Islam and economic solutions -- part I

For years, we heard the empty slogan of "Islam is the solution", without providing specifics of what the solution would look like. Moreover, the slogan by itself has scared equally non-Muslim Egyptians, as well as secular-minded Egyptians more generally. Thus, Francois Basili wrote summarizing the general view:

اما اذا كان المقصود من الشعار ان الاسلام هو الحل لكافة مشكلات واحتياجات المجتمع كله، والدولة ومن فيها.. ليس في الجوانب الدينية فقط ولكن ايضا السياسية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية والثقافية.. فعندئذ يصبح الأمر من الامور التي تهمني وتهم كافة المواطنين مسلميناً واقباطا، لاننا هنا اصبحنا نتكلم عن الوطن والدولة والمواطنين واحتياجاتهم والمجتمع واحواله الاقتصادية و الثقافية والتعليمية والفنية والأسرية الي اخره.. وهذه كلها تشكل حياه المواطن في وطنه.. فاذا قلنا ان الاسلام هو الحل لكافة احتياجات المواطن في وطنه فنحن هنا نخلط الدين بالسياسة وانت هنا وبهذا تطرح شعارا سياسيا وليس دينيا فقط ومادام الشعار سياسيا فمن حق كافة المواطنين، مسلمين وغير مسلمين، التصدي له بالنقاش والتمحيص والقبول او الرفض.

The last sentence reads: "But if we say that Islam is the solution to all the citizen's needs within its country, then we are mixing relgion with politics; this becomes a political rather than merely religious slogan, and as such, every citizen, Muslim or non-Muslim has the right to confront the slogan with discussion, examination, and ultimately acceptance or rejection".

Francois went on to make a spirited argument in favor of secularism, and -- in western terms -- the separation of church and state. In particular, he ridiculed the notion that gave rise to "Islamic economics":

وهو نفس الفكر الذي يصر دائما علي ان النصوص المقدسة هي ايضا رموز ونصوص العلوم لكافة مناهجها من طب الي صيدلة الي فلك الي كيمياء الي هندسة الي حساب.. ويجهدون في تحميل النصوص مالا تحتمل من التفاسير الملتوية لتطويع العلوم الدنيوية الي النصوص الدينية رغم ان هذه النصوص الدينية نفسها تقول لهم في اكثر من مكان ان البشر هم العارفون بامور دنياهم وتحثهم علي طلب العلم ولو في الصين اي خارج النصوص التي يحصرون عقولهم فيها لعدم فهمهم لها

To translate: "This is the same thought that insists always that scripture constitutes symbols and texts on various sciences, including medicine, pharmacology, astronomy, chemistry and mathematics... Thus going to great lengths to stretch the meanings of Texts beyond their contexts to subjugate worldly sicences to religious texts, even though those same religious texts state on more than one occasion that mankind are most knowledgeable of their worldly affairs, and urge them to seek knowledge even in China, i.e. beyond the Texts to which they constrain their minds, because they didn't really understand them".

Those are obviously very strong words, and the main thesis that Francois proposed: that secularism was successful in Egypt under Nasser, but gave way to "Islam is the solution" Islamism under implicit support by the Sadat and Mubarak government, is likely to face rejection by many Egyptians. Islamists will say that Islam is a complete way of life, and thus the post-reformation Christian notion of separation of Church and state is alien to Islamist minds. On the other hand, this is not my main concern in this blog on Islam and economics.

What I wish to address here is the point Francois made that resonates with me: especially as it pertains to "Islamic economics". This is a vast literature dating back to Mawdudi , Qutb and Al-
Sadr. I had read some of those writings since my student days in the ealry eighties, but more in earnest over the past eight years. I mus confess that Francois's assertion that Islamists stretch the Canonical Texts beyond their intended and reasonable domain rings very true in this area. Much of "Islamic economics" is just bad economics, relying implicitly on the reader's piety to forgive lack of rigor. That which is good economics is not in need of the "Islamic" label, since it should stand on its own validity. Of course, the practical consequence of "islamic economics" has been the current field of Islamic finance, which -- despite its fast growth -- I consider to have been an utter failure in addressing the needs of Muslims or even adhering to the Canonical texts of Islam (see previous and hopefully future posts on this).

One glimer of hope started a few months ago, when Amr Khaled, a populist TV "caller to proper Islam" (as he likes to be called a داعية) morphed from a "feel good preacher" who recounted the legendary stories of early Muslim piety to a social reformer -- through his series "Makers of life" ( صناع الحياة), which has almost morphed into a political movement. He has mainly focused on encouraging global and local Muslim networks to develop small and medium enterprises that can create employment opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed Muslim youth (esp. in Arab countries). Interestingly, Islamonline.net reported recently that his increased popularity, and encouragement of private initatives and networking, may be viewed as a challenge to the ruling party in Egypt, and thus he was advised to suspend the program until after the parliamentary and presidential elections in his native Egypt.

It would take longer to address the issue of potential legitimate Islamic contributions (rather than rehetorical theses built on poor economics) to the creation of economic solutions for Muslim societies (see my previous posting on "needed sukuk", and hopefully future ones). However, I must admit that while I found Amr Khaled's initial programs to be pretentious and shallow, I was very impressed by his recent mobilization of his popularity first to convince Muslim youth to stop smoking, and now to encourage the rise of a Muslim entrepreneurial spirit. This is not a new idea per se: early Muslim brotherhood efforts in Egypt (since the late 1920s) included the creation of busniesses and financial vehicles (including many that went bankrupt later in the 1980s and 1990s, often with publicised and scandalous results that served to undermine the legitimacy of Islamism in Egyptian society). This posting is getting a bit too long as it is, so I will end it by saying that those efforts (successful or not) promise to be positive contributions of Islamic principles to economics, whereas the mirage of "Islamic economics" as a separate social scientific discipline inspired by the Canonical Texts of Islam has proven to be a total failure (see Timur Kuran's _Islam and Mammon_, Princeton University Press, 2005) both as a social scientific discipline and as a provider of practical solutions for Muslim problems.

So, to answer Francois Basili: Yes, the solgan "Islam is the solution" is vacuous. However, like all vacuous slogans, its lack of substance means that if interpreted properly, Islam may in fact, and at the very least, provide part of the solution. To the extent that Muslim societies are growing increasingly religious, a purely secularist approach is unlikely to generate sufficient support, and to convince citizens to make economic sacrifices that will improve long term economic growth prospects, whereas the spirit of Islamic teachings can be quite effective in this regard.