Mainstream Methodologies for Analyzing Fiqh in Governing Islamic Economics and Finance

Abstract

This study analyzes the role of mainstream methodologies and techniques in Islamic economics and finance. Specifically, this study tackles the following question: what is the domain of applicability of these mainstream methodologies and techniques of analysis, if any, within the discipline of Islamic economics and finance, especially with reference to Fiqh issues? The study has adopted a qualitative research method based on thematic and case analysis of material extracted from secondary literature on the topic of research methods in the discipline. It aims to achieve the following three objectives: (1) to analyze the relevant philosophical underpinnings, especially epistemological differences between Islamic and conventional economics and finance; (2) to analyze the nexus in practice between mainstream economic methodology on the one hand and Fiqh on the other (as the foundational sciences underlying Islamic economics and finance); and (3) to recommend the proper use of mainstream methodologies and techniques for the analysis of Fiqh issues in Islamic economics and finance, based on the above analysis. Due to lack of consensus in the literature, the paper concludes by recommending that mainstream methodologies and techniques of economics and finance can be useful in Fiqh-related situations requiring human rationality, providing a means for evidence-based ijtihad. In the domain of Usul al-Fiqh, these situations include the following: (1) interpretation of primary sources (especially revelation); and (2) extension of the same logic via secondary sources. The role of these methodologies and techniques would be to minimize the subjectivity involved in the process of ijtihad, especially via a rigorous maslahah-mafsadah analysis.