نشریه معرفت اقتصاد اسلامی
سال دوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 3، پاییز و زمستان 1389)

According to clear terms of Qoranic verses and traditions, Khums (the Fifth) and Zakāt are assigned mostly to eliminate poverty and provide needy families with minimal livelihood. According to traditions, the amount of assigned Zakāt suffices to eliminate poverty; otherwise, God would increase its amount. Regarding current suspicions about the deficiency of the amount of potential Zakāt and its inefficiency to eliminate poverty, the question arises whether Shiite jurists’ fatwa (religious decree), which makes Zakāt exclusive to nine categories, is compatible with the basic philosophy of Zakāt assignment? Present inquiry calculates potential capacity of Zakāt, fetrieh (alms given on the fast-breaking festival at the end of Ramadan), and the Khums in Iran’s economy, using statistical analysis and investigating the hypothesis of “efficiency of Zakāt given that they are exclusive to nine categories. Having defined minimal livelihood according to Islam, necessary sources to eliminate poverty from Iran’s society are assessed. The results of the research show that revenues due to Khums and Zakāt are so much that suffice to eliminate poverty from society. Furthermore, these results show that Shiite jurists’ fatwa, which make Zakāt exclusive to nine categories, does not conflict with basic philosophy of Zakāt assignment.

Nowadays banks, as the largest financial intermediaries, have a crucial role in providing enterprises with the funds which they need. To perform their role better, these financial institutions face with serious challenges in liquidity management. Because many means of liquidity management are usurious, Islamic banks are challenged more seriously than conventional banks, and are seeking alternative methods and techniques. Muslim thinkers have, for some time, recognized the problem and tried to design means which are compatible with basic fundamentals of Islamic jurisprudence, and efficient in liquidity management. Present paper, using a descriptive method, seeks to find answers to the following questions: what are the techniques to manage liquidity in Islamic banking? Can we provide a package of means compatible with needs categorization to manage liquidity in Islamic banking compatible with needs categorization? This inquiry not only introduces some new means to manage liquidity, but also provides a package of means compatible with categorization of liquidity needs in Islamic banking.

Development of critical studies on the philosophy of economics in recent decades has confronted the scholars of Islamic economics with a serious question about the role of philosophical studies in giving identity to the science of Islamic economics and its promotion. Present research, using a philosophical analysis method, investigates the nature, domain, and prospects of the philosophy of Islamic economics in comparison with the philosophy of conventional economics. According to the main hypothesis of the research, these two fields of study can help promote the science of economics through interaction and dealing with epistemological, ontological, anthropological, and axiological aspects of economic propositions. The formation of studies on the philosophy of Islamic economics, which is distinct from its conventional counterpart in terms of philosophical approach and the object of second-order study, i.e. economics, has two groups of benefits: internal and external. This approach helps reconstruct economic reality in theories of economics through developing resources, means, and subject of knowledge acquisition, and promoting transcendental value system. Among the internal advantages of studies on the philosophy of Islamic economics are increasing economists’ self- consciousness about the nature and capacity of theories of Islamic economics, finding the missing links between fundamentals, theorization and application in works on Islamic economics, giving identity to the science of Islamic economics, and correcting the path.

The analysis of the features of Islamic market is one of the important subjects in Islamic economics, which has been hardly dealt with. Present research investigates the features of Islamic market in theory and practice, using a descriptive – analytical method. The main hypothesis of the research is that Islamic market can be recognized with such features as transparency, conformity with religious law, domination of Islamic ethics, direction and regulation of state, and that some manifestations of the realization of these features can be observed in the civilizational background of Islamic market. Transparency in Islamic market is affected by physical environment of Islamic market which strengthens Allah’s remembrance and fear of Doomsday, on the one hand. On the other hand, it results from strong divine motives to avoid being secretive about data. Price reduction, facilitating the exchanges, increasing the welfare of consumers, manufacturer’s added value, and finally increase in market efficiency, are among the outcomes of this strong transparency. In addition to state official regulation, the presence of seminaries and mosques in markets, which are formed in Islamic civilization, and their effective relationships with these markets have had a great impact on the observance of the prescriptions of divine law and Islamic morals in the market. Through inspiring the spirit of piety in the market, these Islamic institutions will cause the elimination of the bases of financial corruption, and emergence of the moral outcomes of seeking lawful morsel.

In addition to such variables as the level of income and its time- span, the revenue risk of financial institutions has an important role in their success and efficiency. The present paper, focusing on aforementioned element, investigates the distinction between interest-based financial institutions and participatory financial institutions in view of their revenue risk. The research hypothesis is that investor’s risk in interestloaning system is more than his/her risk in a profit and loss sharing system. To test this hypothesis, investors’ risk in participatory institutions and interest-based institutions has been analyzed, using simple variance method and Johnson’s inequation method and corollaries of Rothschild-Stieglitz model. The results show that investor’s risk in interest loaning system is more than his/her risk in a system based on participation in benefit and loss. More risk in interest loaning system means less stability, more distance form justice, less growth, and as a result, less efficiency and welfare.

Discussion about the significance of “Islamic economics” and its nature has turned into one of the basic concerns of Muslim thinkers for more than three decades. This discussion is under the influence of different viewpoints about the way of interaction between Islam and modernity. Application of each viewpoint to economics leads to a certain kind of interaction between Islamic thought and economics. The main hypothesis of this paper is that Islamic economics being in its pre-science phase and lack of consensus on its conceptual and affirmative fundamentals and methodology necessitates the formation of Islamic economics within the theory of Islamic civilizationalism. The research method is analytical. The results show that developing the philosophy of Islamic science and applying it to economics is superior to islamization of the philosophy of Islamic science and direct and indirect methods of creating the science of Islamic economics. Hence, the mission of the philosophy of Islamic economics is to provide the fundamentals of Islamic economics and forming its methodology, using Islamic philosophy in its different domains. Issues such as the way of interaction between school, system and the science of Islamic economics, theorization method and evaluating the theories, evaluating modern economic institutions, causality, socialism or individualism, and philosophy of history are the main issues of the philosophy of Islamic economics.

Bank runs can be considered as one of the bad effects of financial crises, which is very important to confront. Present paper investigates the ways to confront runs on banks. Meanwhile it provides an analysis about the financial crisis in 2008. Using approaches provided in Diamond & Dybvig paper (1983), a model is provided to analyze means and policies applicable to manage assets and liabilities, and to reduce the bad effects of runs on banks. The research method is analytical. The research investigates specifically three

“contract of lags in deposit withdrawal”, deposits insurance” and “central bank loaning”. The results show that liquidity crises and bank runs cannot be prevented by using these methods; rather these methods can only delay these crises, or in case of confrontation with these crises can reduce the intensity of damages. The model provided in this paper can be a basis for the development of complementary researches about the bank run problem in interest-free banking system in this transition period and the existing banking system of Islamic Republic of Iran.