islamic economic renaissance 379(1) While the former have a set of ethical values that are not nec-
essarily religious, the latter have a set of religious beliefs ema-
nating from the Islamic doctrine. The importance of this difference
is related to the two following points,
(2) While the former do not have a specific methodology for the
consumer to follow (individuals are free as to the pattern of con-
sumption in relation to their ethical values), the latter have a
specific methodology laid down in Islam,
(3) While the objectives of the consumer in the Western socio-eco-
nomics are twofold—the satisfaction from goods and services con-
sumption and moral satisfaction, the objectives in Islamic economics
are threefold—the satisfaction of goods and services consumption,
moral satisfaction and the satisfaction from a divine reward in
their lifetime and the thereafter.
Criticism may be directed at the Islamic theory of consumer behav-
iour on the grounds that it might be too idealistic. How much of
Islamic ideals are observed by consumers in their patterns of spend-
ing, is a question that requires empirical research, but such work is
scarce. In one of the few research papers, El-Ashker tries to investigate
the behaviour of Muslim consumers and the effect of environment
in a non-Islamic country, Scotland (El-Ashker, 1985). The general
findings of the study lend some support to the theory, but reject
some of the assertions. The findings were as follows:
a. Social caring spending occupies the second highest priority of the
respondents’ spending after meeting basic needs. This is in line
with what the theoretical analysis maintains.
b. The effect of the environment is clear in the study as buying cars
for own transport and electrical appliances occupies a high pri-
ority in the scale of preference. This may not be the case in other
Muslim countries with lower incomes.
c. The majority of savings however, are invested in Western-run
banks. Various explanation are offered for this in the study most
of which are related to absence of Islamic banks and none is in
denial of the Islamic prohibition of interest.
This is but a preliminary study. Further empirical studies are still
required to link the practice with the theory.