A Reflection on the Quranic Approach to Innovation for Achieving Islamic Development

Nowadays, the order of merits and abilities in all competitive arenas – political, economical, and social or the like – is considered as the criterion for determining the scale of the development of countries. The development in Islamic countries is a long-term and comprehensive process of social development within the framework of the goals of Islamic laws, and its achievement has several prerequisites. Innovation, which means the way of fostering development in the ideas and using new and creative thoughts to solve current problems, is considered one of the important cultural contexts on the way of achieving Islamic development. The acquaintance with the view of the glorious Qur’an on the issue is without doubt a religious and rational duty. Using a thematic interpretation method and analytical-documentary approach, and referring to different Quran commentaries to investigate such issues as man's nature and innate disposition, man's perfection and freedom according to the glorious Qur’an, the present paper elaborates on the permissibility of fostering innovation in different arenas. Furthermore, inspired by the guidelines of the glorious Qur’an, the paper points out the basic features of the Muslim innovator, including servitude, rationality, patience, teleology, and hard work.