Note

Hujjat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin Mohammad Bidar Parchin Olya is one of the young professors of economic jurisprudence in the Qom seminary. Having received his doctorate in Islamic economics, in addition to authoring several books and dozens of articles, he has also supervised over 20 doctoral and master’s theses related to economics. A faculty member of the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, in an exclusive note for Contemporary Jurisprudence, he has expounded upon the foundations and presuppositions of economic jurisprudence. He believes that with a minimalist approach to the science of jurisprudence, neither Islamic economics nor economic jurisprudence will advance.

Fiqh al-Iqtisad (Jurisprudence of Economics) is a science that elucidates the religious duties of micro and macro responsible agents (mukallafin) concerning economic activities (production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services). The foundations of this science, like the foundations of any other science, refer to the presuppositions and axiomatic principles that exist in other sciences. It seems that the most important foundations of Fiqh al-Iqtisad are discussed and examined in the two sciences of Usul al-Fiqh (Principles of Jurisprudence) and Economics. The deduction of the teachings of Fiqh al-Iqtisad, like any other jurisprudential ruling, requires the rules and laws of Usul al-Fiqh, and all usuli rules constitute the foundations of Fiqh al-Iqtisad. The general principles of the science of economics and economic realities also form part of the foundations of Fiqh al-Iqtisad. It is noteworthy that the expansion of topics and the complexities of economic relations necessitate new studies in the science of Usul al-Fiqh under the title and with the centrality of the Usul al-Fiqh of social matters, so that Fiqh al-Iqtisad can, in addition to determining the religious rulings related to micro responsible agents in the spheres of individual life, also engage in deducing declaratory (waḍʿī) and prescriptive (taklīfī) rulings appropriate for macro responsible agents in the sphere of social life. It is worth mentioning that if the foundations of any science are defined as its pillars and fundamental discussions, the foundations of Fiqh al-Iqtisad will include some jurisprudential maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyyah) such as the rule of “no harm” (lā ḍarar), the prohibition and invalidity of “consuming wealth unjustly” (akl al-māl bi al-bāṭil), the prohibition and invalidity of usurious transactions (muʿāmalāt ribawiyyah), and so on.

A more important point regarding the discussions raised in Fiqh al-Iqtisad is that most of the topics currently discussed in Fiqh al-Iqtisad pertain to exchanges, which only cover a part of distribution as one of the three domains of economics, and issues related to the production and consumption of goods and services receive less attention. Therefore, alongside issues related to exchanges, especially emerging exchange contracts, fundamental discussions concerning the jurisprudence of production and the jurisprudence of consumption must also be given serious consideration. Furthermore, special attention must be paid to the foundations of the authorities and duties of the Islamic state in the economic arena from a jurisprudential perspective.

The conclusion is that traditional approaches to Fiqh al-Iqtisad require fundamental transformation, and it is imperative that, while preserving and utilizing the valuable materials developed in the field of individual jurisprudence over many years by esteemed jurists, new domains also be opened up for Fiqh al-Iqtisad. Jurisprudential discussions related to programming, budgeting, economic progress, sustainable economics, and so forth constitute the new domains of Fiqh al-Iqtisad. Therefore, with a minimalist approach to Fiqh al-Iqtisad, the advancement of Fiqh al-Iqtisad and Islamic economics cannot be expected, and there is no alternative but a maximalist approach.

The Independence of Islamic Economics from Other Economic Systems

One of the questions raised about the nature of Islamic economics is whether Islamic economics merely has a few distinct rulings compared to other economic systems, or whether it proposes an independent system from them. In response, it must be said that the Islamic economic system is an independent system, distinct from both capitalist and socialist economic systems. The demarcation between economic systems begins with their answers to the fundamental questions of economics. In economics, there are several fundamental questions, which are: What should be produced? In what quantity should it be produced? For whom should it be produced? The capitalist economic system has made the free market mechanism central to answering these questions. Socialists emphasize the extremist role of the state in answering the fundamental questions of economics; whereas the Islamic economic system has made economic justice its main slogan and believes in a moderate and balanced level of government intervention and free market, meaning that it accepts both economic freedom and government intervention within a limited framework. It is evident that the difference in perspectives regarding the approach to the fundamental questions of economics, which stems from differing foundational viewpoints in the two domains of worldview and ideology, has placed the Islamic economic system as a completely independent system alongside other economic systems.

The conclusion is that the divine and Islamic worldview and ideology yield different outcomes in the sphere of economic activities compared to other economic systems, and these outcomes crystallize in the Islamic economic school of thought. The Islamic economic school of thought selects a distinct method for the economic administration of society. This method focuses on and gives special emphasis to economic justice, and this matter causes the laws of Islamic economics to differ from the laws and rules governing capitalist and socialist economic systems.