Open AccessValentino Cattelan (Editor) Islamic Social Finance: Entrepreneurship, Cooperation and the Sharing Economy Routledge, London, 2018, 238 pages, ISBN: 978-1-13-828030-4
Author(s) -
Abderrazak Belabes Abderrazak Belabes
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of king abdulaziz university-islamic economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1658-4244
pISSN - 1018-7383
DOI - 10.4197/islec.32-2.13
Subject(s) - waqf , treasure , social solidarity , social entrepreneurship , islam , islamic finance , social economy , finance , sociology , political science , economics , social science , entrepreneurship , law , philosophy , theology
The aim of this review is to discuss the notion of Islamic social finance, orwhat social finance is according to some researchers in Islamic finance, and thetheoretical corpus on which it is based, as discussed in the book, both on the conceptual(tawḥīdī paradigm) and teleological (maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah) levels. This review goesbeyond the approach that Islamic social finance refers to the social dimension ofentrepreneurship financed Islamically, as advocated in the book. With reference tospecialized literature in social and solidarity economy, it is argued that the object ofsocial finance should focus on how social organizations – primarily awqāf which datesback to ancient times – provide funding to continue to play a role in societies. Thismeans that the waqf is more than a simple financing instrument or financialengineering tool, and that the financial aspect is not the only or the main resource in thelife of societies. Waqf, and all other social institutions, feed above all on the social linkwhich is an inestimable treasure and provides protection for life. Would we exchangethat which is better (social relationship) for that which is lower (māl)?