فصلنامه اقتصاد اسلامی
پیاپی 32 (زمستان 1387)

The fundamentals, meaning, position, standards and implementation methods of justice, vary from one school of thought to another. Muslim scholars too have had this topic as a subject of their discussions, within the Islamic framework. In the area of Justice in Distribution [or Distributive Justice] Martyr (Shaheed) [al-] Sadr’s view has held immense popularity and acceptance. The author believes that keeping in view the principles of Distribution of Income and Wealth in Islam, the criteria of justice should be introduced separately for three stages:Origin; Justice in the primary resources and opportunitiesProcess; Justice in relations and process of production and distribution. Outcome; Justice in the culmination state and the output of an Economic System’s activities. Though Martyr [al-] Sadr (RA), in his opinion about distribution, has discussed the distribution principles in all the three stages, but in his view regarding justice only introduces two criteria, i.e. “General Equilibrium” and “Social Security”, as the constituents of economic justice. This paper emphasizes the view that: Firstly, these two criteria are only concerned with the evaluation of the just condition in the Outcome stage, and achieving them, without considering the achievement of justice in the stage of Origin and Process, do not reflect the achievement Economic Justice. Secondly, the ‘Justice in Distribution’ [or ‘Distributive Justice’] in the outcome stage, being a legal and obligatory principle, through reliance on the criterion of unit of social security, has the potential of being evaluated. Therefore, the criterion of “Equilibrium in different consumption classes of the society”, identified as another criterion of economic justice, should either be taken as a different phrase for the same reality, reflected by the first criterion, or should be interpreted in a way that views justice as a moral principle.

“According to the Islamic viewpoint Man, has been created free from the existential aspect and, from the legislative aspect no one other than God has the right to order him and interfere in his matters”. Freedom, in reality, consists of a negating element i.e. not to obey the orders of someone other than God; and an affirmative element i.e. to obey Gods orders”. As a result obedience of anyone, regarding whom God has commanded obedience, is obligatory too. It is because of this fact that freedom is always accompanied by responsibility. And due to this very reason the scope of people’s Economic Freedom and Responsibilities is ascertained by the Divine Law. In this paper, based on verses of the Holy Quran, Holy traditions [the reported words of the Holy Prophet (SAAW) and His Progeny (AS)] and intellect, through a derivative method, the above mentioned concept of freedom has been proved, and the scope of people’s Economic Freedom and Responsibilities will be explained.

Three decades ago, the system of Islamic Insurance-‘Takaful’ was propounded in Muslim societies and gradually made a remarkable progress, both among Muslims and others. The proposal was made because some Islamic scholars (mostly Sunnis) found the elements of “interest (Reba)”,”uncertainty (Gharar)”,”gambling (Mayser)” and “wrongful consumption of others wealth” in Conventional insurance. In case of the conventional life insurance, they pointed towards these flaws, with greater emphases, and, the Islamic Life Insurance (Family Takaful), free of the weaknesses and with a new structure, was proposed as a substitute. The products of Family Takaful have high ability to compete successfully with the products of Life Insurance. Due to its merits, for example, transparency of activities, limitations on profiteering, association of the policy-holder’s and the operator’s profits, and ethical guidelines of investment etc.; the Family Takaful has transformed into an attractive option for Muslims and Non Muslims [alike].This paper focuses on the answer to the issue that: Whether offering the Family Takaful products alongside the Life Insurance ones, will help increase the popularity of life insurance in our country or, not? To answer this query a practical and exploratory approach was used in this research and, it is concluded that: The Family Takaful products in the form of a useful tool of managing family wealth can supplement the products of Life Insurance. And by offering the Family Takaful products the increase in the popularity rates of life insurance in the country can be planned.

