ABSTRACT
In an era of increased and renewed emphasis on teaching and learning business ethics, the highly pertinent question being raised is the role of faith and religious beliefs in business practices. This chapter identifies Islamic business ideals and their practical implications that organizations dealing with Muslim consumers need to adopt. Although profit maximization is not the ultimate goal of trade in Islam, it accepts profits and trade and does not aim to remove all differences in income and wealth that may result in various social and economic classes. According to Islam, although people can fully exercise this free will in making decisions, including business decisions, it is a religious imperative to exercise responsibility to those they deal with and, ultimately, to God by observing his rules on earth. To conclude the chapter, the author would like to introduce a simplification of a model prepared by Dr Mourad Sharif from Algeria that links Islamic ethics to a firm's competitive advantage.
