A Fundamental Flaw in the Construction of Islamic Economics: Providing Islamic Justifications within Conventional Framework

Transcription

1 7 }IImal Ekonomi Malaysia 37 (2003) Nota PnylidikanlRsarch Not A Fundamntal Flaw in th Construction of Islamic Economics: Providing Islamic Justifications within Convntional Framwork Muhammad Syukri SalJh Abdul Fatah Ch Hamat INTRODUCTION This papr has a simpl objctiv. It attmpts to highlight a common but fundamntal flaw in th construction of th prsnt Islamic conomic disciplin. Th flaw rlats to th long-standing practic of using Islamic justifications to rid th convntional conomic disciplin of th so-calld "unislamic" lmnts as th basic approach usd in constructing and xtnding th Islamic conomic disciplin. This flaw is fundamntal bcaus such fforts, short of dismissing its framwork in its ntirty and rplacing it with a compltly Islamic on, would not yild a truly Islamic ntity in its plac. This is bcaus th convntional concpts, dfinitions and framwork do not corn with indpndnt attributs, but ar rathr attachd strongly to convntional philosophical and pistmological undrpinnings. Mrly furnishing Islamjc justifications, but yt basing on and prsnting within th convntional philosophical and pistmological framwork mbodid by convntional concpts and dfinitions, cannot yild a disciplin that can b considrd truly Islamic in its fu ll sns. THE ISSUE Th dvlopmnt of Islamic conomics, sinc its incption in th lat 1970s has bn vry ncouraging indd. Th mrgnc of a substantial numbr of rsarchs, confrncs, acadmic programs and discourss, publications and othr ndavors is a clar manifstation of this phnomnal dvlopmnt. But in th midst of such rapid dvlopmnts, a common trnd mrgd in th basic approach takn by most conomists who work in th ara. Ths rsarchrs tnd to ovrlook th nd to chang th

2 130 Jumal Ekollomi Malaysia 37 ovrall framwork of thir analysis, from th convntional to th Islamic on, and thus, appar to accpt and rtain th convntional conomic framwork as th basis of thir analysis, whil continuing to provid Islamic justifications as to whthr to rtain th parts that do not contradict Islamic principls or dismiss whatvr parts dmd un-islamic. In othr words, th framwork of analysis usd in th construction of Islamic conomics is ssntially th convntional framwork, on which is basd on conomic idas and thinking, and philosophical undrpinnings that gos back all th way to Adam Smith and byond. It is within such framworks that Islamic justifications - normally in th form of Qur'anic vrss and Hadith, or argumnts of past and prsnt Islamic scholars - ar providd and usd in forming and dvloping Islamic conomic disciplin as w find today. Sinc ths so-calld Islamic argumnts and analysis do not mrg from within a distinctivly Islamic framwork, but rathr rprsnt attmpts at giving Islamic justifications for th xisting convntional conomic thinking and idas, th rsulting disciplin cannot b claimd to b an authntic Islamic modl and framwork. Such an Islamic conomics is actually an nd-product of th blnding of Islamic justifications with th basic idas of convntional conomics. As ths basic idas ar unchangd, so ar th convntional concpts and dfinitions into which ths idas gt translatd. That too has crpt into Islamic conomics. In such a scnario, on may not rgard th socalld Islamic conomics as bing th ral Islamic conomics, sinc in truth, it is not. Idas that ar basd on convntional framwork using convntional concpts and dfinitions, no mattr how much Islamic justifications ar givn, will nvr b turnd into Islamic idas. Th convntional concpts, dfinitions and framwork do not com with indpndnt attributs, but ar rathr attachd strongly to convntional philosophical and pistmological undrpinnings. Mrly furnishing Islamic justifications, but yt basing on and prsnting within th convntional philosophical and pistmological framwork mbodid by convntional concpts and dfinitions, cannot yild a disciplin which can b considrd truly Islamic in its full sns. A ral Islamic conomics thrfor must mrg from within an Islamic own distinctiv framwork whr its vry construction is supportd by Islamic concpts and dfinitions basd on Islamic philosophy and pistmology. Such a construction of Islamic conomics must involv rdfinition of concpts viwing from Islamic prspctivs of philosophy and pistmology, and as such this calls for a total rjction of convntional framworks. It is only by adopting such an approach that a disci- AI pli an 11 W o r m aj Is \\ fi [ 1 \ v r

