فصلنامه اقتصاد اسلامی
پیاپی 12 (زمستان 1382)

The ownership structure introduced by any economic system is one of the main elements of the system which plays a crucial role in differentiating a system from another one. This structure is usually based on theoretical foundations, which help to have a clear and rational explanation of the structure. Resorting to some Quranic verses Muslim economists also have modeled a mixed ownership structure. Deliberating on how this structure is based on the theoretical foundations outlined by The Holey Book makes it easy to understand and prefer it to the other structures.Referring to some Islamic literature and Quranic interpretive sources, the author attempts to present the theoretical foundations of ownership introduced by the economists a new mechanism and point out the Quranic documents taking an appropriate conclusion about different views on the “elements of ownership structure in Islamic economic system”. Though this structure may also be complemented and supported by some fiqhi documents but it is not touched here.The credit ownership of God and The Lord’s volitional Unity in the field of ownership is the most important theoretical foundation in determining the structure of ownership introduced by holy Quran. The first element prepares the ground for the interference of God to determine the ownership structure and the second element tries to prove the priority and preferences of the structure determined by God. Thus, it paves the way for the theoretical possibility of interference of God in the determination of ownership structure. Referring to holy Quran, economists also found that the ownership structure is not is not dependent on a single axis and not dependant only on one of private or public ownership; rather the mixed ownership is the chosen structure outlined by Muslim economists on the basis of Quranic interpretations

This article studies the functions and responsibilities of an Islamic state. To this end, in a short glance and by using some traditions, the author points out the functions of the state in two worldly and religious axes and examines the most important economic responsibility of the state with a historical approach. Reviewing the background of economic activities of the Islamic state in the early periods, he discusses the economic obligations of the state in six areas:1-Mobilization and allocation of financial resources;2-Implementation of economic justice; 3-Stability;4-Development and prosperity;5- Guarding the independence and security;6-Inviting people to practices good deeds and prohibiting them from evil deeds.Needless to mention, that at times the state has to interfere directly in the economy and at some cases restrict itself to regulate and make policies only.

One of the salient and immortalizing features of Islam is that, along with constant rules representing the innate, intrinsic and eternal interests, it provides the executives and policy makers with the choice to develop variable rules to keep pace with social changes and progress of time place and societies. The fixed rules, as the basic framework and fundamental understructure, hold on the Islamic contents of a society while the variable rules makes it active, dynamic and timely responsive, thus letting the experts and authorities to always thinks of modeling new models, organizations and structures consistent with the time and circumstances.As for as transaction rules are concerned, there are a series of fixed rules that does not bear any concession except for the emergency cases, and there are some variable rules that vary on the demand of time and environments. The major fixed and variable rules to be considered in the area of monetary and banking transactions are as under:a) Fixed fiqhi rules:1- The governance of Islamic state on controlling, regulating and directing banks and banking transactions; 2- Legal and cheat free transactions;3- Non-interest banking transactions;4- Ignorance free transactions;5- Kali-to-kali method free transactions.b) Discretionary variable rules:1- The ownership of (public, private, domestic, foreign and compound) bank resources and assets;2- Management of (public, private, domestic and foreign) banks;3- Selection of appropriate legal contracts;4- Adoption of suitable structure and organization.Using Quranic verses, traditions and fiqhi literature the author extracts the fixed rule of money and Islamic banking and states that banking system transactions should be modeled in that framework. Then he points out the variable rules explaining the discretionary areas.Differentiating the jurisprudential and constant fields of banking transactions from the variable and discretionary areas paves the way for innovations in modeling new monetary instruments and introduces effective banking models for Muslim scholars and monetary and banking experts.

The compensation of losses resulting from delay in payment is one of the legal issues that have been the focus of concentration since long time. After the Islamic revolution and the ensuing years and the new developments it got a doubled importance as it received various responses from legal authorities. On the one hand, in the modern world, it was too difficult to ensure economic order without taking the compensation of delayed payment into account. On the other hand, it’s suspected that this may be an illegal act and it needs to be explored more in order to make such legal rules compatible with sharia rules, to comply with the third act of Islamic republic of Iran’s constitution. This paper only deals with the fiqhi and the legal aspects of compensation of delayed payment, leaving economic aspects to be assessed by the related experts. The compensation might be given a legal account using the term within contract. However, if the currency depreciation is more than the normal rate and the debtor is able to pay on the due date, than the compensation may be demanded without any precondition.

Achieving economic progress and getting to the peak of advancement and prosperity in different aspects of life, such as social, cultural and economic aspects, have been one of the main concerns for all societies and nations in the recent centuries, in particular throughout the twentieth century. The agenda has been of a high priority for all those who are interested in the wellbeing and the welfare of their nations.The incomparable development of the industrialized nations and the underdevelopment of the other countries throughout the globe, from Asian to African and Latin American countries, has been a thought provoking challenge to the sympathetic theorists of development economics to find out the root causes of this backwardness and propose solutions to achieve growth and development.The theories may be classified in two following categories:a) The theories which emphasize on the lack of physical capital and declare the growth as a prerequisite for development. In other words they prescribe an exogenous development strategy.b) A second theory concentrates on human capital with an inward looking, linking the development to the cultural and spiritual affairs inside a country. This approach has emerged in the final two decades of the last century. Emphasizing on human beings as the main axis of development they attempt to raise the role of human characteristics and views in development.Influenced by the second theory the essay puts forth two hypotheses as follows:a) Since human being is the means and source of any changes, development may not be feasible without any transformation in the beliefs, demands and visions of human beings. b) As the present economic systems are set to attain just the material goals and worldly desires, any development model for Iran should be designed and formulated considering the religious implications.

The beginning of debate over Islamic economics returns to quite a long time ago, yet, there are many unexplored spaces to discuss. Generally, the passage of a considerable time for any field of science is considered to be one of the main debatable elements in the methodological dimensions of that science. On the one hand, it’s too crucial to discuss about the methodology, but this alone is not an alternative for discussing the cognitive dimensions of that science. One should take both the cases into account to develop and promote the science.What this essay aims to present is related to some of methodological dimensions, specifically, it deals with the following questions:What is the main subject of Islamic economics, economic behaviors of a Muslim individual, or any human being in general? In other words, is the subject of Islamic economics just economic phenomenon or the economic phenomena in an Islamic society? What is the objective of Islamic economics? Is the objective a mere description, interpretation and prediction? Or adjustment and balancing economic behaviors is also among the objectives?How Islamic economics could be theorized? Is theorizing in Islamic economics based only the on human senses and reason? Or one should employ other sources such as revealed text (Quran) and traditions? After all, what is the relation between Islamic economics and pluralism and the probability of committing errors?This essay examines the above four statements, i.e. the subject of Islamic economics, the objective of Islamic economics, theorizing in Islamic economics and the relation between Islamic economics and pluralism and error probabilities.

Poverty is a complex phenomenon, a consequence of lack of growth and inequality. empirical understanding of poverty that is Effective policies require technical and combined with efficient institutions and a supportive system of social values. The focuses on four basic tenants of the Islamic ethical system and treat the paper Islamic ethos as an ideal, through which socioeconomic policies dealing with poverty elimination are assessed. Islam views society as a unified entity in which individual freedom and human dignity is supreme although subject to the axiom of responsibility. These ethical tenants indicate that policies should not develop ‘dependency,’ amoral activities, or lead to the institutionalization of poverty.do not lift the poor from their dependency status Policies based on transfers that should be avoided except in cases where such shift is not feasible. Based on the conceptual and empirical evidence, the paper concludes that Islamic ethics support a poverty- alleviation strategy based on the principle of promoting economic growth with productive equity