Trading and business in Islam has been identified as the second best profession after agriculture and Prophet Muhammad （PBUH） himself has been engaged in trading. The Islamic theory of market aims to provide optimiz...Trading and business in Islam has been identified as the second best profession after agriculture and Prophet Muhammad （PBUH） himself has been engaged in trading. The Islamic theory of market aims to provide optimization of returns and satisfaction for all stakeholders. It also seeks to make ＂free market＂ an instrument of promoting equity and social justice for the welfare of society. It combines tenants from the free market model as well as those in command market economy. Islamic economics identifies certain functional parameters for the efficient functioning of the market to achieve the optimization of returns and social welfare like absence of middle men, prohibition of hoarding, mode of finance free from interest and usury, taxation and other wealth redistribution instruments like Zakat and Khums, asset-based and risk-sharing partnerships and stakes, etc.. It essentially creates conditions for proper functioning of a competitive market as an instrument of economic progress and social equity. In Islamic economics, the role accorded to the state is to ensure that institutions are set up and vigilance officers are appointed which create the specified condition for the proper and fair functioning of the market and hence preventing what is identified as ＂market failure＂. The role of the state is to improve the functioning of the market as opposed to that of systematic intervention. This paper tries to examine the Islamic notions of ＂free market＂ in the traditional sources like Qur＇an, Hadees, the early texts of Islamic Jurisprudence, and contemporary writings on Islamic economic system and to make a comparative analysis with theories of market in capitalist and socialist frameworks. The paper will examine the extent to which Islamic notions of free market offer an alternative model to resolve the problems of growth, inequity, and risk management.展开更多
文摘Trading and business in Islam has been identified as the second best profession after agriculture and Prophet Muhammad （PBUH） himself has been engaged in trading. The Islamic theory of market aims to provide optimization of returns and satisfaction for all stakeholders. It also seeks to make ＂free market＂ an instrument of promoting equity and social justice for the welfare of society. It combines tenants from the free market model as well as those in command market economy. Islamic economics identifies certain functional parameters for the efficient functioning of the market to achieve the optimization of returns and social welfare like absence of middle men, prohibition of hoarding, mode of finance free from interest and usury, taxation and other wealth redistribution instruments like Zakat and Khums, asset-based and risk-sharing partnerships and stakes, etc.. It essentially creates conditions for proper functioning of a competitive market as an instrument of economic progress and social equity. In Islamic economics, the role accorded to the state is to ensure that institutions are set up and vigilance officers are appointed which create the specified condition for the proper and fair functioning of the market and hence preventing what is identified as ＂market failure＂. The role of the state is to improve the functioning of the market as opposed to that of systematic intervention. This paper tries to examine the Islamic notions of ＂free market＂ in the traditional sources like Qur＇an, Hadees, the early texts of Islamic Jurisprudence, and contemporary writings on Islamic economic system and to make a comparative analysis with theories of market in capitalist and socialist frameworks. The paper will examine the extent to which Islamic notions of free market offer an alternative model to resolve the problems of growth, inequity, and risk management.
