World events and media portrayal of Islam over the last few decades has
projected negative images, which are based on a total misunderstanding of Islam
and the principals it encompasses. Predominantly, Islam through many eyes is
seen as a homogenous view of the world, where many elements of the media have
stereotyped it as an extreme religion. This situation has not been assisted by the
lack of published academic and intellectual thought, which could assist in
developing more balanced views about what the principals of Islam stand for.
The focus of most published works on Islamic economics and business has been
in the domains of finance and morals, which leads most to the conclusion that
Islam has little to contribute in the theories of economics and business. This
paper postulates that within the Al-Qur’an and Hadith there exists not only a
moral code of conduct of business but a complete management and business
model, which offers an alternative business paradigm to conventional ‘Western’
management theories. In fact, many ‘Western’ management theories within the
last few decades have come closer to the Tawhid model of business, which is
presented in this paper. This paper will also highlight the gap between Tawhid
principals and the reality of business today, and discuss various views as to
whether Tawhid and Syar’iah compliance is a utopian ambition of Muslims or
mandatory upon them. The importance of Toyyibat, often neglected in halal hub
concepts will be discussed, along with its implications on Musharakah business
organization in performing Ibadah in daily life. Business and personal
dysfunctions will be viewed through the concept of Al-fasad and the underlying
Islamic Psychology theories explaining this. The concepts of Shu’ra and Adab as
control and strategic mechanisms within the Musharakah will be discussed
