Islamic welfare economics and its implications for environmental engineering systems planning

Abstract

Chapter 1 summarised the Quranic personal and social ethics. God, the real owner of the resources of the heavens and earth, has made them subservient to man, His vicegerent on earth. The proper exercise of the right of usufruct over these resources for the benefit of all the creatures of God is an ethical challenge and the purpose of this vicegerency. The ultimate criterion of whether one is a real Muslim, or a hypocrite and disbeliever in Islam depends on whether or not one practises creative, altruistic humanism by seeking individual welfare through collective welfare. Economic egalitarianism is the touchstone of Islamic social justice.