effective implementation of IME in Bangladesh, focusing on the economic, social and political factors behind its complexity. The key findings revealthat the negative impacts of global capitalism, widespread corruption, violations of human rights, political instability, the rise of secularism and fragmented Islamic movements are significant obstacles that decrease economic justice and trust. The shortcomings of Islamic banking, which often ignore fundamental ethical values, also create significant obstacles. Finally, this paper seeks to illuminate the potential solutions for the IME from Bangladeshi perspective and offers valuable insights to policymakers, financial institutions, and researchers navigating Bangladesh's evolving economic landscape. With a qualitative approach, this paper relies on primary data from the professors of Islamic studies, political science and economics and an official of banking sector, and secondary data from journal articles, newspaper reports, social media, and related books.

Colonialism in Africa has entrenched the exploitation of natural resources, a legacy that persists today through multinational corporations, foreign debt, and neoliberal policies. The Democratic Republic of Congo, with the world’s largest cobalt and copper reserves yet over 60% of its population living in extreme poverty, exemplifies this enduring global inequality. In this context, the hadiths of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, which stress distributive justice, prohibition of monopoly, and ecological stewardship, gain critical relevance. This study explores the normative contribution of hadith to economic and environmental justice in postcolonial Africa. Using a qualitative descriptive method with historical-critical and theological-normative approaches, it integrates hadith textual analysis with the socio-economic realities of African societies. Findings reveal three main points: first, hadiths on water, land, and tree planting articulate principles of conservation and equitable resource distribution; second, Islamic ecotheology frames environmental degradation as a violation of human responsibility as God’s khalīfah (steward); third, development models grounded in hadith values offer alternatives to exploitative global capitalism. The study concludes that revitalizing hadith is vital not only for theological discourse but also for guiding ethical and structural systems, aiming to build a more just and sustainable global order for African societies still burdened by colonial legacies.

This study examines changes in elements considered essential for developing livable cities, as identified by researchers and practitioners in urban planning, public health, and related fields in the United States. Data were collected in 2017 and 2024, using Concept Mapping surveys, which integrates diverse opinions through brainstorming, sorting, and rating phases. The findings reveal that environmental sustainability has emerged as a high-importance element, while racial and economic justice continues to be perceived as the least important and the least feasible element. The results highlight the need for an integrated approach that balances short-term built environment goals with long-term equity measures.

The Draft Law on Asset Forfeiture in Indonesia represents a significant legal reform aimed at combating financial crimes such as money laundering and corruption. However, its implementation raises critical ethical and religious concerns, particularly within Indonesia’s Muslim-majority society. This study examines the role of MUI fatwas in guiding asset forfeiture policies, analyzing their alignment with Maqashid Shariah principles—notably hifzh al-mal (protection of wealth) and hifzh al-nafs (protection of life). A descriptive-analytical approach is applied to evaluate legal documents, MUI fatwas, and scholarly discourse on Islamic law and economic justice. The findings reveal that MUI fatwas support asset forfeiture as a tool for justice, provided that procedural fairness and transparency are maintained. The study highlights potential legal and economic risks, including misuse of asset forfeiture laws for political gain and negative impacts on investor confidence. From an Islamic legal perspective, asset confiscation is permissible only under strict judicial oversight, ensuring protection of individual rights while addressing economic injustices. This research contributes to Islamic legal scholarship by bridging the gap between religious interpretations and contemporary financial governance. The findings underscore the necessity of policy refinements to align Islamic ethical standards with modern legal mechanisms. Future research should investigate comparative Sharia-based legal frameworks and assess the long-term socio-economic effects of asset forfeiture in Indonesia.

