A RESPONSE TO PROF. ASAD ZAMAN ON ISLAMIC ECONOMICS: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS: A NOTE

Abstract

I welcome the initiative taken by Professor Asad Zaman in writing this paper. I confine myself to two main aspects of Dr. Zaman’s wide-ranging paper. First, I give my assessment of the causes of what he has characterized as failure of Islamic economics, explaining why and how we arrived where we find ourselves today. Second, I present some suggestions for rectification, for correcting the course and redressing the wrong done. I shall not try to find faults with Prof. Zaman’s list of failures and deficiencies in the current concepts and practices of Islamic economists. The reason is, I broadly agree with him though I would not put it the way he has done. There is a disease, but there are causes older and deeper than those he has mentioned, and it is certainly not going to be cured merely by his prescriptions. Much more is needed.