mohammad bakhshi mohebi; Abass Abass
Abstract
Supporting production is a key policy for development-oriented countries. Iran’s Seventh Five-Year Development Plan (2022–2026) emphasizes achieving 8% economic growth, and the Judiciary’s Transformation Document (2024) highlights “preventing the closure of production units.” ...
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Supporting production is a key policy for development-oriented countries. Iran’s Seventh Five-Year Development Plan (2022–2026) emphasizes achieving 8% economic growth, and the Judiciary’s Transformation Document (2024) highlights “preventing the closure of production units.” Over recent years, the Judiciary has addressed challenges faced by production units, enabling many to re-enter the economic cycle. However, at the intersection of judicial criminal policy and legislative criminal policy, significant challenges arise that hinder support for production units. For example, Article 114 of the 2013 Criminal Procedure Code, while aiming to prevent closure of production units, allows investigating judges to suspend all or part of a unit’s activities if continuing them involves criminal acts harmful to public health, security, or order. Furthermore, in environmental crimes such as air or soil pollution, production units causing environmental harm may face court-ordered activity suspensions. This study uses a descriptive-analytical approach to examine: What should judicial criminal policy for supporting production units entail? The findings suggest the Judiciary should propose a dedicated chapter to the Criminal Procedure Code with a supportive approach to production, enabling both differentiated judicial rulings and the establishment of empowered provincial bodies like a “Judicial Commission for Investment Support” with guaranteed authority to protect production. Additionally, a Judiciary representative should be included in the “Committee for Facilitating and Removing Production Barriers” under Article 61 of the 2015 Law on Removing Barriers to Competitive Production and Enhancing the Financial System. Finally, the urgent approval of the “Protection of Public Rights” bill, which focuses on judicial support for production, is necessary.
reza poorsedghi; mohamad faaezi; seyed sadegh azarian
Abstract
With the increasing prevalence of cryptocurrencies in virtual environments, various Islamic jurisprudential questions have arisen. The permissibility of Bitcoin transactions is one of the most important issues, as Bitcoin has become widely used among cryptocurrency traders. Some jurists have declared ...
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With the increasing prevalence of cryptocurrencies in virtual environments, various Islamic jurisprudential questions have arisen. The permissibility of Bitcoin transactions is one of the most important issues, as Bitcoin has become widely used among cryptocurrency traders. Some jurists have declared Bitcoin invalid by citing the prohibition of gharar (excessive uncertainty) in transactions. This study, based on a review of library sources, examines the concept of gharar and its applications in Islamic jurisprudence to evaluate its relevance to Bitcoin and its trading. The findings show that jurists have described gharar in sales with three main meanings: risk, ignorance, and deception; however, none of these meanings justify invalidating Bitcoin transactions. Furthermore, jurists who invalidate transactions due to gharar do so under specific conditions: (1) when there is no ability to deliver the countervalues; (2) when the countervalues are unknown; (3) when the subject of the transaction lacks rational benefit; or (4) when the subject is not ownable—none of which apply to Bitcoin or its trading. Therefore, neither the definitions nor the jurisprudential applications of gharar support declaring Bitcoin transactions invalid.
seyed abdolah razavi; Nasrin Hashemizadeh
Abstract
In today’s knowledge-driven and competitive markets, offering a diverse range of financial products and services is essential for businesses. Information and communication technologies—especially artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and intelligent advisory systems—play ...
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In today’s knowledge-driven and competitive markets, offering a diverse range of financial products and services is essential for businesses. Information and communication technologies—especially artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and intelligent advisory systems—play a pivotal role in assisting customers by simplifying complex processes. This support becomes even more crucial in the context of ethically oriented Islamic finance, where compliance with Sharia principles adds layers of complexity. This study proposes a comprehensive framework for the intelligent provisioning of Islamic financial products and services. It details the processes, functions, and operators of ML algorithms designed to iteratively refine recommendation models that align ethically conscious customers’ needs with suitable banking products. Customer data—represented as vectors encompassing demographics, financial goals, and behavioral information—is validated through open banking platforms. Simultaneously, Islamic finance products and services are encoded as matrix vectors labeled with ethical attributes, contract types, and accepted jurisprudential rules.These data sets serve as the initial population for a genetic-inspired learning algorithm. Through evolutionary operations such as selection, crossover, and mutation, product vectors evolve across generations. When a product vector achieves a high compatibility score with a customer’s behavioral and Sharia-compliant profile, the Sharia-Compliant Intelligent Advisor (SCIA) recommends it. If no adequate match is found, the algorithm continues evolving the product codes until the mismatch error is minimized, ultimately delivering an optimal, compliant offering tailored to ethically minded customers.
