Description
Book SynopsisThe doctrine of 'Islamic economics' entered debates over the social role of Islam in the mid-twentieth century. Since then it has pursued the goal of restructuring economies according to perceived Islamic teachings. This book argues that the doctrine of Islamic economics is simplistic, incoherent, and largely irrelevant to economic challenges.
Trade Review"[A] timely book, one that just about anyone aiming to do business in the Islamic world should read... A good read."--Jay Palmer, Barron's "What is Islamic banking? What is Islamic economics? Islam and Mammon ... sets out the genesis of these ideas and criticizes, severely but still sympathetically, both the performance and the underlying logic of this Islamic approach to economic activity."--L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs "[Kuran's] writing is lively, his arguments are cogent, and the scholarship is wide ranging... [A] useful and understandable introduction to both the doctrines of Islamic economics and how they are related to economic behavior in predominantly Islamic nations."--Frederic L. Pryor, EH.NET "The clear theme unifying these essays is that Islamic economics as such is not a genuine answer to the world's economic problems, but an 'invented tradition' that serves as an adjunct to the broader, anti-Western, Islamist (or Islamic fundamentalist) political and religious movement... Timur Kuran's book makes this case all too clearly and eloquently."--J. Barkley Rosser, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Table of ContentsPreface ix CHAPTER ONE The Economic Impact of Islamism 1 CHAPTER TWO Islamic Economics and the Islamic Subeconomy 38 CHAPTER THREE Islamism and Economics: Policy Prescriptions for a Free Society 55 CHAPTER FOUR The Genesis of Islamic Economics: A Chapter in the Politics of Muslim Identity 82 CHAPTER FIVE The Notion of Economic Justice in Contemporary Islamic Thought 103 CHAPTER SIX Islam and Underdevelopment: An Old Puzzle Revisited 121 Notes 149 References 169 Index 189
