Islam and the Economic Challenge By Umer Chapra

ISLAM AND THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGE. The ongoing revival of Islam in almost all Muslim countries has created the need for a clear, integrated picture of the programme that Islam has to offer to realise the kind of well-being that it envisages, and to counter the different problems now facing mankind, particularly in the economic field. Of special interest is a strategy that would help reduce to manageable limits the macroeconomic and external imbalances that most countries are now experiencing around the world, and would yet enable them to attain full employment. removepoverty, fulfil needs, and minimise inequalities of income and wealth. Can the Muslim countries formulate such a strategy within the framework of the secularist worldview of capitalism, socialism and the welfare state? Can Islam help them realise their goals? If so, what kind of a policy package do Islamic teachings imply? This book is an effort to answer these and other related questions.

DR. MUHAMMAD UMER CHAPRA is Economic Adviser to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Riyadh. He has published widely on Islamic economics and finance. His most outstanding and widely acclaimed work is Towards a Just Monetary System. published by the Islamic Foundation in 1985. For his various contributions to Islamic economics and finance he received in 1990 the Islamic Development Bank award in Islamic Economics and the King Faisal International Award inIslamic Studies.