The extraordinary emphasis of Islam on poverty elimination makes the understanding of suitable Income Inequality Indices based on Islamic values, much more significant. The present article discusses those principles which should govern the reliable income inequality indices. A few of those principles are based on ethical values, therefore, the analysis of the conformity with their least incompatibility with Islamic teachings, is important. The current article mainly focuses on; elucidating poverty and inequality of income in Islam; explaining the principles that govern the indices; and compatibility of those principles with Islamic values and finally, goes on to suggest the indices that are more suitable.

One of the serious challenges in the study of different methodologies is the nature of relation between the principles and paradigms of a school of thought and the Economic Sciences. Some consider these two, unrelated to each other while others see a logical relationship between them. They consider the school to be designing of strategy and the science, its achievement. Though the principles and paradigms of Islamic Economics [may apparently seem] non-scientific and unverifiable through experimentations, they are wise, fair, balanced and are [intended] for human welfare. In order to be applied, they must be transformed into scientific statement and the hypothesis compatible to it, and by defining the related variables, must be evaluated and put to test. The writer in this article believes in this process in Islamic Economics. Based on this, doctrines like the negation of usury (interest) can be modeled and its effect on growth be evaluated.

The tourism industry, being the biggest and the most unique industry of the world, is considered in many countries to be the main source of income, employment creation, private sector development and expanding the infrastructure. Iran, due to the presence of many historical sites, climatic and regional variety, being the centre of Shiaism, Holy places, religious seminaries and many other reasons, is categorized amongst the countries prepared for tourism on an international level. However until now, due to various reasons, she has not been able to utilize this opportunity to an acceptable level. Such that according to a study, because of its prominent geographical position, climatic variety and natural, historical and cultural attractions, Iran is placed amongst the ten best countries of the world, but from the aspect of attracting tourists, is ranked sixty seventh in the world and similarly from the view of [total] income generated by the tourism industry, is placed on the seventy seventh spot. One of the most important factors of this failure is the lack of investment in the fundamental and structural areas of this sector. As a result, it is necessary to put forward an appropriate solution which could provide the required capital for this industry.The present article after reviewing the current conditions, the economic-financial expansion barriers of the tourism industry and the potential role that this trade could play in the country’s economy; through a practical and exploratory approach and utilization of the Ju’alah Financial Papers (Sukuk), puts forward the practical models of financing. Ju’alah Financial Papers, one of the profit-bearing financial instruments along with a fixed return, are designed in a way that along with taking care of the religious legislative requirements also enjoys a high degree of practical capacity and economic explanation. It is expected that other than financing the tourism industry, it can also have a noticeable influence on expansion of the Islamic Financial Instruments and the capital market of Iran.

Previously, the philosophy of education and curriculum designing was limited only to the transfer of a set of organized knowledge, or formulation and advancement of the value system governing individual and social behavior; such that for many centuries, most of the scientific subjects, including Economics, specialized and single disciplinary curriculum could be studied. Today however, modern techniques are being used in which needs of the modern world beyond a single-vision structure of the fields of specialization, is under consideration, and the narrow vision approach to reality, and division of the fields of education, popular in the last few decades, have come under criticism. This movement which has manifested in the area of curriculum designing, in defining integrated curriculum or extra-disciplinary approaches, can be looked into in six basic categories: Parallel Disciplinary Approach, Interdisciplinary Approach, Multi-Disciplinary Approach, Cross-Disciplinary Approach, Plural-Disciplinary Approach and Supra/Trans-Disciplinary Approach (in three dimensions: horizontal, vertical and diagonal). Keeping in view that Islamic economics is also essentially an integrated discipline of two fields viz. Islamic studies and Economic subjects; its educational planning and curriculum designing cannot be void of the previously mentioned issues. The scientific results and the teaching [and learning] experiments of these approaches can surely double the pace of transformation and advancement in its educational programs and human resources, and can further the capability and practicality of this subject vis-à-vis the problems. In this article while briefly defining these approaches, by designing a few models, we aim at demonstrating the applicability of integration approaches in various educational curriculums and majors of graduate levels in Islamic Economics.