Wealth as an Indicator of Socio-Economic Welfare: Islamic Views

Asad Zaman, Arif Naveed and Atiq Rehman
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Arif Naveed: University of Cambridge

Chapter Chapter 6 in Towards a Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah Index of Socio-Economic Development, 2019, pp 189-205 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract According to Western views, wealth is unambiguously good, and so human welfare increases when wealth increases. Islam has a substantially more sophisticated view of the relation between wealth and welfare. Excess wealth is a trial, which can bring great rewards if utilized correctly, and also bring great harm if utilized incorrectly. Similarly, poverty is a trial which can bring great rewards if borne with patience and prayer, and also cause great harm if it leads to begging from others. Thus, there is no clear and simple relationship between wealth and welfare. This means that Islamic approaches to constructing an index for welfare must be substantially more complicated than those currently in use in the west. It is worth considering the reasons for undertaking the project of measurement and assessing what needs to be measured, and whether measurement itself is necessary, for achieving these goals?

Keywords: Wealth; Welfare; Poverty; Measurement; Index; Sharīʿah; B59; I3; P4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Working Paper: Wealth as an Indicator of Socio-Economic Welfare: Islamic Views (2014)
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-12793-0_6

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