Waste management problems in Indonesia, particularly in Bengkulu City, continue to increase and cause environmental, health, and social impacts. Amid the limitations of conventional waste management, Limbah Kreatif Berseri Waste Bank emerges as a community-based initiative that transforms waste into economically valuable products. However, production activities located near residential areas and places of worship raise issues related to social impact and potential harm. This study aims to analyze the production process of Limbah Kreatif Berseri from an Islamic economic perspective, identify the constraints faced in the production process, and examine efforts to enhance public trust in recycled products. The research employs a descriptive qualitative method using data collection techniques such as observation, interviews, and documentation. The findings indicate that the production process generally aligns with Islamic economic principles, including tauhid (monotheism), justice, humanity, and maslahah (public benefit). Nevertheless, several technical and environmental challenges remain. To address these issues, the enterprise undertakes community empowerment, improves product quality, and strengthens social engagement to realize sustainable waste transformation into economic and social benefits.

ABSTRACT In communities where economic marginalisation stagnates availability of living-wage jobs, increasing workers’ employability does not change local conditions. What can HRD do about that? During a study commissioned by a Black-led job creation initiative, we learned its founder recruited and developed leaders of mid-to-large size enterprises to relocate their operations to an underdeveloped Black neighbourhood as an act of economic solidarity. Over ten years this strategy helped cultivate over 1000 jobs. Yet, HRD lacked conceptual tools to describe such an approach. To address this problem, we engaged in grounded theory analysis of semi-structured interview data collected for the initiative and local news articles about it. We also analysed academic studies about social-solidarity economy (SSE) strategies of Black communities across the Americas. After reaching saturation, the study produced two key findings. We generated a conceptualisation of employer development as a novel area of HRD research and practice focused on enhancing organisation’s job-creation capabilities. We then ground this concept in our initial formulation of a Black SSE development framework called Black SEED and discuss potential roles for HRD within it. We hope these contributions enable future HRD engagement in economic justice work, answering calls from the field to advance equitable societal development.

This research examines the English-Indonesian translations of imperative utterances in Al-Quran Surah Al-Baqarah, focusing on the themes, the translation techniques, and translation ideologies. Employing qualitative methods and discourse analysis, 30 imperative utterances were examined to investigate the relation between linguistic fidelity and cultural adaptation. The common themes found in the imperative utterances of Al-Quran Surah Al-Baqarah are obedience to Allah, manifested through Obedience and Worship of Allah; Social Responsibility and Ethical Conduct; Dietary and Behavioral Guidance; Economic Justice; and Personal Accountability and Striving in Faith. The study breaks down four principal translation techniques: literal translation, adaptation, communicative translation, and transference. The study also demonstrated the close connection between domestication and foreignization, emphasizing their impact on the clarity and religious accuracy of the translations. The results indicate the necessity of incorporating various methodologies to guarantee that Quranic translations are accurate and pertinent to intended audiences.

Decent wage constitutes a crucial instrument for ensuring workers’ welfare and promoting economic justice. In modern economic practice, wage determination is often oriented toward market mechanisms and regional minimum standards, which do not fully take into account moral considerations and substantive justice. Islamic economics offers a normative approach that places justice, balance, and public welfare (maṣlaḥah) as fundamental principles in wage determination. This study aims to analyze the concept of a decent wage from the perspective of Islamic economics and examine its relevance to wage practices among fresh fish traders in the Sigli City Fish Market. The research employs a literature review method with a descriptive-analytical approach, examining classical and contemporary sources of Islamic economics and comparing them with wage concepts in conventional economics. The findings indicate that the Islamic concept of a decent wage is not solely oriented toward fulfilling workers’ basic needs, but also encompasses moral, social, and spiritual dimensions in line with the objectives of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah. These findings underscore that the application of decent wage principles based on Islamic economics has the potential to enhance workers’ welfare and foster more just and sustainable employment relations.

Recurring global financial crises and widening distributive inequalities expose the systemic failures of the conventional market efficiency paradigm in ensuring economic stability and justice. This article aims to reconceptualize financial markets through a moral-economic equilibrium approach as an alternative to the mainstream model. Employing a qualitative method via a critical literature review of conventional and Islamic economics, the study deconstructs the underlying assumptions of both systems to produce a new theoretical reconstruction. Research findings indicate that Islamic financial markets function as equilibrium systems that simultaneously integrate economic efficiency, moral values, and social objectives. The core foundation lies in the prohibition of Riba, Gharar, and Maysir, integrated with risk-sharing mechanisms and organic linkages to the real sector. This moral-economic equilibrium demonstrates that market efficiency and distributive justice can harmoniously synergize within the Maqashid al-shariah framework. In conclusion, the article asserts that Islamic financial markets represent a value-based financial paradigm oriented toward socio-economic welfare and sustainable development. The primary theoretical contribution is the provision of a new analytical framework that synthesizes moral and economic dimensions into a single, cohesive equilibrium construct to address the limitations of the efficiency paradigm in responding to contemporary global economic stability challenges.

