One of the primary objectives of Islamic economics is to bring value-oriented and original solutions to the problems of the age. The prerequisite for this is to build an original economic thought/philosophy. Currently, this construction is being carried out by the third generation of researchers. The fourth generation of young researchers at the undergraduate and graduate level are being trained to become the Islamic economists of the near future. Despite all the classical accumulation, it should be clearly mentioned that Islamic economic thought is still at the beginning of its journey. This construction requires a systematic effort that transcends generations.
The methods to be adopted in Islamic economics research are of critical importance in this construction. The first methodological step is to think of Islamic economics independently of Islamic law. This proposition should not be understood as an intention to position Islamic economics outside of Islamic law. After all, an economic activity cannot be reduced to a legal definition by its very nature. However, Islamic economics cannot ignore the moral concerns of Islamic law. Otherwise, the word “Islam” in the title of the branch would lose its characteristic feature.
Today, Islamic economics is often seen as a sub-discipline of Islamic law. This perspective sees Islamic economics as confined to a framework that prescribes, commands or prohibits, or gives Muslims room for freedom of choice in their attitude towards contemporary economic phenomena. Obviously, in this case, the perspective of Islamic economics remains confined to a jurisprudential perspective. On the one hand, Islamic economics is overshadowed by Islamic law, and on the other hand, interestingly and even bizarrely, Islamic jurists borrow the concepts of situations and phenomena in their jurisprudence on transactions from neoliberal economic theories alongside the classical terminology of Islamic law. The first of these two conceptual sources causes Islamic economic theory to take on an archaic appearance, while the second causes it to become one of the pillars of the neo-liberal economic order. In fact, it would not be fair to see this assessment as an accusation or to attribute the current situation to the lack of Islamic jurists. Because today, the definition, classification and knowledge production processes in the field of economics are under the hegemony of mainstream (neo-liberal) theory. In the face of this hegemony, which even economists cannot overcome, there are many difficulties for Islamic jurists to make effective concepts and theoretical approaches that are not approved by the mainstream. It would not be a fair approach to attribute such a responsibility to Islamic jurists.
One of the biggest reasons why mainstream economic theory cannot be broken is that it dominates economics higher education all over the world. It is a neoliberal economic theory that is taught in economics departments or economics courses all over the world. The fact that alternative economic theories are not given the right to live leads to the acceptance of neoliberal delusions as the only “scientific truth”. In many economics departments today, courses on the history of economic thought are either removed from the curriculum or the content of the courses is transformed into the history of neoliberal economic theory. Course proposals that deal with heterodox economic movements and theories are rejected without hesitation due to hegemonic presuppositions and may even cause the proposers to be ostracized and subjected to pressure in academic circles. Despite these difficulties, Islamic economics needs to come out of the shadow of Islamic law and reach an independent position that feeds Islamic law with the concepts, definitions, knowledge and methods it produces.
The fact that economics in general and Islamic economics, in particular, is a political discipline related to morality makes it essential for Islamic economics to have an independent identity. This is because, with the neoliberal hegemony, the disconnection of economics from morality has resulted in a disconnection from its own character. Restoring this connection depends on linking Islamic economics with what is legitimate as well as what is Sharia. It is vital for the future of the field that researchers working in the field of Islamic economic theory and thought do not ignore this connection. It must be acknowledged that in an academic climate that has been dominated by orthodoxy on the one hand, and the shadow of Islamic law on the other, it is difficult, but not impossible, for Islamic economics researchers to develop an independent Islamic economics that both enriches the economics academy and nourishes Islamic law – to provide original definitions, to produce unique and seminal concepts, and ultimately to produce independent knowledge. For this purpose, I would like to suggest that the concept maps and basic assumptions of the economic thoughts and theories listed below may be closer to Islamic economics than neoliberal theory. At least on a comparative level, it is extremely important to evaluate this possibility for Islamic economic theory:
- Neo-Keynesian economics,
- Social economy -socioeconomics-,
- Institutional economics,
- Neo-Marxist economics.
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Such a situation will have implications for the field of Islamic economics and its reflection on realpolitik. First of all, I would like to reiterate that economics, and with it Islamic economics, is a political field, so it is pointless to complain about the politicization of Islamic economics. However, what should be considered here is the politicization of Islamic economics by Islamic jurists.
Although no one can state it explicitly and even Islamic jurists are not offended by it, the current economic crisis in Turkey is also the crisis of Islamic jurists who are stakeholders of the Turkish Economic Model and who are in positions of authority where they are asked for their opinions on current economic policies. The set of concepts preferred by policymakers in the discourses developed to justify the Turkish Economic Model may lead to the emergence of an apologetic literature in the field of Islamic economics in the future. Thus, the efforts of Islamic jurists on economic issues will be written in the household of Islamic economics, as has been the case before. However, all the efforts of an Islamic jurist belong to the field of Islamic jurisprudence, regardless of the branch of medicine, economics, politics, finance, etc. However, the fact that when it comes to apology in economic matters, it will fall to Islamic economics and not Islamic law can be explained by the fact that Islamic economics is in the shadow and even under the auspices of Islamic law.
Another consequence of the inability of Islamic economics to emerge from the shadow of Islamic law is that it has not yet been able to provide significant answers/defenses to the serious objections directed from the economic and philosophical circles against the propositions or suggestions of Islamic economic theory. Maintaining the depth, self-confidence and robust style that is clearly evident when analyzing the materialized manifestations of capitalism in the face of criticisms directed against Islamic economic theory is another important and necessary step that needs to be taken for the construction of an independent Islamic economics.
Of course, despite all this, as researchers of Islamic economics, we have full faith that Allah, who has established economics as the law of seeing the benefit of people, “After hardship, Allah will bring about ease. (65/Talāq, 7).”
Dr. Yunus Emre Aydınbaş