الإيضاح (Jun 2012)
"Optimization of Consumption in Divine Context: (Basic Principles and Extension) "
Abstract
The paper aims to analyze the behavior of Islamic consumers that how they can get the maximum possible satisfaction in divine constraints. Islamic consumers ought to be socially conscious economic agents. They will always take into consideration that what their consumption means for the rest of the society? In the Islamic theory of consumption , we essentially look for both '' religious success and personal gaoms'' . Islam believes in aggregate welfare but at the same time it does not ignore personal gain i.e. maximization of personal utility or profit. A rational Islamic consumer will never spend all his money on material goos for maximization of his own utility. He will allocte some portion of his earning towards spending in the way of Allah (S.W.T), thus the total utility for an Islamic consumer can be decomposed into two parts; material utility plus eternal utility . We have assumed that eternal utility is at least as good as worldly utility (U>U''). We conclude that total utility derived from spending on material goods plus eternal utility derived from spending in the way of Allah (SWT) will be at least as good as utility derived from the income of the consumer allocated towards the consumption of material commodities only. Finally, we may conclude that based upon the satisfaction of needs in divine context, resources will be allocated towards Islamically valid, humanly productive and economically efficient goods and dervies.
