UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

College of Business
Individual assignment
TITLE
Article summary

PREPARED FOR :

Mohd Fauzwadi Bin Mat Ali

PREPARED BY:

Alkatib mahamat 75290

Summary of Article
Title: Back to basics: an Islamic perspective on business and work ethics by

Riham Ragab Rizk

1.0 Introduction

The article brings about the issue of how many organizations around the globe are

being challenged by both business ethics and work ethic conduct that result in

uncompetitive top management and unconcerned in terms of handling responsibility.

The paper has for objective to explore the Islamic perspective to ethics as Islam is the

last amongst the three great monotheistic religions (comes after Judaism and

Christianity) and as well as to provide a better understanding of cultural variations

among nations and their ethical beliefs. Furthermore, the results of the paper recall

that by concentrating on the Holy Qur’an and other aspects of the Islamic law, an

authentic Islamic approach to ethics can be easily constructed in one hand, and on the

other hand, the work ethic and other work-related attitudes in non-Western settings

can also be scrutinized.

2.0 Analysis of the Article

The article is one of its types as it didn't employ any a research instrument in order to

outline the Islamic approach to business and work ethics once collectivism according

to Hofstede (1980) is considered. For instance, by referring to the paper, the word

ethics in the western setting is defined based on deontology (after general types of

behavior have been identified as intrinsically right or wrong, a right action can then be

classified based on its conformance to the set of moral rules) and by following two

operational models emerge which are:

  The Golden Rule model, derived from the New Testament (the second part of

the bible) stating that one should treat other people in the same way he/she

would want to be treated; and

 The philosophical economics (Kantian Model) which is built upon the

assumption that every person has basic rights in a moral universe, and

accordingly, an action is morally correct if it minimizes the violation of the

rights of all stakeholders.

However, ethics in Islam is defined as khuluq. According to Beekun (1997), the

Qur’an uses a whole array of terms to describe the concepts of morals or positive

values such as khayr (goodness), birr (righteousness), qist (equity), ‘adl (equilibrium

and justice), haqq (truth and right), ma’ruf (known, approved), and taqwa (piety).

Moreover, another difference lies on how work ethics are compared in the western

setting and Islamic perspectives. In the western world, work ethics is signified by

adhering to the above two mentioned operational models and by adding the concept of

NORM (Neutral Omni Partial Rule Making) to it. However, under the Islamic view,

the concept of Islamic work ethic (IWE) is originated from the Qur’an and the Sunnah

of the Prophet Muhammad emphasizing ethical environment in several levels

(macro/professional level, corporate level, and the level of the individual within an

entity).

In addition, the author added that the Shari’ah, wherein Muslim ethics are anchored

addresses all questions facing individuals in a dynamic society as well as interpretive

jurisprudence (ijtihad) and deduction by analogy (qiyas) which provide mechanisms

for meeting the challenges of different periods.

A last point discussed by the author is to differentiate "economic crimes" form the

two settings (Western Ideology and Islamic perspectives). Form the western

perspective, the record of economic crimes of the past decade alone is vast by

estimating the value of the annual US Gross National Product (GNP) attributable to

fraud at a staggering US$400 billion (Pomeranz, 1997). However, Qur’anic

prescriptions are applied to different categories of transgressions such as on contracts

(S2: v282), on trusts (S4: v58; S8: v27) and on fraud (S83: v1-3).

3.0 Discussion

From my understanding, I believe that Shariah has a considerable effect on every

single aspect of Muslim culture. Some scholars have to some extent indicated that the

religion of Islam is very comprehensive, seeing it as influencing the realm of business

with its special provisions. Verse 2:275 of the Qur’an, states that Allah permits people

to conduct commerce. This practice has been seen even in ancient periods, where

Muslim-traders have circled the globe with their merchandise. It is believed that this

has triggered the surge of Islamic foundations in countries in the Southeast Asian

countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia (Hefner and Horvatich, 1997).

However, whilst the Qur’an states that Allah permits trade, it has certain restrictions,

which still apply. In the Middle East, some countries adhere to Islamic customs in

which multinational companies are more equipped in dealing with problems when

governed by western legal philosophies and jurisprudence. However, when certain

issues fall under the jurisdiction of an Islamic country, they have to address it by

using the Shariah laws maintained in the Qur’an. However, in many Arab countries,

the law is not only based on Islamic legal principles, but it is also influenced by

Western (English or French) common law as well as the country's legal traditions.

References
Beekun, R.I. (1997), Islamic Business Ethics, International Institute of Islamic
Thought, Herndon, VA.

Hefner, R. and Horvatich, P. (1997), Islam in an Era of Nation-States: Politics and

Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia, University of Hawaii Press,
Honolulu, HI.

Hofstede, G. (Ed.) (1980), Culture’s Consequences, Sage Publications, Thousand

Oaks, CA.

Pomeranz, F. (1997), ‘‘The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic

Financial Institutions: an important regulatory debut’’, Journal of
International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 123-30.