Development of theory of Islamic economics: problems and proposals

The term 'Islamic economics', as a new paradigm for analysing economic behaviour gained popular attention in 1950s, although solitary writings on the subject existed earlier. Unfortunately, the new paradigm remained confined within a limited circle of Muslim writers. Its reach in international professional economic circles remained limited. Even the Muslim economists acknowledge that not enough work has been done on the new discipline to qualify as a 'new paradigm'. This paper aims to critically review the developments in the last 60 years within the discipline. The emphasis will be on finding the reasons as to why a unique paradigm of Islamic economics could not be developed. However, the ultimate objective of any diagnosis is naturally treatment. Therefore, some suggestions are also made as to what, in my view, can help developing the theory of Islamic economics on scientific lines so as to qualify for a new paradigm.