Document Type : Conceptual paper (Political Thought)

Author

• Rodney Shakespeare

Professor, Trisakti University, Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Imam Khomeini said that the aims of the Iranian Revolution include national independence and Economic Justice.  But he also said that Economic Justice cannot be found in today’s “incorrect system of economy prevalent in the world of Islam,” The incorrect system, therefore, must be replaced. How can that be done?  Only a change of paradigm (on the scale of the Copernican Revolution) is capable of overthrowing both the incorrect system and the failing Western one. To that end an amazing fifty nine assumptions underlying conventional Islamic and Western Finance/Economics have been identified and shown to be false. Even more amazing is that each false assumption has a reversal or opposite (or near-opposite) which is obviously true or at least truer than the conventional false one. Most amazing of all, after only two or three reversals, a completely new paradigm – and the possibility of a new world truly implementing the aims of the Revolution – begins to be seen. In that new world (unlike today’s Western and Islamic Economics which continually narrow ownership) the real economy and real income are spread to every person in society; rich-poor division is ended; Riba is greatly dimished; and solutions to intractable environmental problems become available. Most important of all, the new paradigm enables Iran to give the world a hugely positive, and sorely needed, lead.

Keywords

• Economic Justice
• Imam Khomeini
• New Paradigm
• Islam

Main Subjects

• Political Thought