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To address the much heated debate now raging in the international scene, namely between Islam and the West as two great civilization forces of mankind.

The objective is achieved by studying it in the light of rigorous analysis involving the world‐systems of the two paradigms and by subjecting the analysis to mathematical investigation as necessary.

Some specific issues, such as epistemology and the associated phenomenological model, its application for economy, markets, money and globalization are investigated to establish the arguments of the paper.

If research is reported on in the paper this section must be completed and should include suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the research process.

Some practical implications arising from the theoretical basis of the paper are shown in the areas of money and real economy, globalization and the economy.

Such a contrasting scientific argumentation between Islam and neoliberalism as the contrasting paradigms has not been undertaken in any paper that I know of. Thus, this is an original paper in argumentation rather than polemics.

There are the interesting words of Myrdal in respect of the universality and commonness of what a scientific problem means:From then on more definitely I came to see that in reality there are no economic, sociological, psychological problems, but just problems and they are all mixed and composite. In research the only permissible demarcation is between relevant and irrelevant conditions. The problems are regularly also political and have moreover to be seen in historical perspective. (Myrdal, 1979, p. 106)

To explore the outer reaches of buying, selling, property rights in an Islamic context.

Philosophical, applying legal analysis, critique to the work of Richard Epstein.

That there are no exceptions to the general rule that, under full free enterprise, anything must be allowed to be purchased, sold or given away.

To attain a system of laissez‐faire capitalism, the law should be changed so as to recognize voluntary slave contracts.

There would be very few or none in an advanced wealthy society. However, there might be some in the underdeveloped world.

It advances one's knowledge of the marketplace, law and contracts.

This paper aims to discuss the methodology of mainstream Islamic economics and also gives an alternative approach which is yet not very much taught in the different academic institutions, i.e. Tawhidi methodology. From the curriculum of the different academic institutions and also from the literature, it is observed that mainstream Islamic economics is the imitation of the conventional economics and mainly neoclassical economics. Maqasid-i-Shari’ah is not matching with the Tawhidi one.

It is based on the self-observations of the authors where they taught during their academic career.

This study found that the mainstream Islamic economics could not be able to solve the local and global issues because it is the replica of the conventional economics only there are some injunctions of Shari’ah.

This study gives the guideline to the student of Islamic economics that how they will be able to understand the methodology of Islamic economics and finance.

It provides the guidance to the academicians and policymakers, especially those belonging to the Muslim countries.

It also provides the glimpses to the social scientist about the solutions of the social and economic issues at the local and global levels.

It is an original effort.

There is a debate between sound Shariah-compliant firms engaging in social good as a moral obligation and behaving ethically in terms of increasing corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and those firms that are not Shariah-compliant. The purpose of the present study is to contribute to this debate by empirically investigating the effect of the profitability of firms on CSR activities and shareholders’ dividends and the interaction effect of a firm’s Shariah compliance with religious and ethical principles.

The data used in this study were collected from the annual financial reports of 74 Pakistani listed companies over 2012-2016 (N = 370). An epistemological model of the unity of knowledge was applied to determine the contribution of Shariah-compliant enterprises to community well-being. Furthermore, the Tawhidi string relation methodology was used to establish the circular causal model. To check the robustness of our findings, we also analysed the data using fixed and random effects regression models to test the effect of firm profitability on CSR activities and dividends, whereas moderation regression analysis was applied to test the moderating effect of Shariah-compliant firms.

The results show that the profitability of firms has a significant impact on shareholders’ dividends in both Shariah and non-Shariah firms. Furthermore, the relationship between firm profitability and CSR is stronger for non-Shariah-compliant firms than Shariah-compliant firms. This indicates that Shariah firms are less involved in doing CSR activities than non-Shariah firms. This implies that Shariah status does not play an important role in ensuring managers’ ethical behaviour.