3 37 i i s t r - n s s d d t t 1 A Fundamntal Flaw ill th Construction of Islamic Economics /31 plin can bcom truly Islamic, on that conforms to Islamic viwpoints and judgmnts. THE CASE OF THE SCARCITY OF RESOURCES AND THE UNL!MITED WANTS On xampl which can b usd to illustrat th point in contntion is on rgarding th basic conomic assumption mad by convntional conomks, that is, th rsourcs ar assumd to b scarc whil human wants ar assumd to b unlimitd. Rgarding this mattr, many scholars of Islamic conomics, usually ithr tak an asy way out by simply agring with assumptions outright, or trying to provid som kind of Islamic justifications for thm. On obvious xampl for th lattr cas is an articl ntitld: "Ekonomi Islam - K Arah Pngurusan Sumbr Yang Trhad Dalam Mmnuhi Khndak Yang Tidak Trhad" (Islamic Economics - Towards th Managmnt of Limitd Rsourcs in Fulfilling Unlimitd Wants) (Mohd Riduwan Wahab 200 I: 63-64). From th titl itslf, it convys clarly th imprssion that th author is in total agrmnt with th two assumptions mad by th convntional conomics, and furthr, h vn viws Islamic conomics as solving th issu of managing rsourcs to fulfill thos objctivs. From th author's 'Islamic' prspctivs, th rsourcs ar scarc for two rasons. Firstly, consumabl goods ar confind to only halal and bnficial goods, and scondly, public rsourcs such as watr, sunlight and air ar subjct to mismanagmnt and wastfulnss. Human wants, on th othr hand, ar said to hav bn unlimjtd as ar rflctd in al Syatibi and Imam a1-ghazali's hirarchis of human nds, from th lowst daruriyal (basic nds) to th highr hajiyal (comforts) and th highst lahsilliyal (luxury). Basd on ths argumnts, th author contnds that Islam in gnral acknowldgs th problms of th scarcity of rsourcs and th unlimitd wants as mbodid in th basic assumption of th convntional conomics. In this situation, h said, on has to mak a rasonabl choic and vry choic involvs opportunity costs, that is th vry similar notion advocatd by convntional conomics. H suggsts two solutions to th problms. Firstly, in fulfilling unlimitd wants within th constraints of th scarcity of rsourcs, Muslims shall mak us of fiqh maxims (qawaid fiqhiyah), such as "rjcting bad things is bttr than accpting good

