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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study dialectical methodology as a scientific reasoning process in Islam comparatively with mainstream philosophy of science.Design/methodology/approachComparative discursive method of inquiry using the language of philosophy of science and abstract mathematization (limited use).FindingsThis is a theoretical paper of an intellectual category, which presents the arguments within the framework of the principle of universal and pervasive complementarities as the evidential sign of the epistemology of unity of knowledge studied through functional ontological logical formalism.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical nature of an argumentative paper is at best a foundation one rather than an empirical one.Practical implicationsAn example of the Islamic dialectical methodology of unity of knowledge is applied to socioeconomic development in Islamic perspective.Originality/valueThere is believed to be no other paper on Islam and its dialectical methodology in scientific reasoning compared to the theory of dialectics in mainstream philosophy of science in the contemporary literature.

The well‐known modes of raising and mobilizing venture capital in Islam known as mudarabah and musharakah (m&m) in Islamic economics are critically examined. In the form as m&m presently exist, they are pointed out to be pre‐Islamic financing instruments that came into usage in the Islamic economic literature. The inability to realise the extensively relational perspectives of Islamic socio‐economic co‐operation with extensive participation across agents, firms and sectors by means of these instruments, which are essential requirements for the Islamic political economy, is shown to make the instruments fraught with many technical and ethical problems of development financing. The alternative to transform m&m into a more integrated financing instrument of Islamic venture capital is formalised. Empirical evidences are given. Institutional issues are examined in the light of Islamic joint venture financing.

The scientific research program of a knowledge‐centered systems‐oriented approach to socio‐scientific conceptualization is invoked here to develop a broader concept of human sustainability. Knowledge‐induced fields are shown to arise from the process‐oriented methodology of an interactive, integrative and evolutionary (IIE) worldview of continuous learning. Such a process is found to give rise to a unique theory of generalized systems with a universal paradigm and application that are premised on the epistemology of unity of knowledge. We discuss the validity of this model for human development as objectified by the concept of a well‐being criterion function with extensive complementarity among the variables and relations embedded in this criterion. The underlying epistemology of unity of knowledge and a unified worldview is thus shown to yield a substantively new concept of human sustainability, particularly relating to issues and curriculum design in higher education and their socio‐scientific implications.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain how to reduce transaction cost in corporate governance by subjecting it institutionally to ethics and values of interactive and consensual decision making with transparency gained from participation between managers and shareholders/stakeholders and the community at large. This is an epistemological problem in the Islamic approach to corporate governance. The paper brings these out in technical language and methodology.Design/methodology/approachAn analytical epistemological and comparative study between mainstream and Islamic conceptions in corporate governance is used to develop the idea mentioned above. The analytical model used is of an ethico‐economic general equilibrium type with learning variables.FindingsThe Islamic theory of corporate governance under the rubric of its epistemology of unity of knowledge treated within a systems approach is found to reduce transaction cost and produce better management decisions.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is mostly theoretical in nature but carries quantitative facts on the limitations of existing corporate governance practice at the accountancy level in the global scene.Practical implicationsThe adoption of institutional modes to generate interactive, integrative and evolutionary frameworks of corporate decision making is derived from the content of the paper. Recent global incidents with WorldCom and Enron are cited to show how corporate governance has failed as an effective means of reducing the immense transaction costs that were engendered by the failure of these mega corporations.Originality/valueThe paper conveys an original idea that has not been taken up elsewhere. It reflects the systems approach to the study of behavior in a corporate setting within the epistemology of systemic unity of knowledge. Besides, in the Islamic comparison that the paper undertakes in contradistinction to the mainstream approach, the methodology of systemic unity of knowledge conveys an altogether new way of studying corporate governance in the related new institutional framework.

PurposeThe paper's purpose is to present and empirically validate a learning model of participatory grassroots development among the poor and needy in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThe approach used is conceptual modeling and its empirical validation for a case study of poor women's sewing project in an interior village of Chittagong, Bangladesh.FindingsA perpetual charity‐fund with endogenous values and productive transformation of the needy at the grassroots can prove to be an effective approach to socioeconomic development.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical validation can be enhanced with more data being generated with experience in the women's sewing project in the near future.Practical implicationsThis is a policy‐oriented paper with practical ways and means‐test for implementation in development planning.Originality/valueA formal modeling of grassroots development premised on human resource development and perpetual charity‐fund for financing and their empirical validation is presented. Such an approach is not presently found in the hierarchical models of development planning. It should be included for making development meaningful as the grassroots. Particular reference is made here to Bangladesh development planning.