ESSAYS IN CONSTITUTING ISLAMIC MORAL ECONOMY: ISLAMIC VALUE THEORY, MODE OF PRODUCTION AND ISLAMIC TRANSDISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

The aggravating socio-economic inequality and nature's revenge via environmental crises in contemporary times have eroded trust in the problem-solving power of the market economy. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have officially demonstrated that these complex problems should not be regarded as temporary market failures, as the crises are endemic to the market system. Therefore, the research presented in this study adopts an alternative political economy approach to explore the substantive ethical causes of such modern problems. To do that, this research aims to deconstruct one of the building blocks of political economy, namely value theory, to debunk the economic power differentials influencing the inclusion and exclusion of specific stakeholders in the value creation process.
This research, hence, aims to develop a theoretical ground within the main thrust of Islamic ontology and epistemology, namely justice and ihsan, by constituting the foundation of a conceptual and theoretical framework that will lead to an Islamic moral political economy. In doing so, this research aims to theorise Islamic value theory (Chapter 3) and Islamic modes of production (Chapter 4) by constituting also the Islamic transdisciplinary methodology (Chapter 2).
This research initially adopts the theory of deconstruction to reveal the philosophical presumptions and impact of power differentials on the knowledge creation process. The modes of production have determining power over the representation of the extended reality on the formation of knowledge, organisations, and institutions. Accordingly, the research articulates the Islamic transdisciplinary approach to constitute an Islamic mode of production and value theory, in which different factors and parameters determine production relations and, ultimately, social totality.
This research is structured around three interrelated theoretical essays: Islamic value theory is constituted, which is used as a structural ground in constituting Islamic modes of production. The proposed Islamic theory of value is also designated to conceptualise the ultimate objective, the Islamic theory of distribution. In order to ensure a holistic theoretical framework, this research developed Islamic transdisciplinary (in Chapter 2) as the overarching cognitive system of Islam in shaping knowledge stricture and construction in Islamic moral and political economy.
As proposed in this research, Islamic value theory transcends the dominance of both capital and labour by embracing the Islamic moral economy frame. These axioms shaping Islamic moral economy, rooted in Islamic ontology and epistemology, unite diverse social domains, rejecting the fragmentation of reality and its representation as disciplinary knowledge. It is suggested that the compartmentalised nature of the Western system of thought hinders its ability to address so-called complex problems effectively. In contrast, Islamic transdisciplinary knowledge envisions a unity of existence in the external world, incorporating transdisciplinary subjects as integral parts of that unity. This theory holds the potential to transform our approach to these complex issues.
To liberate land, labour, and capital from the grip of hegemonic structures, the Islamic ethical framework meets the conditions of an impartial spectator, ensuring fair distribution of surplus among all stakeholders. The tawhid concept suggests stakeholders' complementarity, transcending the binary oppositions that structure Western political economy. This paper initially redefines the authentic factors of production—Human, Earth, and Society—concerning Islamic ontology and epistemology. To counter the impact of structural power differentials in the articulation of value theory, the Islamic mode of production proposed in this study proposes a new production relation in which the absolute ownership of Allah is reinterpreted as the communal ownership of natural resources by all stakeholders, reassuring a fair and inclusive system.
As proposed in this study, the Islamic value theory recognises both the inherent value of these stakeholders as a distribution factor and their contribution to the value creation process. In the second equation, the individual falah (salvation in this world and the hereafter) function is subject to their contribution to social capital, ensuring further emancipation and empowerment of the excluded stakeholders to achieve the Islamic moral political objective, within the initial ‘balanced order’ (mizan) conditions. This recognition of stakeholders’ value and their potential contribution to the value-creation process instils a sense of optimism and emancipation and empowerment vis-à-vis resource permissibility and accessibility within the system.