A Critical Review on the Book “Textbook of Welfare Economics from Islamic Perspective”

Welfare Economics is a branch of economics that Muslim economists have made no effort for understanding, reviewing, and naturalizing it so far. The book entitled “Textbook of Welfare Economics From Islamic Perspective” is one of the first works attempting to explain and review the common welfare economics, while revealing some aspects of Islamic teachings in this regard. So, such a difficult task is admirable. In the present article, we have referred to the difficulties as well as the necessity of such discussions, while reviewing some of the features of the book pertaining to its form and content to advance the knowledge in that area. Regarding the content, in addition to some internal problems and shortcomings in resources and references, there are three main criticisms; first of all, despite the complexity of the subject, the presented analysis does not have the power to convince the readers and make them confused. Secondly, the content of the book does not correspond to its title, it does not have many features of the textbook, it deals more with the topic of “Philosophy of Welfare Economics” than “Welfare Economics”. In terms of comprehensiveness, there are gaps in some vital issues, such as the “Function of Social Welfare”. Third, there are some flaws in the use of specialized terms such as “Objective or Subjective Welfare”, “Individual and Social Welfare”, and “Welfarism and Extra Welfarism”.