The results suggest that the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan should attach more importance to Shariah compliance by firms in developing their CSR policies to improve social development and human well-being. These findings have important implications for many Islamic countries irrespective of whether they are developed or developing.

The present study provides a new addition to the prior literature by investigating the relationship between profits and CSR activities and the interaction effect of Shariah-compliant firms. From an Islamic ethical perspective, this study can also contribute to the growing discussion on Shariah compliance and CSR activities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate on the social wellbeing aspects of human sustainability. Linked to this is the investigation on how economic stability and social wellbeing are interactively integrated together to establish the stability along with sustainability. What is the nature of the global financial architecture? Why has it defied formation? Have the underlying theory of financial economic theory, its variables and indicators, and axioms of man and society in their midst, denied the actualization of the intended institution? How can the global stability and well-being criterion be established from coordinated level of global socioeconomic consciousness?

A generalized evaluation model addressing the “as is” and the “as it ought to be” scenarios is formalized. An illustrative empirical example is provided to chart such a method of empirics using the episteme of unity of knowledge and its various ramifications.

Thus, there is a general perspective overarching the selection of theory, variables and their inter-causal consequences that the global financial architecture cannot answer. The institutional structure envisioned thereby is not representative of the lateral aggregation of membership in prevailing socioeconomic understanding. Instead, a complex yet unifying aggregation is carried out to receive its global acceptance? The episteme of unity of knowledge (Tawhid) in the Islamic perspective along with its methodological formalism and empirical and strategic implications for sustainable global financial stability is presented as the unique and universal alternative.

More empirical analysis can be carried out by extending the critical portfolio variables and collecting data on them as required.

The paper evaluates the roots of human deprivation in an uncertain global order as being based on a quaint way of understanding socio-scientific reality and applying human consciousness toward its reconstruction. The paper then proposes an alternative and applied perspective of the opposite methodological worldview premised on unity of knowledge and unity of the world-system. This epistemology is referred to as Tawhid, meaning the oneness of God represented by organic unity in the order of everything.

Within the world-system, complex as it is, abide the epistemological foundations of economic, financial and social thought. Thereby, the analytical extraction derived from the episteme of unity of knowledge (Tawhid) exemplifies the ethical reconstruction and its application in rigorous ways to attain sustained global financial and social stability.

This paper has suggested that under the prevailing paradigm of thought and its institutionalism the future of global financial stability is not sustainable as it has proved in the recent past. Yet there is a different epistemological way of rethinking the world-system in general in its interconnected dimensions and taking the specific example of the financial economy. Upon such new reconstruction, an entirely new methodological and strategic worldview can be established. This is the methodological worldview of unity of knowledge and its formalism.

The purpose of this paper is to bring out with analytical argumentation and mathematical treatment the central problem of Islamic economics, finance, institutionalism and socio‐scientific thought as it is being practiced today and for some time now. The problem arises from the failure of contemporary Islamic intellection to formulate its methodology according to the cardinal principle, and the singularly central and minimal axiom of all its inferences. This is the precept of the oneness of God explained in terms of the epistemology of unity of divine knowledge and the unity of the consequential knowledge‐induced world‐system.

The objective is achieved by mathematical theorems for pointing out the impossibility problem of Islamic economics and finance. The analytical alternative in the epistemological framework of unity of knowledge, or the functional law of oneness of God in its functional ontological functioning in economics and finance are formalized.

A number of Impossibility Theorems of Islamic economics and finance are stated and solved. Alternative epistemological premise and its functional nature are presented in the light of unity of knowledge or what is known as the law of oneness of God and its application to the unified world‐system.

This is a theoretical paper based on analytical argumentation and mathematical formalism to bring out the theorems that state and resolve the problem of impossibility of attaining the goals of Islamic economics and finance under their present pursuit.

Although the paper is of a theoretical nature it has profound practical extensions. The principal ones are in the direction of developing the structure of Islamic economy and financing within a globally interactive, integrative and evolutionary system of practical interrelations. Such a structuring will embed the economy, finance, business and society in an organic model of unity of interrelations.

