Islamic Worldview and Islamic Economics

To develop Islamic economics, we need to understand the Islamic worldview first. This is because any system in this world is originated from certain ideology which is derived from, or influenced by the way we understand the meaning of our existence in this world (worldview).

Thus, what is worldview? Worldview is individual’s perception of the world, which on average tend to conform to the norms of what has socially been agreed (Zubair Hasan, Islamization, 1998). Or, worldview is the vision of reality and truth that appears before our mind’s eye revealing what existence is all about.

Islam provides the answers to the questions of reality of life and existence. The revelations (al-Qur’an and as-sunnah) explain where we are from and where we will go after death. With certainty of answers to such basic questions in life, any system that is derived from the ideology of Islam is very clear in its purposes and goals.

Basically, we could say that Islamic worldview is based on Islam (Aslam, 1996). The worldview of Islam encompasses both al-Dunya and al-Akhirah, in which the dunya aspect must be related in a profound and inseparable way to the Akhirah aspect and in which the Akhirah aspect has the ultimate and final significance to our purpose of existence.

Then, how would Islamic worldview affect our life? In our later discussions, we will see how Islamic worldview shapes our economic system after we address how Islamic worldview provides answers to the questions of god, religion, man, nature, aim in life and knowledge. All answers for these points, directly or indirectly affect the economic system which we want to establish – the Islamic economic system