The labor market in Islam is governed by the Islamic laws of fairness, justice, and reward that is equivalent to the job done. Most of the literature in the field discusses the normative aspect of the labor market, whereas few attempts can be seen to address more positive aspects. There is a need for new theoretical and empirical models for the Islamic labor market, which should differ from established approaches. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, scope, and dimensions of the labor market in an Islamic context, from both theoretical and practical perspectives. It presents and discusses labor economics and then compares the similarities and differences between conventional and Islamic views of the labor market, explaining where they meet, and critically justifying why they differ, under the umbrella of Shari'ah. The book raises pertinent issues, which it analyzes from both standpoints and widens the discourse to include norms, morality, and related institutions such as social security and welfare. A unique feature of the book is that it examines labor economics practices among a specific group of countries, and studies the labor conditions within these countries, where the majority of the population follow the teachings of Islam in their daily lives. The book proposes practical strategies for the development of new models for the Islamic labor market which are compatible with the modern world. The book will enable academics and practitioners of Islamic economics to make economic sense of Shari'ah compliance and human resource development.

This comprehensive history analyses the role of labour in the medieval Islamic economy, studies women's and minority labour structures and explores doctrinal and religious approaches to labour. It includes an extensive dictionary of trade and occupational terms.

Under the rule of the current economic order, social injustice is ever-increasing. Issues such as poverty, inhumane working conditions, inadequate wages, social insecurity and an unhealthy labor market continue to persist. Many states are also unable to produce policies capable of resolving these problems. The characteristics of the capitalist system currently render it unable to provide social justice. In fact, on the contrary, the system reinforces these injustices and prevents economic and social welfare from reaching the masses. Many Muslim scholars have analyzed and, indeed, criticized this system for years. This book argues that an alternative and more equitable theoretical and practical economical order can been developed within the framework of Islamic principles. On the other hand, the experiences of societies under the rule of Muslim governments do not always seem to hold great promise for an alternative understanding of social justice. In addition, the behaviors of Muslim individuals within their economic lives are mostly shaped by the necessities of daily economic conditions rather than by the tenets of Islam that stand with social justice. Until 1990s, studies of Islamic economics made connections between finance and the notion of social justice, but work conducted more recently has neglected this issue. It is therefore evident that the topic of social justice needs to be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Filling an important gap in existing literature, the book uniquely connects social justice and Islamic finance and economics on this topic. Theory, practice and key issues are presented simultaneously throughout this book, which is based on the writings of a number of eminent scholars.

Although Islamic finance is one of the fastest growing segments of emerging global financial markets, its concepts are not fully exploited especially in the areas of economic development, inclusion, access to finance, and public policy. This volume is to improve understanding of the perspective of Islamic finance on economic development, social and economic justice, human welfare, and economic growth.

The Islamic labor market rests on the principles of the free market exchange of Islamic economics. Regrettably, the latter has failed to keep pace with the rapidly growing academic and professional developments of the former. Much of the published work within Islamic economics is idealistic if not radically ideological with little relevance to the Islamic labor market, leaving students of Islamic economics without a coherent body of economic theory to understand the practical objectives of Shariah that gives a sense of direction to the developments in this field. Drawing upon received sources of goals of Shariah, the authors present an independent academic work which: Emphasizes the common conceptual grounds of labor market behavior shared by the objectives of Shariah approach as well as the conventional approach to economics. Adopts standard tools of contemporary economics to explain the industrial relations. Extends the conventional scope of the labor market and forces of the labor market under the umbrella of Shariah. Enables readers and practitioners of Islamic economics to make economic sense of Shariah compliance and human resource development. Explains how the economics of Shariah is liable to offer moral guidance and a sense of direction to regulators and practitioners of the Islamic labor market. Labor in an Islamic Setting will be of interest to postgraduate students, academics, middle and senior management in both the western and the Islamic business communities, researchers and policy makers.

In the past twenty-five years Iran has experienced a revolution and a turbulent postrevolutionary period under an Islamic state that declared itself the government of the oppressed while it struggled to establish a utopian Islamic economy. In this pioneering work Farhad Nomani and Sohrab Behdad provide a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of change and class configuration in Iranian society. Using an empirical framework, they map the trajectory of class changes over time, specifically noting the movements between prerevolutionary and postrevolutionary Iran. A centerpiece of the book is its analysis of the changes in the pattern of employment of women in the postrevolutionary period. Despite its conceptual and quantitative approach, the book is written in a clear and lucid style, making it accessible to a wide audience. The authors provide a fresh look into Iranian society by exploring the changes in its essential underlying economic structure, and in doing so, they lay the foundation for comparative studies of the social hierarchy of labor in other Middle Eastern countries.

Islamic institutions have had a very long history, whose performance was muted during the Colonial Period. However, after the Second World War, the revival of the Islamic institutions began. Throughout its history, it had been assumed that these institutions are working for the betterment of humanity. Their target is to achieve a high level of the welfare for the concerned community. Historically these institutions were waqf, zakat and sadaqat. However from the last three decades, Islamic financial institutions have been established with the objective of providing interest- free products, transaction and services for Muslims. However there has been lot of criticism on the performance and role of these institutions. This becomes especially pertinent in a Muslim country like Indonesia, where there is a dire need to know that how these institutions are working and if it is possible for them to achieve the objectives of the Shari'ah. Some scholars have claimed that these institutions are performative and only serving 'lip service', and there are no significant differences between the Islamic and secular institutions where both kinds of institutions operate on the same foundations and differ only in use of technical terminologies. This volume aims to analyze some of the Islamic institutions which are operating in the world's biggest Muslim country, Indonesia, as a case study and analyze the contemporary Islamic Banking products and practices in the light of 'Maqasad al-Shari'ah'. The book's objective is to propose an improved system of Islamic institutions for Muslims to refer to. This volume will also analyze why these institutions are currently not able to comply with the Maqasad al Shari'ah and how it is possible to enhance the level of economic development, social wellbeing, individual freedom and equality, elimination of injustice and poverty, and achieve the other targets of the Maqasad through these institutions.