islamic economic renaissance 395structure, which the state may adopt and in which the economic
development model may be fitted. Economic development, and the
fight against backwardness, goes beyond that to reach out for a
framework that includes the entire nation and the people for which
the economic programme is to serve. An interaction should be devel-
oped in the process of economic development between the chosen
model of development and the people, as only with the cooperation
of the whole nation can economic development be achieved. The
cooperation of people and their full devotion to the system is a pre-
requisite for the success of an economic development programme,
as with cooperation people can give the best of their talents and skill
in striving to achieve their economic goals. Therefore, the argument
continues, people should be offered a system that matches their beliefs
and conviction if the benefits of economic development are to be
realised. In a Muslim nation, in order to gain the full cooperation
of the people, the economic system ought to be Islamic. By impli-
cation, therefore, secularization for the sake of modernization would
not lead to the best possible results in the process of economic devel-
opment in an Islamic community, nor would the adaptation of a
socialist economic system be any better.
The Islamic philosophy, doctrine and belief are echoed once more
in al-Sadr’s writing when he refers to economic concepts and prin-
ciples. Looking at the concept of value for example we find him
attempting to answer questions about the sources of value for goods
and services and how the price of goods is determined, and whether
labour is the source of value or otherwise. The stress, from his point
of view, should be on the exploration of the views of Islam as a reli-
gion on the concept of profit (as viewed from the capitalist point of
view) and to what extent the concept extends to recognize the profit
as a just criterion in providing a basis of value. To explore the degree
of the legitimacy of profit it is necessary to be aware of the role that
capital, labour and other means of production play in the process
of production. The study of the roles of these factors of production
should be viewed based on the stand of Islam regarding the rights
of factors of production to a share in the distribution of output.
Iqtisàduna was written in Arabic, and the second edition extends
to just over 700 pages. It comes to us in just over 200,000 words—
a considerable size even by the standard of today. Iqtisàduna could be
divided into three main sections: Marxism, 200 pages, capitalism, 40
pages, and the rest, about 460 pages, are devoted to Islamic economics.