Note: Hujjat al-Islam Dr. Mohammad Bidar Porchin Olya, a professor and researcher in Islamic economics and a faculty member of the Economics Department at the Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, discusses in this oral note the nature of people’s economy, its differences from similar concepts, and its foundations and presuppositions. The full text of this exclusive note is as follows:

What Is Jurisprudence?

First, the definition of jurisprudence, the scope of jurisprudence, and the rulings that exist regarding the discipline of jurisprudence must be considered, then we must know the definition of people’s economy, and then refer to the relationship between these two. Regarding the discipline of jurisprudence, it is well-known that it discusses the acts of the obligated persons. The subject of jurisprudence is the acts of the obligated persons. Jurisprudence examines both obligatory and situational rulings related to the obligated persons. But the question is, who are the obligated persons? By answering this question, the scope of jurisprudence becomes clear, and that is that an obligated person is one of the individuals among humans who, given the behaviors they have in their individual life, is addressed by jurisprudence and has their own obligatory and situational rulings. However, the obligated person in jurisprudence is not only an individual obligated person; rather, in this discipline, social obligated persons are also discussed. Additionally, institutions that have legal personality are also considered obligated persons in this discipline. In the past, although the focus of the discipline of jurisprudence was on determining the duties of natural persons, with the formation of social jurisprudence, expressing the duties of legal persons has also fallen within the scope of the discipline of jurisprudence.

Requirements of Imami Jurisprudence

Another point is that Imami jurisprudence is a dynamic jurisprudence without dead ends, a jurisprudence that has both primary and secondary rulings, a jurisprudence that has governmental rulings, a jurisprudence that allows primary rulings to change in cases of necessity, a jurisprudence that has left the hands of the religious ruler, government, and religious authorities open to rule based on social expediency, a jurisprudence that has a zone of vacancy and has delegated the determination of its ruling to the Islamic ruler, a jurisprudence that has granted guardianship to the jurist to decide based on public and national interests. A jurisprudence that has given importance to the elements of time and place in the process of derivation, a jurisprudence that has not surrendered to emerging issues and has answers for them—all these ignite hope in hearts that jurisprudence can answer all questions.

People’s Economy

After explaining the concept of jurisprudence, it is time to define people’s economy. People’s economy means utilizing the general and collective participation of people in economic affairs, giving more importance to people, assigning more responsibility in economic matters to people, and returning all benefits and problems to them. This matter has been preferred and encouraged in Islam. Fundamentally, in Islam, wage-earning is reprehensible. The ideal relationship that Islamic economy portrays is not the worker-employer relationship but rather that every individual be their own worker and employer.

People’s Economy and Similar Concepts

Sometimes people’s economy is mistaken for privatization, where the government transfers part of its assets to the private sector. Of course, the wealthy private sector does this and takes advantage of the opportunity, but people’s economy has a different meaning. People’s economy means the formation of cooperation. Islam and Islamic economy emphasize cooperation. Accordingly, the discipline of jurisprudence also focuses on people’s economy. The fact that in jurisprudence it is stated that whoever performs a task is responsible for their work, whoever possesses and revives land becomes its owner, whoever engages in economic activity becomes its owner—all these emphasize people’s economy and involving people in economic affairs.

Implications and Foundations of People’s Economy

In Islam, the government is not minimal, and its duty is not only economic activity; rather, it has other activities as well. The Islamic government deals with and is responsible for both the religion and the worldly affairs of people. The Islamic government is a government that observes expediency and is flexible, meaning it intervenes wherever it deems necessary; for example, addressing poverty, which, although not an inherent duty of the government and should be done by people, if people lack the capacity to address it, the government intervenes. In other words, wherever social expediency is at stake, the Islamic government is present, of course with the consideration that it does not intend to take over all affairs. The Islamic government is neither a minimal government with tied hands nor a socialist government that seeks to be involved in all activities.

However, to resolve issues in economic jurisprudence, no change in jurisprudential foundations is necessary. Of course, it is clear that the individual approach that existed in the past must be transformed into a social approach; this requires that in conflicts between individual and social expediency, social expediency takes precedence.

Responses to Some Doubts

Some imagine that people’s economy is due to the historical distance of Shiite jurists from government and their historical proximity to the market, but the matter is not so; rather, the reason for the people’s economy approach in Islamic economy is the Lawgiver’s emphasis on people’s involvement in economic affairs and granting them responsibility. This, of course, does not conflict with the government also being under Shiite jurisprudence and being able to provide appropriate support to people in accordance with it.

Additionally, people’s economy differs from a free-market-based economy. This does not mean rejecting the market by Islam; rather, Islamic jurisprudence accepts the market but to the extent of its position, not as an economic axis. The market must be regulated by the Islamic government, and its frameworks must be codified.