Islam and the Path to Human and Economic Development

This book briefly surveys the evolution of the Western concept of development, recognizing the wider dimensions of human and economic development and the role of institutions and rules, which has moved toward the vision and the path of development envisaged in Islam, emphasizing human solidarity, belonging, wellbeing, sharing, concern for others, basic human entitlements, and modest living. The goal is to explain the basis and network of rules for achieving human and economic development as mandated by the Quran and operationalized by the Prophet in Islam. A reading of this book should confirm that in today's Muslim societies the core elements of the institutional structure that would designate a system as Islamic are, by and large, notable for their absence.

Abbas Mirakhor is the first holder of the chair of Islamic Finance at the International Centre For Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF), Malaysia. He worked with the International Monetary Fund for 24 years and also served as Dean of the IMF Executive Board.

Hossein Askari is the Iran Professor of International Business and International Affairs at the George Washington University, USA, and an Advisor to the BPEDME at University of California, Berkeley, USA.