4 132 illrnai Ekonomi Malaysia 37 things" and "taking smallr risks", as a guids. Scondly, th managmnt of rsourcs has to b don fficintly and brilliantly. Th sam is don, and in fact wors, in his othr articl (Mohd Riduwan Wahab 2002: 58-60). Whil maintaining his stanc on th scarcity of rsourcs, this tim around h uss a thory by a wstrn psychologist, namd Abraham Maslow, to justify his accptanc of th notion of th unlimitd wants. Maslow's thory ofth hirarchy of nds, starting from physiological nds (basic nds such as food, cloths and dwllings) to protction and scurity, social nds and acknowldgmnts, and finally nds for a succssful lif, is usd as a framwork for his argumnt. Within this framwork, th author quots various vrss from al Qur'an and includs viws from on contmporary scholar of Islamic conomics, M.A. Mannan, rgarding th principls of consumption. All ths ar said to hav assurd th optimum utilization of th scarc rsourcs in ordr to fulfill th human unlimitd wants. Such writings and many othrs in similar grains, hav dfinitly ovrlookd th ssntial ingrdints of Islamic conomics. In th vry first plac, ths writings ar foundd on convntional philosophical and pistmological undrpinnings instad of on th corrsponding Islamic countrparts. Consquntly, th concpts usd ar not proprly rdfind so as to suit th Islamic prspctivs, hnc dirct usag of such convntional concpts convys convntional manings and purposs. Evn mor sriously, such concpts may run countr to th prspctivs takn by Islam. In th cas of th convntional concpt on scarcity discussd hr for instanc, rsourcs ar considrd as bing scarc dspit th fact that Allah SWT has guarantd vryon with provisions (rizq), and that th concpt of barakah (blssings of Allah SWT) in Islam gos byond quantitativ considrations. Clarly, th convntional concpt of scarcity is not consistnt with ths Tawhidic concpts of rizq and bamkah, whr th lattr con.nots adquacy of provisions for vry living cratur. Likwis, convntional conomics considrs wants as bing unlimitd dspit th fact that in Islam, unlimitd wants only manat from bad dsirs (nafs) such as ammarah, lawwamah and mulhamah, and that ths unlimitd wants can b ovrcom by raising th inclination to bttr good dsirs such as mutmainnah, radhiyyah, mardhiyyah and kamilah. Unlik convntional conomics which always rgards wants as bing unlimitd, Islam provids ways to limit it. Thrfor, in th Islamic systm, it is not impossibl for somon who has succssfully conqurd th bad dsirs, and in its plac, acquird th good dsirs, to fac limitd wants instad. A o T fl aj n a t ~

5 7 A Fundamntal Flaw in th Construction of Islamic Economics 133 CONCLUSION ll f t, 0 l Th issus and cass highlightd in this papr ar som of th xampls of flaws plaguing th fild ofislamic conomics, which wr constructd by applying Islamic justifications within th convntional framwork. By xtnding similar argumnts, it is not impossibl to xpct similar situation xisting in othr filds as wll, b it in th disciplin of pur scincs or th rst of social scincs. In pur scincs, a grat dal of rsarchs ar don and logical argumnts put forward in attmpts to prov and vrify som of th prdictions and allgations mad in th Qur' an and th sayings of th Propht Muhammad S.A.W. In many instancs, th rsarchs and argumnts commnc from within th framwork of convntional scincs, with attmpts to prov or disprov th Truths basd on th convntional findings mad. Whil thr ar som ofths fforts which hav provd to b commndabl so far, thr may b othrs which may turn out to b controvrsial if thy do not dirctly support th Truths. Th lattr cas should b viwd with utmost concrn whil th whol xrcis with appropriat caution. This is bcaus th convntional framwork of pur scincs cannot and should not b usd to vrify and prov th Truths as laid out in al-qur' an and Hadith. Th 'scintism' approachs adoptd by ths pur scincs hav obvious limitations. Thy can not yild prfctly "viabl" findings which can withstand th cours of tim, sinc facts about th world always kp on changing, and thr will always b diffrncs in findings amongst rsarchrs. In Islam, th Truths laid in al-qur' an and Hadith will always rmain as Truths vn though th scintific findings at any particular point in tim may prov to b othrwis. In th ralm of social scincs, on also finds cass whr convntional thoris of social scincs ar usd to analyz Islamic issus. in on instanc, for xampl, a structural functional thory is usd as a thortical framwork to analyz Muslims' problmatic coupls (Zainab bt Ismail 2001). Whil all of th rspondnts of th said study ar Muslims, th valus undrlying th qustions which ar usd to sk information from th rspondnts ar clarly convntional valus, vn though th rsarchr, bing a Muslim hrslf, would hav bn wll awar of th fact that thr ar big diffrncs btwn Muslim valus and convntional valus as far as rsponsibilitis ar concrnd. Worst still, thr ar Muslim authors who ar critical of th convntional approach, and hav gon to a grat lngth to argu against it in thir writings, but yt cannot compltly rid thmslvs of th nd for such

