This book develops and applies the methodology of Tawhid (“monotheism”) as law and the Sunnah (the teachings of Prophet Muhammad) in the Qur’an in establishing a transdisciplinary foundation for the study of Islamic economics, finance, society, and science. It employs the Tawhidi String Relation (TSR), a new theoretical framework in contemporary Islamic sciences, in the methodological formalisation and application of the Tawhidi worldview - as the primal ontological law of monotheism. It employs a deeply Qur’anic exegesis, and a mathematical, philosophical, and socio-scientific mode of inquiry in deriving, developing, and empirically applying the Qur’anic methodology of “unity of knowledge”. It is the first book of its kind in rigorously studying the true foundation of the Qur’anic concept of ‘everything’ - as the world-system extending between the heavens and Earth. The qur’anic terminology of the precept of this “world-system” in its most comprehensive perspective is A’lameen, the terminology in the Qur’an that accounts for the generality and details of the world-systems that are governed by the method of evaluation of the objective criterion of wellbeing. Wellbeing objective criterion is evaluated subject to inter-causal relations between systemic entities, variables, and functions. The cardinal principle of Tawhid in its relationship with the world-system conveys the corporeal meaning of monotheism in its cognitive implication of abstraction and application. Such a study has not been undertaken in existing Islamic socio-scientific literature in analysing Islamic economics, finance, science, and society collectively, using Tawhidi law as a theoretical framework. This book will be relevant to all such scholars who are interested in studying the monotheistic law and the Islamic principles, particularly Tawhid, Shari’ah, and Islamic philosophical thought.

This book explores the methodological foundation of Islamic thought premised on the cardinal principle of Tawhid, meaning the Oneness of God as the universal law. The consequential methodological worldview arising from the monotheistic unity of knowledge is explained as the theory of consilience, meaning unity of knowledge as the primal ontological reality leading to its epistemological and phenomenological essentials of reasoning and thereby configuring reality. Masudul Alam Choudhury presents a non-mathematical exposition of the theory and applications of Meta-Science of Tawhid, and brings out the essential monotheistic methodological worldview of science.

This book invokes the Tawhidi ontological foundation of the Qur’anic law and worldview, and is also a study of ta’wil, the esoteric meaning of Qur’anic verses. It presents a comparative analysis between the Tawhidi methodology and the contemporary subject of Shari’ah. Masudul Alam Choudhury brings about a serious criticism of the traditional understanding of Shari’ah as Islamic law contrary to the holistic socio-scientific worldview of the unity of knowledge arising from Tawhid as the law. A bold repudiation of the Islamic traditional understanding and the school of theocracy, Choudhury’s critique is in full consonance with the Qur’an and Sunnah. It is critical of the sectarian (madhab) conception of relational independence of facts. Thus the non-creative outlook of Shari’ah contrasts with universality and uniqueness of Tawhid as the analytically established law explaining the monotheistic organic unity of being and becoming in ‘everything’. This wide and strict methodological development of the Tawhidi worldview is articulated in this work. The only way that Tawhid and Shari'ah can converge as law is in terms of developing the Tawhidi methodology, purpose and objective of the universal and unique law in consonance with the ontology of Tawhid. Such a convergence in the primal ontological sense of Tawhid is termed as maqasid as-shari'ah al-Tawhid.

The theme of circular causation has nascent origin in the field of sociology of economics with vast development applications and with epistemological issues on modeling in the framework of the phenomenon of pervasive interconnectedness. Thus the sociological theme of epistemic unity of knowledge grounds the theory and application of the theory and models of circular causation to the vast realm of socioeconomic development issues.The theory and application of circular causation has methodological similarities with Gunnar Myrdal's theory of social causation and Joseph Schumpeter's and Hayek's learning models of evolutionary phenomena. One can re-engineer many important works by sociological economists in and by the methodology of circular causation. Among these other important works are capabilities and functioning by Amartya Sen; John Rawls' evolutionary good society aspiring for social justice; adaptation of Ilya Prigogine's theory of being and becoming to social, economic and development phenomenon; and George Soros' theory of reflexivity in history and financial markets. The proponent of this book has pioneered the area of theory and application of circular causation extensively.

