Islamic finance must for economic development

Book on fundamentals of Islamic Economics and Finance launched at IIUI

With the current free-market economic model just a new form of the classic capitalistic model, the head of the chief Islamic advisory body of the country has called for exploiting the capacity of Islamic finance for the economic development of the country.

This was stated by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Professor Dr Qibla Ayaz while addressing ceremony to launch the book, “Fundamentals of Islamic Economics & Finance”. The book has been authored by the International Institute of Islamic Economics (IIIE) Director General Dr Atiquz Zafar and Economics Professor Dr Hafiz Muhammad Yasin.

The event was held at the new campus of the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI). Urging policymakers to exploit the potential offered by Islamic finance, Dr Ayaz slammed the free-market economic model currently in vogue as a new shape for capitalism and its study was only producing workers to serve the model.

On the other hand, the framework offered by an Islamic economy offered far better prospects to cater to the issues which have been left unaddressed by the prevailing paradigm.

IIUI Rector Prof Dr Masoom Yasinzai said that the Islamic economic system was the future of the world economy. He added that the book was a unique piece of work for those who want to learn the basics of the Islamic economic system.

Dr Yasinzai added that Islamic economics had emerged as a distinct discipline over the last quarter of the 20th century and the subject is now offered in many universities as part of the economics curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

He talked about the need for establishing a Centre of Excellence for Islamic economics, stating that the subject had all the potential to offer solutions for contemporary economic problems.

The IIUI rector added that few texts were available which provide an introduction to Islamic economics and finance, and this is where the book offered an advantage.

IIUI President Dr Ahmed Yousif al-Draiweesh said that Islam’s economic systemleads to the well-being of each and every individual of any society.

He furthered that Islam elaborates how people can earn and spend money following “Halal” ways and stressed that such books should be taught in modern universities and colleges as a robust economic model, offering alongside the Institute’s umbrella to support the research work in the said discipline. Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) DG Dr Khalid Rehman said that the book has been published with the aim of satisfying the requirement for a standard, comprehensive textbook covering the necessary Islamic economics and finance topics in a simple presentation style.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2019.