Islamization of Economy in Pakistan (1977-88): An Essay on the Relationship between Religion and Economics
In: The Pakistan development review: PDR, Band 30, Heft 4II, S. 1105-1118
The Martial Law regime which came into power in Pakistan on
July 5, 1977 after a political crisis undertook a comprehensive scheme
of Islamizing the political, legal, economic and educational areas of
the Pakistani society. Ordinances and Laws on Zakat (poor-due), 'Ushr
(tithe), elimination of riba (interest/ usury), profit and loss scheme,
mudaraba (profit-sharing), and twelve modes of Islamic finance, were
promulgated with the avowed aim of transforming the Pakistani economy
into an Islamic economic system. In this article we shall confine
ourselves to an examination of the Islamization of the economy only;
that is, the article shall focus on the relationship between religion
and economics in general, and Islam and economics in particular. Since
the times of Adam Smith (1720-1790), and especially after the works of
Lionel Robbins (1898-1984) the modern economy is generally taken by the
economists as an autonomous economic system and modern economics, an
important branch of the social sciences, has gradually become
independent from religion. In both capitalist and socialist versions,
economics is generally defined as the "study of the social laws
governing production and distribution of the material means of
satisfying human needs" [Lange (1963)].