Islamic Economics: The Polar Opposite of Capitalist Economics By Asad Zaman

Islamic Economics: The Polar Opposite of Capitalist Economics
by Asad Zaman
Most books on Islamic economics treat it as a modest variation on conventional theory — keep the framework, swap out interest for profit-sharing, add a few religious constraints. This book rejects that approach entirely.
Asad Zaman argues that Islamic and capitalist economics are not cousins but opposites, diverging at the level of first principles. Where capitalism is built on individualism, competition, and the maximization of self-interest, an Islamic economic order is grounded in social responsibility, generosity, cooperation, and accountability before God. These aren’t tweaks to the same system — they are two different starting points that lead to two different worlds, from international relations down to the structure of the family and the choices of the individual.
Drawing on the Quran, Hadith, and early Islamic tradition, this wide-ranging survey traces how Islamic economics emerged as a genuine alternative to Western models — not a derivative of them — and shows how its principles offer real solutions to the financial, environmental, and social crises that capitalism keeps producing. Originally published in 2008 as Islamic Economics: A Survey of the Literature, the book helped define the field and is reissued here with a title that better reflects its central, still-provocative thesis.
A clear-eyed, deeply researched, and unapologetically argumentative survey for anyone — economist, policymaker, or general reader — who wants to understand what Islamic economics actually claims, and why it cannot simply be bolted onto the capitalist framework.