Book Review: Valentino Cattelan (Editor) Islamic Social Finance: Entrepreneurship, Cooperation and the Sharing Economy, Routledge, London, 2018.

Abstract

The aim of this review is to discuss the notion of Islamic social finance, or what social finance is according to some researchers in Islamic finance, and the theoretical corpus on which it is based, as discussed in the book, both on the conceptual (tawḥīdī paradigm) and teleological (maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah) levels. This review goes beyond the approach that Islamic social finance refers to the social dimension of entrepreneurship financed Islamically, as advocated in the book. With reference to specialized literature in social and solidarity economy, it is argued that the object of social finance should focus on how social organizations – primarily awqāf which dates back to ancient times – provide funding to continue to play a role in societies. This means that the waqf is more than a simple financing instrument or financial engineering tool and that the financial aspect is not the only or the main resource in the life of societies. Waqf and all other social institutions feed above all on the social link which is an inestimable treasure and provides protection for life. Would we exchange that which is better (social relationship) for that which is lower (māl)?

Keywords: Islamic social finance, Tawḥīdī paradigm, Maqāṣid, Entrepreneurship, Financialism

JEL Classification: B41, G23, Z12