Muslim economists adopt various approaches to analyze the nature of Islamic economics. The use of these different approaches leads to controversies among them. This study aims to discuss the controversies among the Muslim scholars with regards to the methods of inquiry into the economics. The study noticed that the controversies arise only in the matter of emphasis on certain economic aspects, but they unanimously agreed on the main sources, the Holy Qur’an and Hadith. Consequently, several contemporary Islamic economists have totally rejected the western thought, while some others have accepted with modification of some aspect of western thought. The former group is mainly consisting of jurists, while the latter group including the western trained economists. In responding to western economics, these groups totally disagreed on at least three basic assumptions of western economics as they are disharmony with the norms and values of Islam. These assumptions include: man is selfish by nature; material progress is a supreme goal; and every person has an inherent tendency to maximize his material welfare and also man possesses knowledge and ability to decide what is good and bad for himself/herself. However, there exist the differences in various strands or debate on the economic approaches for describing the nature of the Islamic economics.
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In-Text Citation: (Majid & Yahya, 2018)
To Cite this Article: Majid, M. S. A., & Yahya. (2018). Method of Inquiry into the Islamic Economics among Contemporary Muslim Scholars: A Critical Literature Survey. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(9), 105–117.
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