Ali Roshani; Jafar Zanganeh Shahraki; Masoud Roshani
Abstract
Following the enactment of the 1997 Landlord and Tenant Relations Act (Law No. 132/1376), state interventions in tenancy agreements largely ceased. However, starting from May 2020, the National Headquarters for COVID-19 Response, followed by the Supreme Economic Coordination Council of the Heads of Powers ...
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Following the enactment of the 1997 Landlord and Tenant Relations Act (Law No. 132/1376), state interventions in tenancy agreements largely ceased. However, starting from May 2020, the National Headquarters for COVID-19 Response, followed by the Supreme Economic Coordination Council of the Heads of Powers in May 2022, the Islamic Consultative Assembly in May 2024, and the Supreme Housing Council in July 2024, introduced various restrictions on landlords to protect vulnerable groups and tenant households. These interventions primarily involved mandatory lease renewals and the regulation and limitation of rent amounts. This descriptive-analytical study, based on library research, investigates the jurisprudential and legal foundations underpinning these governmental measures. It focuses on the obligatory extension of lease contracts and the imposition of rent controls. The findings reveal that these interventions are grounded in Islamic legal principles and maxims such as the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (Velayat-e Faqih), the rule of public interest (Maslaha), the principle of necessity (Darura), and the preservation of social order and livelihoods. These principles override primary rulings that prohibit unilateral contract modifications, usurpation, unjust consumption of others’ property, and uphold the principle of freedom of contract. Therefore, it can be concluded that under specific exceptional circumstances, limited and temporary government intervention in tenancy relations is not only permissible but sometimes necessary
Amirhossein Abedini; Behzad Babazadeh Khorasani
Abstract
Dual shareholders refer to commercial entities whose portfolios simultaneously include both bank loans and bank equity shares. This study investigates the relationship between bank efficiency and the proportion of shares held by a single beneficiary of the bank. The issue gains significance when certain ...
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Dual shareholders refer to commercial entities whose portfolios simultaneously include both bank loans and bank equity shares. This study investigates the relationship between bank efficiency and the proportion of shares held by a single beneficiary of the bank. The issue gains significance when certain private banks utilize low-cost banking resources to finance their affiliated enterprises, thereby disrupting the country’s monetary and banking systems and causing detrimental macroeconomic effects, including inflation. Following a review of comparable studies in Iran and globally, we analyzed relevant variables within Iran’s economy. Using the Chow, Breusch-Pagan, and Hausman tests, we identified the appropriate estimation method. Our findings indicate statistically significant effects for the variables of bank size and economic growth. Additionally, we observed a significant positive relationship between the ratio of non-performing loans (NPL) and both annual inflation rates and annual bank loan interest rates. Conversely, significant negative relationships were identified for bank capital, inefficiency, return on bank assets, and the ratio of single beneficiary shares to total shares.
Mohammad Ghaffary Fard; rahele nazari
Abstract
Economic justice concerns the equitable distribution of opportunities, privileges, and economic benefits among individuals and groups within society. Composite indices are widely used to measure economic justice because they provide comprehensive tools for assessing performance and identifying gaps between ...
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Economic justice concerns the equitable distribution of opportunities, privileges, and economic benefits among individuals and groups within society. Composite indices are widely used to measure economic justice because they provide comprehensive tools for assessing performance and identifying gaps between current conditions and economic goals, plans, and policies. This study aims to rank the provinces of Iran according to economic justice by applying a multi-criteria decision-making approach. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to determine the weights of the indicators, while the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was used for ranking the provinces. Drawing on the theoretical framework, the composite index was developed based on the following criteria: the right to legitimate ownership, the right to fair exchange, the right to equitable share in production, the rights of the needy to public and private assets, universal access to public resources, and the rights of future generations to intergenerational resources. The results reveal that Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, North Khorasan, and Qom provinces ranked first, second, and third, respectively. Conversely, Khuzestan and Tehran ranked lowest, indicating that provinces with higher rankings demonstrate greater adherence to economic justice principles, while those with lower rankings face significant challenges in this regard. Therefore, it is recommended that policymakers focus on redesigning minimum wage policies, increasing development budgets for less-developed regions, and expanding social support programs for populations living below the poverty line to promote economic justice across the country.
