The economic system in Islam is an integral part of the Islamic ideology. The rules related to the economy and finances are intertwined with other rules pertaining to marriage, family relations, politics, morals, rituals, beliefs, and others. Zakah, one of the components of the Islamic economy, is revealed in the Quran together with the ritual of prayer in more than fourteen verses in the form “establish the prayer and pay the Zakah.” In Surah Al-Mujadilah (chapter 48, verse 4), one of the options to recover from a marriage-related sin was to feed sixty poor people.55 What this really means is that the Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammad contain scattered texts which include rules related to finances and economy as well as to other topics. Prophet Mohammad was not an economist with a degree in economics. He was a prophet and a messenger of God who received revelation on various issues including economics. A derivation process, therefore, becomes necessary to obtain and systematize the economic structure.

This further implies that the economic structure is part of a bigger schema of Islam and should not be separated either from its siblings (other systems) or root (the foundation of Islam). The economic system of Islam can and will produce the expected outcome of justice and fairness only when taken together with the rest of Islam. This will be evident when we discuss the development of the economic and financial system in Islam in the next section.

This chapter presents three main topics. The first one is the gradual development of the economic and financial system of Islam. The second topic is the political economy in Islam. The last topic is the financial system in Islam.