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Poverty Employment and Economic Growth
The major problem with the author's presentation throughout the fourth
part remains his preoccupation with a big public sector. According to his vision, the government not only acts as "producer and provider of services, as sources of finance, as the maker of rules, but it carries the overall responsibility for planning, coordination, organization, and delivery of goods and services" (p. 216). In his concluding remarks, this vision takes a diametrically opposite turn. He states, "Islam does not envision a welfare state supporting a large class of welfare recipients. On the contrary, it perceives an economy based on the ethics of work and productive economic enterprise" (p. 231). Here again the author fails to recognize that within the framework of rational economic theory, these two visions are inconsistent and incompatible.
In conclusion, I would like to point out that the author has been very successful in effectively presenting an excellent expository analysis of Islamic economic doctrines. His coverage of various economic topics is extensive and his sources are comprehensive. His presentation is clear and succinct and his conclusions are consistent with his economic hypothesis. While allowing for the existence of private enterprise, he perceives the Islamic economic state as an active player in all aspects of a Muslim's life, including production and overall management. It is in this area that I believe that the author's position is inconsistent with the broader economic philosophy of Islam. In my opinion, the state in Islam plays a residual rather than an active role. The policy prescription that he recommends is, therefore, preachy, idealistic, simplistic, and often nonimplementable. Although Dr. Haq alludes to the fact that Islam's emphasis on the establishment of a just, legal, and equitable social and economic order does not presuppose any specific economic policy or operational strategy, his operational economic model presupposes an active and all-engaging public sector as a modus operandi of an Islamic economic system. Finally, throughout his discussion of economic subjects and issues he has exercised too much liberty and personal ijtihad and has relied too heavily on his own deductive reasoning in carrying out interpretative analysis of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Furthermore, in attempting to portray an idealistic economy, he often starts a discussion of policy prescriptions with a set of unrealistic, simplistic, and untenable assumptions. The result has been that the policy conclusions he draws are neither supportable within the framework of a liberal interpretation of Islamic principles nor consistent with rational economic theory. His major thesis leads to a policy recommendation for the Islamic state to pick up and implement a broad social welfare spending agenda without any concern how these policieswill be financed. His advocacy of limiting the size of land ownership without any regard to how the land was accumulated in the first place as well as his recommendation for the Islamic state to follow an open-ended tax policy clearly violates Islam's commitment to private ownership and free enterprise.
Economy
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