Purpose-This paper aims to provide an economic rationale for Islamic finance. Design/methodology/approach-Its methodology is simple. It starts with listing the contributions to economic analysis relevant to the required rationale in the theories of banking, finance, price, money and macroeconomics, to identify the main rationale for Islamic finance. A concise description of the author's model for an Islamic economic system, within which Islamic finance can be operational, is provided. Findings-The paper finds distinct advantages of Islamic finance, when properly applied within the author's model. Islamic finance can therefore be a candidate as a reform agenda for conventional finance. It opens the door for significant monetary reform in currently prevalent economic systems. Research limitations/implications-The first limitation of the paper is that the distinct benefits of Islamic finance are all of macroeconomic types which are external to Islamic banking and finance institutions. They are therefore not expected to motivate such institutions to apply Islamic finance to the letter, without regulators interference to ensure strict application. The second limitation is the necessity to set up enabling institutional and regulatory arrangements for Islamic finance. Originality/value-The results are unique as they challenge the received doctrine and provide nonreligious rationale for Islamic finance.

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After a generation of non-professional writers in Islamic economics, professional economists entered the stage with an important ambition, which has been to introduce a third alternative to humanity in addition to capitalism and socialism that would answer some of the inadequacies of each. Moreover, the analysis of human (household and collective) behavior towards scarcity under the teachings of Islam was itself worth pursuing.The intellectual effort is yet to produce significant practices of Islamic economics. The exceptions include some application of Islamic finance that raises many questions, and spotty application of Zakah and Awqaf.The most serious challenges of Islamic finance is the rise of products of ill repute that result from determined refusal to adhere to the decisions of the International Fiqh Academy. This paper identifies several gaps in Islamic economics and proposes ways to fill them, placing such responsibility squarely on Islamic economists.

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This article agrees with Reardon (2019), that economics finds itself in a predicament caused by the neoclassical school. The dominance of neoclassical economics and its lack of response to calls for reform has been endemic. Reform must include both the neoclassical analysis as well as the system of market capitalism it strives to defend. This paper briefly discusses both aspects of reform. It introduces the new school of analytical Islamic economics and its agenda to reform both the discipline and the economic system. The paper enumerates several advantages of Islamic economics to the economics discipline itself as well as the economy, in addition to bringing together intellectuals and scholars of economics, both from East and West, in a more communicative and inclusive group. In addition, the article makes some proposals towards opening the doors in-between the different schools of thought for positive as well as enriching intellectual interactions.