This article discusses matrix approaches for cumulative impact assessments in decision-making. Matrix approaches are described and contrasted with the more traditional, single-scoring methods, such as CalEnviroScreen and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Justice Index. In doing so, the explicit advantages of matrix approaches are highlighted. In addition, this article explains how new generation tools, such as the the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and New Jersey’s Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment, and Protection tool are examples of matrix approaches and how these tools can be expanded beyond their current uses in order to address other decision-making contexts where cumulative impacts are a concern.

This study assesses halal certification and implementation of halal tourism practices in selected tourist destinations on Madura Island, Indonesia, namely Pasarean Syaikhona Kholil, Asta Tinggi, Lon Malang Beach and Bukit Tinggi Daramista. Using a qualitative case study design, data were gathered through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, participant observation and document analysis and were evaluated using halal tourism indicators derived from Islamic jurisprudence, national halal certification regulations, and ulama-based guidelines. The findings indicate that although these destinations do not formally designate themselves as halal tourism sites, they have substantially integrated halal tourism principles into their management and services as reflected in the availability of halal food and beverages, adequate worship facilities, cleanliness and sanitation, the absence of non-halal activities and strong managerial commitment to Islamic values supported by religious authorities. From the perspective of Islamic law particularly through the framework of maqāṣid asy-syarī’ah, fiqh mu’āmalah and fiqh al-ʿādāt, these practices demonstrate substantive compliance with Syarī’ah objectives in safeguarding religious observance, public welfare, moral integrity and economic justice. Nevertheless, the persistence of partial halal certification, limited disability-friendly infrastructure and fragmented Islamic information systems underscores the need for gradual institutional strengthening, improved regulatory coordination and closer collaboration with halal certification authorities to enhance the sustainability and legal certainty of halal tourism development in Madura.

This article presents an expanded and multifaceted comparative analysis of the Islamic and Classical economic paradigms. It examines their philosophical and epistemological foundations, the ways in which human nature is conceptualized, the structure of markets and the role of state intervention, as well as the principles of distributive justice. The research draws upon the works of key Classical economists — Adam Smith (1776), Ricardo (1817), Mill (1848), and Robbins (1932) — as well as major Islamic scholars, including Ibn Khaldun (1377/1967), Al-Ghazali (1100/1997), Siddiqi (1981), Chapra (2000), and Kuran (2011). The article demonstrates that Islamic and Classical economics represent two distinct yet internally coherent worldviews, each shaped by different metaphysical, ethical, and sociological assumptions. While Classical economics is grounded in Enlightenment ideals of rationality and individualism, Islamic economics places spiritual accountability, moral responsibility, and social justice at the center of economic reasoning. It is argued that the differences between the two paradigms do not stem from technical disagreements but from fundamentally divergent conceptions of human purpose, social order, and economic justice.

Sustainable Taxes: A Tool for Economic Justice and Sustainable Development

ABSTRACT This article brings a youth-centred perspective to a long-debated anthropological subject: the clashes between sharing and money economies, and the challenges faced by those transitioning between the two. We focus on the experiences of young Amazonians who left subsistence-based rural lifestyles to access urban livelihoods built upon waged labour. Drawing on participatory methodologies – specifically, coproduction of ethnographic animation – we engage the participants in a process of auto-ethnographic reflection, revealing how they theorise economic change and the moral conflicts that emerge in the process. We argue that young migrants undergoing these shifts actively questions key values on personhood, being and becoming they had so far taken for granted, while also identifying tangible solutions to mediate between sharing values and individualistic gain. As such, this youth-centred approach can not only generate new knowledge on economic transitions from a youth-centred angle, but also inform more effective solutions towards economic justice.