6 134 Jurnal Ekollom; Malaysia 37 mthods whn coming to analyz issus involving Muslims. On such writr has optd for a clarly convntional (rad wstrn) approach to dtrmin whthr th Muslim-Malays hav dviatd from thir faiths (aqidah) or not, vn though h has apparntly rjctd such mthods (Wan Mohd Azam bin Wan Mohd Amin 2002). In this study, h has usd th wstrn concpts of "thinking" such as dduction, induction, analogy, and fallacy to catgoriz th Muslim-Malays into various groups, and has arrivd at th conclusion that som Muslim-Malays hav bn found to dviat from thir faiths. Howvr, th validity of such a conclusion is dbatabl, sinc h has usd inappropriat tools, namly th wstrn (or convntional) approach to study issus about th Muslim's lvl of commitmnt to thir faiths. H should hav usd instad, th Islamic approach to com out with th appropriat critria to proprly masur th Muslims' commitmnt to thir faiths. Howvr, vn on simpl tchnical ground, his conclusion appars faulty, sinc it was rachd without any mpirical vidnc as no fildwork was carrid out to collct th ncssary data. REFERENCES Mohd Riduwan Wahab "Ekonorni Islam - K Arah Pngurusan Sumbr Yang Trhad Dalam Mmnuhi Khndak Yang Tidak Trhad", Dwan Ekonomi, Jun, hal Mohd Riduwan Wahab "Pnggunaan Dalam Ekonomi Islam". Dwan Ekonomi, Octobr, hal Wan Mohd Azam bin Wan Mohd Amin "Prnikiran Dalam Minda Orang Mlayu", in Abd ullah Hassan, d., Prosiding Prsidangan Antarabangsa Pngajian Mlayu Bijing K-2, Jilid 1: Agama, Budaya, Pndidikan, Ekonomi, Sjarah dan Slli. Kuala Lumpur: Dwan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Zain.b bt Ismail. ZOO I. "Pross Kaunsling Di Kalangan Pasangan Yang Brm.salah: Satu Kajian Ks Di labatan Agama Islam Wilayah Prskutuan Kuala Lumpur", a Ph.D thsis submittd to School of Humanitis. Univrsiti Sains Malaysia. ]u T II I 11 T ti tf F tt ti II t, t Islamic Dvlopmnt Managmnt Projct (IDMP) School of Social Scincs Univrsiti Sains Malaysia Pnang - mail:

7 7 }IImal Ekonomi Malaysia 37 (2003) Nota PnylidikanlRsarch Not A Fundamntal Flaw in th Construction of Islamic Economics: Providing Islamic Justifications within Convntional Framwork Muhammad Syukri SalJh Abdul Fatah Ch Hamat INTRODUCTION This papr has a simpl objctiv. It attmpts to highlight a common but fundamntal flaw in th construction of th prsnt Islamic conomic disciplin. Th flaw rlats to th long-standing practic of using Islamic justifications to rid th convntional conomic disciplin of th so-calld "unislamic" lmnts as th basic approach usd in constructing and xtnding th Islamic conomic disciplin. This flaw is fundamntal bcaus such fforts, short of dismissing its framwork in its ntirty and rplacing it with a compltly Islamic on, would not yild a truly Islamic ntity in its plac. This is bcaus th convntional concpts, dfinitions and framwork do not corn with indpndnt attributs, but ar rathr attachd strongly to convntional philosophical and pistmological undrpinnings. Mrly furnishing Islamjc justifications, but yt basing on and prsnting within th convntional philosophical and pistmological framwork mbodid by convntional concpts and dfinitions, cannot yild a disciplin that can b considrd truly Islamic in its fu ll sns. THE ISSUE Th dvlopmnt of Islamic conomics, sinc its incption in th lat 1970s has bn vry ncouraging indd. Th mrgnc of a substantial numbr of rsarchs, confrncs, acadmic programs and discourss, publications and othr ndavors is a clar manifstation of this phnomnal dvlopmnt. But in th midst of such rapid dvlopmnts, a common trnd mrgd in th basic approach takn by most conomists who work in th ara. Ths rsarchrs tnd to ovrlook th nd to chang th

