Riba: Usury or Interest

Epistemological Integration: Essentials of an Islamic Methodology is a program which seeks to construct an intellectual framework for Islamic methodology with a view to realizing practical training in the thoughtful investigation of issues related to knowledge in various fields. The book’s title affirms the distinctive types of integration that characterize Islamic methodology, including integration of sources, means, and schools of thought, as well as existing realities with desired ideals etc. This is fully consistent with human nature, as variety is fundamental to the functions people perform and skills they master. The work essentially makes the case that fundamental to any Muslim recovery is laying the foundations of sound thinking and values that integrate the two main sources of knowledge: Revelation and Reality (that is the created worlds both physical, societal and psychological) under the umbrella of Tawhid. Islamic methodology adopts that and extends human hopes to integrate efforts so that humanity can realistically achieve prosperity on earth and earn eternal happiness in the afterlife.

This valuable work presents Ibn Taimiyah’s thoughts on the concept of Islamic economics, the state in the economy, on public finance, money, interest, prices, partnership, and profit-sharing, and offers a comparison of his ideas with those of some medieval scholars in Europe, along with a study of his influence on Islamic thinkers in later periods.

This book is an English rendering of a popular Arabic book entitled Mushkala al-Faqr wa Kaifa ‘Aljiha al-Islam by the renowned Muslim Scholar ‘Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The author depicts the basic principles of the Islamic Economic System in the light of the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah.