Publication:
Democracy, economic development and maqasid al-Shariah
Abstract
The statistics shows that of the richest top 20 countries in 2003, 19 were capitalist democracies. This article, thus, attempts to assess the potential association between economic development/ capitalism and democracy. In arguing for a positive nexus between the two, it also aims to locate the historical roots of this relationship. In doing so, the paper argues that Western capitalism historically evolved from market economy and capitalism developed under Islamic civilizations, which preceded the modern nature of Western capitalism by at least six hundreds years. It also argues that fundamental principles of modern democracy can be traced back to political structure of the initial Islamic community. Therefore, it asserts that Islam neither impedes nor objects to democracy and also contains many features of capitalism. In supporting these assertions, the paper introduces the concept of intergenerational Al-Ghazali Optimum and, therefore, argues that the most important values behind the political and economics success of the West can actually be found in a reinterpretation of maqasid al-Shari'ah.
Keywords
Islam , Economics , Maqasid shariah
Citation
Cizakca, Murat. (2014). Democracy, economic development and maqasid al-Shariah. In Murat Cizakca (Ed.), Islam and the challenges of Western capitalism (pp. 178-195). Cheltenham, Glasglow: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Publisher
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
Available in physical copy only