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Can there be God-conscious organizational behaviour in the real world of today’s capitalist corporations and the alternatives? In this overview of God-consciousness as a moral-awareness model of preference formation, functions, structures, and programs of organization within the purview of institutions and society, the authors explain and compare the major ethical issues of organizational behaviour and structure in Islamic economic theory and application. By analysing the nature of inclusive organizations and institutions, and the ethical preferences in Islamic choice framework, the authors from Saudi Arabia, Australia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Canada, Indonesia and the UK, can highlight individual aspects to show whether capitalist organizational behaviour is sustainable. They describe how The Tawhidi epistemological framework governing conscious moral decision-making by institutions and organization, are used to establish the meaning and potential application of the concept of sustainability, and whether organizational moral objectives achieve their goals of life-fulfilment development, Poverty alleviation and the equitable distribution of wealth and resources.

This handbook offers a unique and original collection of analytical studies in Islamic economics and finance, and constitutes a humble addition to the literature on new economic thinking and global finance. The growing risks stemming from higher debt, slower growth, and limited room for policy maneuver raise concerns about the ability and propensity of modern economies to find effective solutions to chronic problems. It is important to understand the structural roots of inherent imbalance, persistence-in-error patterns, policy and governance failures, as well as moral and ethical failures. Admittedly, finance and economics have their own failures, with abstract theory bearing little relation with the real economy, uncertainties and vicissitudes of economic life. Economic research has certainly become more empirical despite, or perhaps because of, the lack of guidance from theory. The analytics of Islamic economics and finance may not differ from standard frameworks, methods, and techniques used in conventional economics, but may offer new perspectives on the making of financial crises, nature of credit cycles, roots of financial system instability, and determinants of income disparities. The focus is placed on the logical coherence of Islamic economics and finance, properties of Islamic capital markets, workings of Islamic banking, pricing of Islamic financial instruments, and limits of debt financing, fiscal stimulus and conventional monetary policies, inter alia. Readers with investment, regulatory, and academic interests will find the body of analytical evidence to span many areas of economic inquiry, refuting thereby the false argument that given its religious tenets, Islamic economics is intrinsically narrative, descriptive and not amenable to testable implications. Thus, the handbook may contribute toward a redefinition of a dismal science in search for an elusive balance between rationality, ethics and morality, and toward a remodeling of economies based on risk sharing and prosperity for all humanity

Islamic Financial Economy and Islamic Banking, is a thorough, deeply conceptual, analytical and applied work in the area of epistemological foundation of Islamic world-system. The book presents a new frontier of original contribution to the theme of generalized-system model of shari’ah. The model, derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah (Prophetic guidance) incorporates a wide analytical coverage of the purpose and objective of the Islamic worldview (maqasid as-shari’ah) in Islamic economics and finance in particular. The author covers issues that contrast with the existing understanding of Islamic economics and finance, including some specific goals defining the field and how they compare in today’s unstable world of financial volatility. A new heterodox thinking in economic theory is outlined. The potential as to how such issues can be addressed by the Tawhidi epistemology in formulating the generalized-system model of the purpose and objective of shari’ah lead the way in this book. Its presentation and analysis, methods and approach, overarch the fields of philosophy of science, rigorous analysis, mathematical and other presentations of the understanding given, and all taken up in the light of the exegesis of the Qur’an and coverage of the Sunnah. The result is a substantive one in the field of scholarship and application; and in analytically proving the universality and uniqueness of the epistemic worldview for the academic and practitioner world at large. The totality of the multiverse diversity of issues and problems reviewed comprise the study of the world-system by the Tawhidi methodological approach. Yet this methodology and its empirical configuration are universally applicable to all users without any need for unnecessary religious overtone.

In its pursuit to equip the reader with a basic knowledge of Islamic economics, this book divulges the micro-foundations of the discipline, and highlights the predominant schools of thought that exist in the field. It explains, in simple terms, what Islamic economics entails and how it can be studied as a science in relation to the Holy Quran, the Sunnah and the Islamic intellectual tradition based on these two sources. The book familiarizes the reader with knowledge of the basic maxims of the discipline. It then establishes the arguments that are presented by the proponents of religion-based economics, specifically Islam, and apprises readers about the aforementioned schools as they exist. A number of chapters consider the dimension of the dilemmas the discipline is facing, and the chronological progress of the field is reviewed, hence providing a comprehensive overview of the topic. The book deals with the issues about the origins of Islamic economics, the basic methodological questions, the use of the opportunities offered by fiqh in the methodological discussions and the main problems arising from the encounter with other cultures and civilizations. It offers practical solutions, despite the differing schools of thought, not unlike the development of conventional Economics where radical differences between Keynesian, Classical and Monetarist approaches existed. It concludes by incorporating some of the finest works that explain to the reader how Islamic economics may progress as a discipline. This guide will provide both students and researchers in Comparative Economic Studies, Islamic Economics and Islamic Finance with an essential overview of the field.