Islamic Perspectives on Basic Income

Abstract

The aim of this research is to present the Islamic perspective on the concept of Basic Income, and examine its emergence with the first Islamic society established at the time of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). The scope of this research is to provide a historical account of Islamic society’s and Qur’anic foundations of social justice, provide Islamic definitions of the concepts involved in the Basic Income debate (such as wealth, poverty, and work), and discuss the Islamic approach to Basic Income. Finally, the research will consider Islamic perspectives on the role of charity and the use of natural resources as sources of revenue to fund Basic Income.

Locally Universal: Universal Basic Income Policies in the Post-Pandemic World-Order

“…Without leaving the realms of Utopianism, we can further explore an argument on a potential transatlantic divide in UBI debates (Callan et al 1999;Martinelli 2017). In addition to the North-South axis, transnational projections also materialize through a mainly North American idealization of the Western European Welfare model.…”

“…It is certainly interesting to reflect, for instance, on the elective affinities which are being portrayed between the contemporary Chinese (neo-Confucian, yet communist) Welfare model and its own locally developed UBI model, the Dibao (Gao 2017;Golan et al 2015;Solinger 2014Solinger , 2015. There has also been an academic exploration on the compatibilities between the Qur'anic knowledge and the provision of basic income within the Islamic world (Bullock, Al-Shami 2019;Salehi-Isfahani, Mostafavi-Dehzooei 2017;Suplicy 2008;Tabatabai 2012). Under the risk of perfoming a massive generalization, we could also point out approximations of debates exploring the potentialities of UBI, social security and traditional African epistemologies such as the umbrella and transnationally shared philosophy of Ubuntu (Barid et al 2010;Haushofer, Shapiro 2016;Pal et al 2005).…”