Riba: Usury or Interest

The history of Islamic thought is marked by a continuous tradition of internal revitalisation and reform embedded in the principles of islah, and tajdid. The ultimate purpose has been to bring existing realities and social change in line with the transcendent and universal standard of the Qur’an and Sunnah through a process of restoration and reform. The tradition of islah-tajdid has thus consistently challenged the Muslim status quo and prompted fresh interpretation of the Qur an and Sunnah, understood and implemented through the methodologies of interpretation and ijtihad, as well as the rejection of unwarranted accretions to the original messages of Islam. The basic theme of the paper is that civilisational renewal is an integral part of Islamic thought. The paper looks into the meaning, definition and origins of tajdid and islah and their relationship with ijtihad, and how these have been manifested in the writings and contributions of the thought leaders of Islam throughout its history. It also develops tajdid-related formulas and guidelines that should lead the efforts of contemporary Muslims in forging the objectives of inter-civilisational harmony and their cooperation for the common good.

This work charts new territory in Islamic scholarship by attempting to address the field of public policy from a maqasid (higher objectives of the Shariah) perspective. Public Policy is an independent discipline from both law and politics. Thus, Public Policy in Islam is introduced here as a qualitatively different enterprise from both fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and siyasah shar’iyyah (Shariah-oriented politics). The book deals with a number of critical topics that include methodology, governance, human rights, ethics, political power, and reform and renewal. It highlights how the maqasid approach is indispensable to the theory and practice of public policy in Islam, how it could resolve some of the most persistent governance dilemmas throughout Muslim history, but more significantly, how it forces a re-conceptualization of the wealth of knowledge available in Islam s primary sources to introduce Public Policy in Islam to mainstream policy studies.

This book aims to cover the fundamental aspects of pharmaceutical manufacturing from the Islamic worldview to inspire students that whatever they do including very mundane routine work such as checking pH can be an ‘ibādah – if they work within the sphere of Islamic teachings and in shā’ Allah all the time and effort will be rewarded by Allah SWT. The first chapter describes the Islamic perspectives towards the safeguarding of life vis-à-vis the use of medicines or pharmaceuticals and can be considered as an overview for the Islamic manufacturing practices. Although this book is about the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, other industries may benefit from the discourse and examples given. As much as possible, processes and regulations are described in the book so that it covers the syllabus of industrial pharmacy for undergraduate use and still can be referred for postgraduate studies.