MohammadAli FarahaniFard
Abstract
The Sadraean theories of truth and justification, differing fundamentally from Western philosophical views, have significant implications for the theoretical foundations, structure, and nature of economic theories, as well as the definition and practical methodology of economics. Applying these theories ...
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The Sadraean theories of truth and justification, differing fundamentally from Western philosophical views, have significant implications for the theoretical foundations, structure, and nature of economic theories, as well as the definition and practical methodology of economics. Applying these theories can pave the way for transforming the internal structure of Islamic economics, facilitating both the reform of existing economic theories and the establishment of new ones. However, on one hand, these perspectives have not received sufficient attention from Islamic economists, and on the other hand, neglecting the criterion of normative-propositional statements in Sadra’s theory of truth, while relying solely on the foundational criterion in his theory of justification, has led to a lack of comprehensiveness in some Islamic economic approaches. This paper uses descriptive-analytical and exploratory methods to first provide a comprehensive explanation of the Sadraean philosophers’ approach in this field, and then reconstruct the internal structure of Islamic economics based on it. According to the findings, in the theory of truth, the correspondence criterion governs the analysis of concepts, assumptions, and factual propositions in Islamic economics, while the rationality of goals and the means to achieve them governs normative-propositional and evaluative statements. The theory of justification reveals a form of rational foundationalism emphasizing the necessity of coherence within Islamic economics. This foundationalism influences the hierarchical logic of the theoretical premises, the active domains of economic studies, the definition of Islamic economics, its key agents, and its applied methodology, thereby shaping the discipline’s trajectory. The requirement of coherence, in addition to preserving internal consistency among values, transforms into a practical wisdom that, by borrowing some premises from theoretical wisdom, pursues the objectives of the Islamic economic system with explanatory, normative, and policy-oriented dimensions in harmony. The theoretical benefit of this justification theory for Islamic economics lies in maintaining objectivity while simultaneously upholding its teleological orientation.
Mohammad Reza Ghaemi Nik
Abstract
Adam Smith, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, presents a novel approach to the intersection of moral philosophy and economics. By emphasizing concepts such as empathy, the imaginative faculty, and the impartial spectator, Smith lays the philosophical foundations of his economic ...
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Adam Smith, in The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, presents a novel approach to the intersection of moral philosophy and economics. By emphasizing concepts such as empathy, the imaginative faculty, and the impartial spectator, Smith lays the philosophical foundations of his economic thought. Unlike Aristotle and Aquinas, who distinguish sharply between human passions and reason or the divine, Smith and his predecessor David Hume locate the basis of morality within the realm of imagination and sympathy. Although this perspective rejects the notion of intrinsic moral good and evil, it offers a distinctive ethical framework. John Milbank’s theological critique of Smith’s secular moral philosophy, alongside Mulla Sadra’s concept of imaginal abstraction (تجرد مثالی) within his Transcendent Wisdom (حکمت متعالیه), provides a potential solution to overcome this divide. Mulla Sadra’s imaginal abstraction is accessible to all humans and preserves the idea of inherent moral values. This integrated approach can serve as a moral foundation for Islamic economics. Nonetheless, developing a practical operational model based on these philosophical insights requires further research.
Mohammad GhaffaryFard; mahdi safdari; ghasem ghorbani
Abstract
Income distribution is a fundamental economic issue in any society, and Islam places special emphasis on economic justice and equitable wealth distribution. This study investigates the impact of Islamic financial contracts on income inequality across Iran’s 31 provinces using panel data analysis. ...
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Income distribution is a fundamental economic issue in any society, and Islam places special emphasis on economic justice and equitable wealth distribution. This study investigates the impact of Islamic financial contracts on income inequality across Iran’s 31 provinces using panel data analysis. The contracts examined include Qard al-Ḥasan (interest-free loans), installment sales (bayʿ al-ʿuqūd), and lease-to-own agreements (ijārah wa-taʾmīlīk). Employing a fixed-effects model estimated with E-Views 9, the results indicate that these Islamic contracts significantly contribute to improving income equality. Furthermore, the study confirms the presence of an inverted-U (Kuznets) relationship between GDP per capita and income inequality. Labor productivity positively influences income equality, while government expenditure and inflation have adverse effects. Based on these findings, it is recommended that policymakers facilitate greater access to Islamic financial instruments for low-income groups to promote a more equitable income distribution.