The paper presents a new social and ethical meaning to the present exogenous treatment of Islamic economics that proceeds on by an exogenous treatment of morality, ethics and their functioning in an unsustainable economic, finance, and social order.

This paper is emphatically original. It questions the entire premise and methodological orientation of the prevailing nature of Islamic economics and finance. The intellection and its application based on the absence of unity of knowledge as the divine mooring of Islamic intellection in everything has been distanced or treated as an exogenous still‐born axiom having no dynamics in the analytical and functional system otherwise.

The purpose of this paper is to formalize a general equilibrium circular causation relationship model in the Islamic economic framework between wealth tax (Zakat), Islamic bank and the real economy.

Mathematical modeling along with explanation.

The integrative interrelationships can be formalized only under the assumption of unity of knowledge as derived from the foundation of oneness of the divine law (shari’ah) according to the Qur’an, Prophetic traditions (Sunnah) and social discourse.

A future work would be to empirically estimate the general equilibrium model.

A guidance to Islamic banks on the constructive utilization of Zakat fund for productive transformation in the real economy.

A general equilibrium model guided by the episteme of oneness of the divine law at work, hence unity of knowledge at work in real problems of ethics and economics according to the Islamic worldview.

As a prominent actor in terms of achieving sustainable socioeconomic development, especially in rural areas, Islamic banks are urged to pursue their main objective. It is required to set the objective accordingly from time-to-time to continuously make a positive contribution to the sustainable socioeconomic development. Hence, the integration of the external factors such as government’s economic target (macro) into Islamic banking’s objectives (micro) is needed.

This research attempts to identify factors that might prevent the sustainable economic development activities within the micro–macro circular causal model established by Tawhidi String Relation (TSR) methodology.

The research clearly found that the existing Islamic banking’s business and directions had an uncorrelated connection with Indonesia’s economic objective. Nevertheless, the Islamic banking’s Musharakah and Mudharabah contract for Usaha Mikro Kecil Menengah [(UMKM) (Micro, Small Medium Enterprises)] was showing the positive correlation to their financial performance indicator. Hence, Islamic banking is strongly suggested to be more focused on these two types of partnership financing contract to UMKM. Furthermore, its value and volume is needed to be expanded to build Indonesia’s sustainable socioeconomic foundation. Then the positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be achieved.

The existing research covering the sustainability index is mainly only based on the macro perspective, while in this research, the integration between the micro and macro perspectives between government objectives and Islamic banking objectives is needed. This interaction and integration between the two are in line with the concept of the TSR methodology.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of board effectiveness (BE) on financial performance and operational risk (OR) disclosure and the interaction effect of a bank’s Sharia Supervisory Board quality (SSB) with religious and ethical principles.

The data were collected from the annual financial reports of 25 Islamic banks (IBs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over 2008-2017. The OR disclosure, the SSB quality and BE were measured using self-developed indices. The Tawhidi string relation methodology was used to establish the circular causal model. The moderating effect of the SSB quality on the performance, OR disclosure and board structure relationship was examined using the hierarchical regression analysis.

The main finding of this study is related to the positive moderating effect of SSB quality on the relationship between performance, OR disclosure and BE. This result seems to indicate that at a high level of SSB quality, even when the performance increase the IBs engage in complying with OR disclosure to inform the stakeholders on the real situation of the bank.

The finding of this research would be of great support to stakeholders and policymakers to make more pressure on IBs to improve the quality of their SSB structure and show more compliance with the governance recommendations. As an extension to this research, further study can examine other Islamic governance mechanisms such as Sharīʿah-compliant banks.

The present study provides a new addition to the prior literature by investigating the relationship between performance, BE, OR disclosure and the interaction effect of SSB quality. From an Islamic ethical, this research can also contribute to the growing discussion on SSB quality and performance.