Islamization of Knowledge After Thirty

Abstract

Critically reviews the process of the Islamization of knowledge as applied toward the discipline of economics over the last thirty years. One of the lacuna behind the not yet fully developed field of Islamic economics is the nondevelopment of its methodological aspects. This has been a result of narrowing the understanding of methodology to that of usul al-fiqh, which unfortunately has been limited to mean the legal sciences or jurisprudence. Since Islamic economics is a social/human science, the way forward is to develop an usul al-iqtisad, or methodology of social science, that may be quite different in its specific rule and criteria compared to the former. The author calls for revisiting the methodological aspect of the Faruqi work plan for the Islamization of knowledge, which has been overlooked and neglected.