Knowledge, Work, and Social Welfare as Islamic Socio-Economic Development Goals

By Shafiullah Jan, Karim Ullah & Mehmet Asutay

Abstract

Appropriation of development goals is important for the effective socio-economic policy making. This paper presents a discursive and analytical account of the literature on maqasid al-Shari’ah and Islamic Moral Economy (IME) to draw conclusions on what goals should the policy makers prioritize for the socio-economic development. A comprehensive Islamic development Goals (IDG) framework is developed, which informs socio-economic policy making in the Muslim world. The IDG, based on the synthesis of maqasid al Shari’ah and the IME, demonstrates to keep Knowledge, Work, and Social Welfare security as the prime goals of development for an effective socio-economic policy. Agreement and achievement of these goals can holistically create a binding fabric in coordinating various components of a socio-economic policy and can thus a useful congruence in goals and in turn actions can be achieved.