8 130 Jumal Ekollomi Malaysia 37 ovrall framwork of thir analysis, from th convntional to th Islamic on, and thus, appar to accpt and rtain th convntional conomic framwork as th basis of thir analysis, whil continuing to provid Islamic justifications as to whthr to rtain th parts that do not contradict Islamic principls or dismiss whatvr parts dmd un-islamic. In othr words, th framwork of analysis usd in th construction of Islamic conomics is ssntially th convntional framwork, on which is basd on conomic idas and thinking, and philosophical undrpinnings that gos back all th way to Adam Smith and byond. It is within such framworks that Islamic justifications - normally in th form of Qur'anic vrss and Hadith, or argumnts of past and prsnt Islamic scholars - ar providd and usd in forming and dvloping Islamic conomic disciplin as w find today. Sinc ths so-calld Islamic argumnts and analysis do not mrg from within a distinctivly Islamic framwork, but rathr rprsnt attmpts at giving Islamic justifications for th xisting convntional conomic thinking and idas, th rsulting disciplin cannot b claimd to b an authntic Islamic modl and framwork. Such an Islamic conomics is actually an nd-product of th blnding of Islamic justifications with th basic idas of convntional conomics. As ths basic idas ar unchangd, so ar th convntional concpts and dfinitions into which ths idas gt translatd. That too has crpt into Islamic conomics. In such a scnario, on may not rgard th socalld Islamic conomics as bing th ral Islamic conomics, sinc in truth, it is not. Idas that ar basd on convntional framwork using convntional concpts and dfinitions, no mattr how much Islamic justifications ar givn, will nvr b turnd into Islamic idas. Th convntional concpts, dfinitions and framwork do not com with indpndnt attributs, but ar rathr attachd strongly to convntional philosophical and pistmological undrpinnings. Mrly furnishing Islamic justifications, but yt basing on and prsnting within th convntional philosophical and pistmological framwork mbodid by convntional concpts and dfinitions, cannot yild a disciplin which can b considrd truly Islamic in its full sns. A ral Islamic conomics thrfor must mrg from within an Islamic own distinctiv framwork whr its vry construction is supportd by Islamic concpts and dfinitions basd on Islamic philosophy and pistmology. Such a construction of Islamic conomics must involv rdfinition of concpts viwing from Islamic prspctivs of philosophy and pistmology, and as such this calls for a total rjction of convntional framworks. It is only by adopting such an approach that a disci- AI pli an 11 W o r m aj Is \\ fi [ 1 \ v r

9 37 i i s t r - n s s d d t t 1 A Fundamntal Flaw ill th Construction of Islamic Economics /31 plin can bcom truly Islamic, on that conforms to Islamic viwpoints and judgmnts. THE CASE OF THE SCARCITY OF RESOURCES AND THE UNL!MITED WANTS On xampl which can b usd to illustrat th point in contntion is on rgarding th basic conomic assumption mad by convntional conomks, that is, th rsourcs ar assumd to b scarc whil human wants ar assumd to b unlimitd. Rgarding this mattr, many scholars of Islamic conomics, usually ithr tak an asy way out by simply agring with assumptions outright, or trying to provid som kind of Islamic justifications for thm. On obvious xampl for th lattr cas is an articl ntitld: "Ekonomi Islam - K Arah Pngurusan Sumbr Yang Trhad Dalam Mmnuhi Khndak Yang Tidak Trhad" (Islamic Economics - Towards th Managmnt of Limitd Rsourcs in Fulfilling Unlimitd Wants) (Mohd Riduwan Wahab 200 I: 63-64). From th titl itslf, it convys clarly th imprssion that th author is in total agrmnt with th two assumptions mad by th convntional conomics, and furthr, h vn viws Islamic conomics as solving th issu of managing rsourcs to fulfill thos objctivs. From th author's 'Islamic' prspctivs, th rsourcs ar scarc for two rasons. Firstly, consumabl goods ar confind to only halal and bnficial goods, and scondly, public rsourcs such as watr, sunlight and air ar subjct to mismanagmnt and wastfulnss. Human wants, on th othr hand, ar said to hav bn unlimjtd as ar rflctd in al Syatibi and Imam a1-ghazali's hirarchis of human nds, from th lowst daruriyal (basic nds) to th highr hajiyal (comforts) and th highst lahsilliyal (luxury). Basd on ths argumnts, th author contnds that Islam in gnral acknowldgs th problms of th scarcity of rsourcs and th unlimitd wants as mbodid in th basic assumption of th convntional conomics. In this situation, h said, on has to mak a rasonabl choic and vry choic involvs opportunity costs, that is th vry similar notion advocatd by convntional conomics. H suggsts two solutions to th problms. Firstly, in fulfilling unlimitd wants within th constraints of th scarcity of rsourcs, Muslims shall mak us of fiqh maxims (qawaid fiqhiyah), such as "rjcting bad things is bttr than accpting good

