❖ Every System is Built on an Ideal
Every system of life is built upon an ideal concept — a vision of a perfect state that the society strives to achieve. Just as economics proposes the model of perfect competition as its ideal, Islam presents the era of Khayr al-Qurūn — the age of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the noble Companions — as the supreme model for living. This ideal serves not just as nostalgia, but as a guiding framework for social and political reform.
❖ The Ideal of Perfect Competition in Economics
In economics, the concept of Perfect Competition serves as an ideal-type, assuming:
- Every individual seeks self-interest.
- All economic and social agents act with complete information and freedom.
- The result is optimal capital growth and resource allocation.
Though never fully attainable, this model provides a benchmark for policy-making:
➊ Benchmarking current realities against the ideal.
➋ Strategizing toward directional reform.
➌ Identifying actions needed to approach the ideal.
❖ The Role and Significance of Ideals
Ideals are not meant to be fully realized, but rather to guide progress and reform. In Islam, Khayr al-Qurūn functions exactly like this — a historical embodiment of the ideal Islamic life that serves as a perpetual reference for building an Islamic society.
❖ The Modern World’s Direction
The changes we see in the modern world are not spontaneous — they are rooted in a specific epistemic discourse shaped by capitalist paradigms. Likewise, Islam calls for a return to Khayr al-Qurūn, aiming to revive Prophetic values and structures as the basis for reform.
❖ Democratic Process or Epistemic Discourse?
While modern politics appears to operate through democratic processes, in reality, public opinion is shaped and manipulated by entrenched academic and ideological discourses that serve the capitalist order. True policy direction emanates from this underlying knowledge system, not from the people’s will.
❖ Islam’s Guiding Ideal
Islam’s ideal society is not an abstract theory — it is the lived reality of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions. This historical period offers a complete model of personal, social, political, and economic ethics — one that transcends time and remains relevant for every generation.
❖ Rejecting Khayr al-Qurūn and the Hypocrisy of Modern Rationality
Some reject Khayr al-Qurūn as impractical or utopian. However, such critics accept the economic ideal of Perfect Competition, which is also theoretically unattainable. If Islamic ideals are dismissed for being unrealistic, then economic ideals should be rejected on the same grounds.
❖ Ideals Drive Policy
All policy-making is based on ideals. A worldview detached from its ideal loses identity and eventually submits to foreign frameworks — as seen with some modern Muslim thinkers who try to merge Islam with democracy or socialism. This dilutes Islam’s unique vision and replaces divine guidance with man-made constructs.
❖ The Reality of Social Sciences
Social sciences like economics are not neutral or objective. They are normative disciplines designed to shape the world according to capitalist ideals. Like religious traditions, they too function with an ideal vision and mobilize intellectual resources toward achieving it.
✿ Summary
❶ Every system is founded on an ideal model, whether it is perfect competition in economics or Khayr al-Qurūn in Islam.
❷ Islamic reform must return to Khayr al-Qurūn — not adopt modern ideals.
❸ Dismissing Islamic ideals as unrealistic while accepting economic fictions is intellectually inconsistent.
❹ Policy and reform are always guided by ideals — separating Islam from its ideal roots leads to distortion and compromise.
❺ Social sciences are tools of ideological engineering, not neutral sciences — and should be recognized as such.