JEL Classification: D31, G21, Z12, C23.
Seyed fakhreddin Fakhrhosseini; meysam kaviani
Abstract
One of the foremost challenges in global policy is the lack of financial-service access for vulnerable and needy groups, which has elevated financial inclusion to a worldwide concern. Designing innovative financial-service models for the poor remains a pressing challenge, and financial inclusion is now ...
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One of the foremost challenges in global policy is the lack of financial-service access for vulnerable and needy groups, which has elevated financial inclusion to a worldwide concern. Designing innovative financial-service models for the poor remains a pressing challenge, and financial inclusion is now recognized as a key driver of poverty alleviation, enabling low-income individuals to participate and benefit from economic growth. Several countries have achieved notable progress in their financial systems, including banking and insurance, and by rolling out digital financial services they have assumed central roles in financial-inclusion initiatives. Models of financial inclusion such as mobile money and other digital financial services can underpin economic growth and support developmental goals. In developing countries these models act as primary engines of growth by creating employment, boosting business productivity, and fostering entrepreneurship. Digital technologies can markedly reduce financial exclusion and, especially through financial technology (fintech), make inclusion more accessible, helping millions to lift themselves out of poverty. Despite these advances, many Islamic nations, including Iran, still confront challenges in extending banking services to large unbanked populations and in deploying digital insurance technologies, even though Iran ranks favorably among Asian and many European countries in this regard.
Ali akbar Karimi
Abstract
This paper explores the nature of modern consumerism by addressing whether economic progress and development inherently lead to a pattern of abundance and consumerism, or whether consumerism arises unnaturally through manipulation of consumers’ wills. Answering this question is crucial to determining ...
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This paper explores the nature of modern consumerism by addressing whether economic progress and development inherently lead to a pattern of abundance and consumerism, or whether consumerism arises unnaturally through manipulation of consumers’ wills. Answering this question is crucial to determining whether consumerism should be regarded as a natural, balanced, and desirable phenomenon, or as an artificial, unbalanced, and undesirable one—thus informing efforts to confront its underlying causes and propose alternative models. Through a historical analysis of the evolution of consumption and consumerism in capitalist societies, the study reveals that modern consumerism, particularly in its current form as an ideology and a preferred lifestyle, lacks genuine historical precedent. Instead, it has developed alongside specific cultural, economic, and technological changes. Therefore, consumerism should neither be accepted as a natural pattern nor should any alternative paradigm be dismissed as unnatural or destined to fail. Moreover, the paper highlights that Western societies are increasingly moving toward alternatives to consumerism and proposes an Islamic consumption model as a viable and meaningful alternative.
morteza mortazavi kakhki; seyed mahdi moalemi; mohamad amin ghadamyari
Abstract
The formalization of banking contracts represents one of the most detrimental challenges in riba-free banking. Investigating the existence of sham contracts is essential not only in bank–non-bank customer agreements but also within the interbank market. This research employs a descriptive methodology ...
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The formalization of banking contracts represents one of the most detrimental challenges in riba-free banking. Investigating the existence of sham contracts is essential not only in bank–non-bank customer agreements but also within the interbank market. This research employs a descriptive methodology with an ijtihādī (juristic reasoning) approach to examine the potential for sham contract phenomena in Islamic repurchase agreements (repos) within Iran’s interbank market. Through library research and an analytical-deductive method, six criteria for sham contracts—derived from the opinions of Islamic jurists (fuqahā)—were systematically established. Applying these criteria to the operational guidelines of the interbank market reveals that the Islamic repo instrument is susceptible to sham contracting, as evidenced by: Parties’ lack of awareness regarding contractual terms, Frivolous collusion (muḥābat mabtazil), Non-adherence to customary prerequisites of genuine contracts, Discrepancy between contractual title and actual content Consequently, the repo mechanism in this market faces significant challenges related to contractual formalization.
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