Beyond Growth and Charity: Reconstructing Islamic Economic Ethics through Welfare, Distributive Justice, and Social Responsibility
Keywords:
Islamic Moral Economy, Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah, Multidimensional Welfare, Distributive Justice, Institutional Social ResponsibilityAbstract
Contemporary Islamic economics is frequently evaluated through financial growth, market expansion, Sharia compliance, and charitable distribution, yet these indicators do not adequately demonstrate whether economic institutions improve human welfare, reduce structural inequality, or fulfil broader social and environmental responsibilities. This study aims to reconstruct Islamic economic ethics by integrating multidimensional welfare, distributive justice, and institutional social responsibility within a unified analytical framework. It employs a qualitative document-based design combining content analysis, reflexive thematic analysis, normative-hermeneutical interpretation, and conceptual reconstruction. Foundational and contemporary scholarship on Islamic Moral Economy, maqāṣid al-sharīʿah, the capability approach, distributive justice, and corporate responsibility, as well as international development reports and institutional frameworks on Islamic social finance and sustainability. The findings show, first, that financial growth and formal Sharia compliance are necessary but insufficient measures of Islamic economic success. Second, welfare should be understood as the substantive capability to attain health, knowledge, security, dignity, participation, moral agency, and resilience. Third, zakat, waqf, charitable transfers, and debt relief remain essential but cannot replace structural reforms addressing unequal wages, concentrated ownership, asymmetrical bargaining power, and uneven exposure to economic and ecological risks. Fourth, social responsibility must be institutionalized through differentiated obligations, transparent governance, impact assessment, stakeholder participation, and access to remedy. The study contributes an Integrated Islamic Economic Ethics Framework that connects ethical economic activity, multidimensional welfare, structural distributive justice, institutional responsibility, and impact verification, thereby strengthening Islamic Moral Economy as a future-oriented framework for sustainable development and accountable governance.
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