Challenges of the Theoretical Framework in Islamic Economics

What distinguishes scientific theory from other methods of acquiring knowledge is the application of a scientific method for acquiring knowledge. The theoretical framework is one of the most important components of a scientific research. In Islamic economics, there is almost no general accepted theoretical framework. Using the conventional economics frameworks, due to the lack of a theoretical framework in Islamic economics, is playing a game on the ground of conventional economics. While explaining the method of research in conventional sciences and expressing the position of its theoretical framework, a challenge that has hindered the transformation of the Islamic economy into a discipline and scientific paradigm has been studied in this paper. For the empirical test, two journals "Islamic Economics" and "Islamic Economic Studies" have been selected. Although the case study of the 62 articles in these two journals does not explicitly endorse our hypothesis i.e. the lack of theoretical frameworks in the research of Islamic economics, it shows the fundamental shortcomings in applying the theoretical framework in research on the Islamic economy. Less than a quarter of the articles with a theoretical framework were based on Islamic theoretical frameworks.