It examines the fundamental objectives of the EU Minimum Wage Directive and the needs it has generated in greater detail. This directive has been effectively designed to harmonise wage policies across European Union member states while also aiming to ensure socio-economic stability. In the process of determining and standardising wages, it is crucial to consider important factors such as economic development levels, working conditions, and social policies, as well as local and international dynamics. At this point, each country's unique structure, socio-economic situation, and labour market conditions emerge as factors that directly influence the implementation of the directive. At the same time, wage fairness and the improvement of living standards are considered critical tools for ensuring balance and continuous stability in the labour market. All of these processes are of great importance for strengthening Europe's overall social policies and creating a sustainable economic structure. In particular, this directive aims to increase individuals' economic security, ensure social welfare and protect social rights. Furthermore, improving labour mobility between countries and access to employment opportunities are also among the important outcomes of this directive. In short, the EU Minimum Wage Directive stands out as a critical step towards developing economic justice and social individual rights across Europe.

ABSTRACT This article explores the intersection of governance issues with development ethics. Zimbabwean Winky D’s music, known for its socially conscious lyrics, offers a unique perspective on the socio-political landscape and the struggles faced by Zimbabweans. By analysing his songs, this study highlights how constitutional principles and development ethics are reflected in popular culture and how they resonate with the lived experiences of the populace. Through a critical discourse analysis of the songs Ibotso and Dzimba Dzemabwe, featuring Holy Ten and Shingai, respectively, the discussion explores how Winky D’s music reflects on development ethics. This article situates Winky D’s music within the broader context of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic and political struggles, highlighting the ways in which his songs address issues of constitutionality, sustainable development, economic justice, social inequality and human rights. By analysing the lyrics and themes in Winky D’s music, this discussion identifies key development principles and values enshrined in Zimbabwe’s Constitution, including the right to development, economic empowerment, and social justice. Winky D’s music serves as a form of social commentary that challenges Zimbabwe’s status quo and dominant development narratives, while promoting alternative visions for sustainable development and social justice.

Economic education has gained relevance as a school competency, particularly in urban and secondary-level contexts. However, rural settings remain largely invisible in discussions on economic literacy and educational justice. This study critically analyzes the approaches, conditions, and experiences related to the teaching of economics in rural educational contexts, aiming to identify gaps, curricular hegemonies, and pedagogical alternatives. A systematic review of scientific literature published between 2016 and 2025 was conducted using the Scopus, Web of Science, and SciELO databases. After applying rigorous inclusion and analysis criteria, six empirical studies were selected. Findings reveal a significant disparity in academic production, with a predominance of technocratic models, limited contextualization, and minimal integration of local knowledge or critical perspectives. Institutional constraints that hinder pedagogical innovation are also identified, although some experiences resist traditional models through participatory and situated methodologies. The study concludes that: a) economics education in rural areas is shaped by structural and epistemic exclusions; b) prevailing pedagogical models reinforce inequalities rather than address them; c) institutional conditions are crucial for transformation; and d) emerging counter-hegemonic practices offer potential for more just and context-sensitive educational proposals.

Traditional Knowledge (TK) has increasingly become a site of economic contestation in the global digital economy, where advances in biotechnology, data analytics, and cross-border research have intensified the commercial and scientific use of genetic resources. While international legal instruments acknowledge the importance of protecting TK and ensuring equitable benefit-sharing, existing regulatory frameworks remain fragmented, unevenly enforced, and often ill-suited to address the realities of digital dissemination and commercialization. This paper examines the regulation of TK through the lens of economic governance, focusing on how law mediates access, control, and value extraction from genetic resources. Part I situates TK within intellectual property discourse and outlines the conceptual and economic stakes of its protection. Part II analyzes global legal regimes governing TK—particularly under biodiversity and trade law—followed by a detailed examination of India’s statutory and institutional framework. Part III identifies structural shortcomings in the current regime and proposes pathways for reform aimed at strengthening legal certainty, economic justice, and regulatory coherence in the global digital economy