10 132 illrnai Ekonomi Malaysia 37 things" and "taking smallr risks", as a guids. Scondly, th managmnt of rsourcs has to b don fficintly and brilliantly. Th sam is don, and in fact wors, in his othr articl (Mohd Riduwan Wahab 2002: 58-60). Whil maintaining his stanc on th scarcity of rsourcs, this tim around h uss a thory by a wstrn psychologist, namd Abraham Maslow, to justify his accptanc of th notion of th unlimitd wants. Maslow's thory ofth hirarchy of nds, starting from physiological nds (basic nds such as food, cloths and dwllings) to protction and scurity, social nds and acknowldgmnts, and finally nds for a succssful lif, is usd as a framwork for his argumnt. Within this framwork, th author quots various vrss from al Qur'an and includs viws from on contmporary scholar of Islamic conomics, M.A. Mannan, rgarding th principls of consumption. All ths ar said to hav assurd th optimum utilization of th scarc rsourcs in ordr to fulfill th human unlimitd wants. Such writings and many othrs in similar grains, hav dfinitly ovrlookd th ssntial ingrdints of Islamic conomics. In th vry first plac, ths writings ar foundd on convntional philosophical and pistmological undrpinnings instad of on th corrsponding Islamic countrparts. Consquntly, th concpts usd ar not proprly rdfind so as to suit th Islamic prspctivs, hnc dirct usag of such convntional concpts convys convntional manings and purposs. Evn mor sriously, such concpts may run countr to th prspctivs takn by Islam. In th cas of th convntional concpt on scarcity discussd hr for instanc, rsourcs ar considrd as bing scarc dspit th fact that Allah SWT has guarantd vryon with provisions (rizq), and that th concpt of barakah (blssings of Allah SWT) in Islam gos byond quantitativ considrations. Clarly, th convntional concpt of scarcity is not consistnt with ths Tawhidic concpts of rizq and bamkah, whr th lattr con.nots adquacy of provisions for vry living cratur. Likwis, convntional conomics considrs wants as bing unlimitd dspit th fact that in Islam, unlimitd wants only manat from bad dsirs (nafs) such as ammarah, lawwamah and mulhamah, and that ths unlimitd wants can b ovrcom by raising th inclination to bttr good dsirs such as mutmainnah, radhiyyah, mardhiyyah and kamilah. Unlik convntional conomics which always rgards wants as bing unlimitd, Islam provids ways to limit it. Thrfor, in th Islamic systm, it is not impossibl for somon who has succssfully conqurd th bad dsirs, and in its plac, acquird th good dsirs, to fac limitd wants instad. A o T fl aj n a t ~

