Gratitude, Contentment, and Trust in God
Channel: Asad Zaman
Date: 2023-02-05

{bit.ly/na2ie} The first lecture of "A New Approach to Islamic Economics" lays out the behavioral foundations for Islamic Economics. These characteristics of gratitude contentment, and trust in God, recommended in the Quran, are in strong opposition to the "rational" behavior recommended by Economists. There is strong empirical evidence against the Economists' claim that their behavioral theories are positive. Actual behavior of consumers and firms is very different from the axiomatic behavior described as a positive theory in economics textbooks. The question arises as to how idealized and normative theories can be used to study economics, since these do not seem to apply to the real world. The answer lies in understanding that the scientific method itself is only applicable to the world of inanimate objects subject to laws of motion. Human beings have free will, and do not follow any deterministic laws of motion. They are driven by the desire to follow high spiritual ideals, but also held back by their lower desires. This conflict is one of the key to human behavior. Islamic theories of organizing society are far more sophisticated than current Eurocentric theories of social sciences, which are derived from European historical experiences.