Zakat and Poverty Alleviation (P/B)

This profound book is a powerful yet balanced critique of mainstream economics that makes a forceful plea for taking economics out of its secular and occident-centered cocoon. It presents an innovative and formidable case to re-link economics with moral and egalitarian concerns so as to harness the discipline in the service of humanity

This work charts new territory in Islamic scholarship by attempting to address the field of public policy from a maqasid (higher objectives of the Shariah) perspective. Public Policy is an independent discipline from both law and politics. Thus, Public Policy in Islam is introduced here as a qualitatively different enterprise from both fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and siyasah shar’iyyah (Shariah-oriented politics). The book deals with a number of critical topics that include methodology, governance, human rights, ethics, political power, and reform and renewal. It highlights how the maqasid approach is indispensable to the theory and practice of public policy in Islam, how it could resolve some of the most persistent governance dilemmas throughout Muslim history, but more significantly, how it forces a re-conceptualization of the wealth of knowledge available in Islam s primary sources to introduce Public Policy in Islam to mainstream policy studies.