11 7 A Fundamntal Flaw in th Construction of Islamic Economics 133 CONCLUSION ll f t, 0 l Th issus and cass highlightd in this papr ar som of th xampls of flaws plaguing th fild ofislamic conomics, which wr constructd by applying Islamic justifications within th convntional framwork. By xtnding similar argumnts, it is not impossibl to xpct similar situation xisting in othr filds as wll, b it in th disciplin of pur scincs or th rst of social scincs. In pur scincs, a grat dal of rsarchs ar don and logical argumnts put forward in attmpts to prov and vrify som of th prdictions and allgations mad in th Qur' an and th sayings of th Propht Muhammad S.A.W. In many instancs, th rsarchs and argumnts commnc from within th framwork of convntional scincs, with attmpts to prov or disprov th Truths basd on th convntional findings mad. Whil thr ar som ofths fforts which hav provd to b commndabl so far, thr may b othrs which may turn out to b controvrsial if thy do not dirctly support th Truths. Th lattr cas should b viwd with utmost concrn whil th whol xrcis with appropriat caution. This is bcaus th convntional framwork of pur scincs cannot and should not b usd to vrify and prov th Truths as laid out in al-qur' an and Hadith. Th 'scintism' approachs adoptd by ths pur scincs hav obvious limitations. Thy can not yild prfctly "viabl" findings which can withstand th cours of tim, sinc facts about th world always kp on changing, and thr will always b diffrncs in findings amongst rsarchrs. In Islam, th Truths laid in al-qur' an and Hadith will always rmain as Truths vn though th scintific findings at any particular point in tim may prov to b othrwis. In th ralm of social scincs, on also finds cass whr convntional thoris of social scincs ar usd to analyz Islamic issus. in on instanc, for xampl, a structural functional thory is usd as a thortical framwork to analyz Muslims' problmatic coupls (Zainab bt Ismail 2001). Whil all of th rspondnts of th said study ar Muslims, th valus undrlying th qustions which ar usd to sk information from th rspondnts ar clarly convntional valus, vn though th rsarchr, bing a Muslim hrslf, would hav bn wll awar of th fact that thr ar big diffrncs btwn Muslim valus and convntional valus as far as rsponsibilitis ar concrnd. Worst still, thr ar Muslim authors who ar critical of th convntional approach, and hav gon to a grat lngth to argu against it in thir writings, but yt cannot compltly rid thmslvs of th nd for such

12 134 Jurnal Ekollom; Malaysia 37 mthods whn coming to analyz issus involving Muslims. On such writr has optd for a clarly convntional (rad wstrn) approach to dtrmin whthr th Muslim-Malays hav dviatd from thir faiths (aqidah) or not, vn though h has apparntly rjctd such mthods (Wan Mohd Azam bin Wan Mohd Amin 2002). In this study, h has usd th wstrn concpts of "thinking" such as dduction, induction, analogy, and fallacy to catgoriz th Muslim-Malays into various groups, and has arrivd at th conclusion that som Muslim-Malays hav bn found to dviat from thir faiths. Howvr, th validity of such a conclusion is dbatabl, sinc h has usd inappropriat tools, namly th wstrn (or convntional) approach to study issus about th Muslim's lvl of commitmnt to thir faiths. H should hav usd instad, th Islamic approach to com out with th appropriat critria to proprly masur th Muslims' commitmnt to thir faiths. Howvr, vn on simpl tchnical ground, his conclusion appars faulty, sinc it was rachd without any mpirical vidnc as no fildwork was carrid out to collct th ncssary data. REFERENCES Mohd Riduwan Wahab "Ekonorni Islam - K Arah Pngurusan Sumbr Yang Trhad Dalam Mmnuhi Khndak Yang Tidak Trhad", Dwan Ekonomi, Jun, hal Mohd Riduwan Wahab "Pnggunaan Dalam Ekonomi Islam". Dwan Ekonomi, Octobr, hal Wan Mohd Azam bin Wan Mohd Amin "Prnikiran Dalam Minda Orang Mlayu", in Abd ullah Hassan, d., Prosiding Prsidangan Antarabangsa Pngajian Mlayu Bijing K-2, Jilid 1: Agama, Budaya, Pndidikan, Ekonomi, Sjarah dan Slli. Kuala Lumpur: Dwan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Zain.b bt Ismail. ZOO I. "Pross Kaunsling Di Kalangan Pasangan Yang Brm.salah: Satu Kajian Ks Di labatan Agama Islam Wilayah Prskutuan Kuala Lumpur", a Ph.D thsis submittd to School of Humanitis. Univrsiti Sains Malaysia. ]u T II I 11 T ti tf F tt ti II t, t Islamic Dvlopmnt Managmnt Projct (IDMP) School of Social Scincs Univrsiti Sains Malaysia Pnang - mail: