ABSTRACT
The principal objective of this chapter is to delineate the contrasting views between the Qur anic and other world-systems approaches to the understanding of certain economic issues. This chapter does not undertake details on the various concepts discussed, but alerts the reader to the substantive treatment of these issues in the later chapters and the focus towards which the book is oriented. Also, the exemplary contrasts shown here between the Islamic and mainstream approaches to the issues discussed are of a broader relevance to all classes of issues and problems taken up in the study of interaction between market, polity and socio-scientific forces.
