The Islamic political economy of property and property rights: Concepts and application

The objective of this chapter is to delineate the differences between Islam and Occidentalism on the meaning and application of the concepts of property as a bundle of material ownership and its production, acquisition and distribution as property rights. The delineation of this theme will take us into investigating the epistemological foundations relating to property in the two systems while focussing on the Islamic worldview. The Islamic epistemology will be derived from the fundamental sources of Islamic knowledge, the Quran and the Sunnah (guidance of the Prophet Muhammad), and then applied to the theme of property and property rights. In this way, the social contractarian nature of property and property rights will be brought to bear upon the tenets of the Islamic Law, the Shari ah. We will conclude by examining briefly how these epistemological concepts shape, or could shape, the reorganization of property and property rights in the Muslim World.