In the short history of
contemporary Islamic economics, we also encounter two other interesting
phenomena: an overstatement of the uniqueness of the objectives of the Islamic
Economic system, and a mix up or confusion of principles and tools of analysis.
Driven by a sense of
idealism, some of us attribute a special status to the general objectives of
the Islamic economic system: Full employment, satisfaction of basic human
needs, economic-cum distributive justice, development or improvement in the
quality of economic life, economic power, etc. But a closer examination of
these objectives indicates us that they are the same for each and all economic
systems as usually expressed in their econo-political rhetoric throughout the
human history. More specifically, these objectives are also the core objectives
of socialism, communism and capitalism even anarchism and all or “isms.” The
same also arises with regard to the institutions of market, factors of
production and the principle of government intervention whereby some Islamic
economists try to draw a so called “Islamic” picture that is very different
from the conventional wisdom that is common to other economic systems.
This is not to deny a
certain uniqueness of the Islamic economic system. This uniqueness is founded
on the principles of Islam as a revealed religion as they strike a balance way
of life that is not tilted in either direction. A uniqueness that lies
essentially in two things: The explicit acceptance of the Divine Revelation as
a source of knowledge and certain detailed pivotal institutions such as the
prohibition of Riba (interest), the private-public mix of property/ownership,
the spiritual-material mix of success, Zakah, Awqaf, etc. in other words, while
the general objectives and the tools of analysis of Islamic economics are the
same in economics itself, the some aspects of the institutional setting of the
Islamic economic system are different, or the means this system uses to reach
the common goals are not exactly the same as in other system the utilitarian
capitalist which is generally given the name economics and the utilitarian
communist which is dictatorial by definition.
Another important area of
uniqueness of the Islamic economic system must be brought out explicitly. It is
the moral characteristic of its articulation, on both the principles’ level and
the level of the practical rules and regulations. This moral characteristic
makes a boundary of the accessible set of actions/decisions/ behaviors of the
economic unit. The economic unit in the Islamic system is equipped with the
ability to judge possible courses of action on moral grounds, the same way one
finds in all societies and systems but to this the Islamic system adds an
external screen apparatus that is manifested in the set of morally-based rules
of do and dot to do that takes the form of the Shari’ah or the Islamic law.
Some of Islamic economists call this characteristic “the moral internal and
external screening.” We must realize, however, that the Shari’ah based morality
includes items that are not conventionally taken as moral matters such as ‘pork
production’ but we must also realize that the contemporary moral standards of
the capitalist utilitarian societies is subject to an accelerating dynamism
that associate relativity to all conventional morals.
Moreover, the Islamic
economists also argue that because of it is sourced out in the Divine
Revelation, the Islamic economic system is balanced in a way that brings it
closer to the human nature (al Fitrah). Accordingly, you will find in it
apparent similarities to certain aspects of other economic systems because
undeniably the latter are the product of human mind/experience mix.
Consequently, it is normal
that the means to reach the common goals, in the Islamic economic system,
include a free market-exchange with emphasis on honoring consensual contracts
(some will see it as à la capitalist free market), prohibition of monopoly (Ã
la interventionism), great concern about the satisfaction of the basic human
needs and about economic justice (Ã la socialism) and assignment of a
substantial chunk of natural resources to the whole society as represented by
its government (Ã la communism). Add to it all, the prohibition of interest
that denies any rewardability to most of the purely financial transactions
unless it is formed as means of production and thus deprives them from the
functionality that is conventional in the capitalist framework.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment