Journal of Critical Realism in Socio-Economics (JOCRISE)

Tawhidi Knowledge Sequences, Opposite Grounds, and Waqf as Perpetual Charity

2026-07-28T11:08:01+08:00

The contemporary scientific paradigm is increasingly confronted with epistemological fragmentation resulting from the persistent separation between divine revelation and empirical reasoning. This disconnection has contributed to ethical deterioration, socioeconomic inequality, and environmental degradation, highlighting the need for an alternative framework capable of integrating moral and material dimensions. This paper explores the Tawhidi World System as a holistic epistemological foundation grounded in the unity of knowledge, where the Qur'an and Sunnah function as the primordial ontology of scientific inquiry. Employing a conceptual and analytical approach, the study examines the sequence of the Tawhidi String Relation (TSR), including ontology, epistemology, circular causation, and conscious continuum, and contrasts it with the fragmented structure of Western rationalism as the opposite ground. The analysis demonstrates that the TSR framework integrates revelation, human cognition, and empirical reality through interactive, integrative, and evolutionary processes that continuously generate knowledge-induced complementarities. Furthermore, the paper illustrates the practical relevance of this framework by examining waqf as a perpetual charitable institution that functions as an endogenous ethical instrument linking spiritual values with socioeconomic development. Unlike conventional welfare mechanisms, waqf operates through circular causation that embeds moral consciousness into economic activities, thereby promoting distributive justice, sustainable development, and collective wellbeing (maslaha). The study concludes that the Tawhidi paradigm provides a comprehensive alternative to secular rationalism by reconnecting ethics, economics, and science within a unified worldview, offering a sustainable foundation for human development and institutional transformation.

BOOK REVIEW Exegeses Of A Qur’anic Verse In the Light of the Critical Realism of the Monotheistic Law of Unity of Knowledge (Tawhid)

2026-07-26T16:46:50+08:00

This book review critically examines Exegeses of a Qur'anic Verse in the Light of the Critical Realism of the Monotheistic Law of Unity of Knowledge (Tawhid), which reinterprets Qur'an 36:36 through the framework of Tawhidi epistemology and critical realism. The review evaluates the author's critique of conventional exoteric (ẓāhir) exegesis and the proposed integration of exoteric and esoteric (bāṭin) interpretation using ta'wīl. While classical commentaries primarily understand the verse as referring to complementary pairs in creation, the book argues that it embodies a universal epistemological principle of complementarity, interaction, and evolutionary learning governing the unity of knowledge. This review finds that the book makes an original contribution by linking Qur'anic hermeneutics with systems thinking, philosophy of science, and socio-economic inquiry, thereby extending the relevance of Tawhid beyond theology into interdisciplinary scholarship. Although several historical claims regarding traditional exegetical schools require greater nuance, the work successfully demonstrates the potential of Tawhidi epistemology as an integrative framework for contemporary Islamic thought and for addressing complex global challenges through a unified moral-material worldview.

Knowledge and Educational Policy As Transformation Hub For Malaysia

2026-07-26T15:53:04+08:00

This paper examines the role of knowledge and educational policy as the fundamental drivers of Malaysia's transformation into a global hub for Islamic economics and finance. Drawing upon the Tawhidi paradigm and the epistemology of the unity of knowledge, the study adopts a conceptual and critical realist approach to evaluate the limitations of conventional educational models that separate moral values from socio-economic development. The analysis argues that sustainable institutional transformation cannot be achieved solely through regulatory reforms or financial innovation but requires an educational framework rooted in Qur'anic ontology, ethical consciousness, and the integration of moral and material dimensions. The paper further explains how the methodology of unity of knowledge provides an alternative analytical framework through circular causation, complementary relationships, and continuous learning processes that enhance social wellbeing and institutional resilience. The findings suggest that educational reform grounded in Tawhidi epistemology constitutes the primary foundation for strengthening Malaysia's leadership in Islamic economics and finance while promoting an inclusive, knowledge-driven, and ethically sustainable development model.

Institutional Budgeting, Technological Constraint and Relational Stabilisation: A Critical Realist Study of Investment Deviation in Renewable Energy Projects in Kazakhstan

2026-07-26T14:04:37+08:00

This study investigates the generative mechanisms underlying investment deviation and operational performance in renewable energy projects, moving beyond behavioural accounts toward a structural explanation grounded in critical realism. The methodology used a multiple-case retroduction design is applied to nine renewable energy projects (seven wind, two solar) in Kazakhstan, 2020–2025. Evidence is triangulated across business plans, completion audit reports, financial statements, monthly generation records, tariff schedules and ESG disclosures. Projects are anonymised as A–I. Data are analysed by retroduction and process tracing. The findings indicate three interacting mechanisms shape deviation and performance. First, performative budgeting practices, institutionalised safety margins attached to investment preference claims, pre-configure what is later recorded as “saving” or “overrun”. Second, differential predictability conditions arising from technological architecture explain why the solar case achieves near-zero deviation while wind cases disperse widely. Third, ESG practices operate as a dual-function relational mechanism, stabilising stakeholder relations while also imposing coordination costs. Apparent forecast accuracy in two recently commissioned projects reflects offsetting tariff and generation deviations rather than predictive precision. The patterns cannot be fully explained by behavioural accounts; they point to structurally embedded processes within open socio-economic systems. The study reframes investment deviation as an emergent outcome of interacting mechanisms within open socio-economic systems. It contributes to critical realist accounting research by integrating Choudhury’s circular causation with Bhaskarian stratification at project level.

Human Rights and Islam: A Comparative Analysis

2026-07-25T15:20:24+08:00

The Human Rights advocated by UN is approved as consensus by world communities with no dissent. The sole objective of Human Rights is to eliminate evils of conflicts in a nation sate arising due non-fulfillment of primary needs and basic expectations of individuals conceived as exclusively indispensable for establishing peace. The Islam extended to humanity as blessings from its own Creator – The Compassionate and All-knowing establishes the mechanism of achieving peace by resolving conflicts. The source of all conflicts is non-existent or flagrant denial to justice. Islam propounds establishing justice explicit, visibly observable and tangible. The justice achieved in turn leads to attainment of the cherishing goal of peace and harmony among nations. The sustained peace is further stabilized through host of divine principles of kinship, loyalty, gratitude, honesty, compassion, love, kindness and so alike working in synergy. The political state in any form is a compromised entity. It is not truly sovereign rather influenced by changing politico-socio aspirations of individuals changing widely over time, place, geography, customs etc. The divine principle of justice is universal and eternal and so is the peace established is stable and sustained. The sovereignty of God encompasses all entities whether an institution or individual and so all-abiding and irrevocable. It is honored prerogative of dedicated willing community of individuals to propagate justice leading to sustained environment of peace in contrast to inanimate state presumed powerful to establish peace.

Digital Transformation and Sustainable Development: Challenges, Risks and New Models of Economic Growth

2026-05-16T11:45:01+08:00

This research aims to identify key economic growth models shaped by digital transformation, assess associated risks, and determine the conditions for their compatibility with sustainable development principles, using Kazakhstan as a case study. A comparative-analytical and structural-functional approach is applied. The empirical base comprises data from the Agency for Strategic Planning of Kazakhstan, the National Bank of Kazakhstan, public reports of Kaspi.kz and Halyk Bank, and World Economic Forum Network Readiness Index (NRI) data for 2019–2024. The findings indicate that Digital transformation in Kazakhstan is developing asynchronously: the financial sector leads while industry and agriculture lag critically. The super-app business model generates sustainable growth but creates data monopolisation risks. ESG integration remains declarative without measurable KPIs. The digital tenge pilot opens prospects for enhanced fiscal transparency. The originality of this research for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of Kazakhstan's digital transformation is conducted through three interrelated dimensions economic growth, ESG integration, and external economic risks using scenario forecasting and case analysis of leading fintech players.

BOOK REVIEW: Abu Nasr Al-Farabi (trans. by Richard Walzer) (1985). On the Perfect State (Mabadi’ ara’ahl al-madinat al-fadilah). Oxford University Press, Oxford, Eng.

2026-05-16T10:27:46+08:00

This book review critically examines On the Perfect State (Mabadi’ ara’ ahl al-madinat al-fadilah) by Abu Nasr Al-Farabi, translated by Richard Walzer, through the perspective of critical realism. The review explores Al-Farabi’s metaphysical conception of the First Cause, the process of cosmological emanation, and the relationship between essence and materiality in the structure of existence. The analysis argues that although Al-Farabi presents a sophisticated ontological hierarchy integrating metaphysics and political philosophy, his framework reveals methodological and epistemological limitations, particularly regarding the relational meaning of Tawhid and the causal interconnection among existents. From a critical realist standpoint, the text insufficiently explains the generative mechanisms linking divine unity, ethical consciousness, and material reality. Nevertheless, the work remains a foundational contribution to Islamic philosophy and continues to stimulate contemporary debates on ontology, epistemology, and social reality.

The Qur’anic Concept of Charity an Approach to Resolve Contemporary Economic Challenges

2026-05-16T10:20:09+08:00

The practice of usury (riba) has become an integral component of contemporary economic systems across secular, liberal, and religious societies. Although widely accepted as a financial mechanism, usury often promotes unjust and exploitative relations that disproportionately burden poor, marginalized, and financially vulnerable individuals. Interest-based economic practices encourage wealth concentration, excessive profit-seeking, and social inequality while weakening ethical responsibility and communal welfare. Existing legal and regulatory frameworks have proven insufficient in eliminating exploitative financial practices disguised as legitimate economic activities. This study examines the Qur’anic concept of charity as an alternative economic approach grounded in justice, compassion, and social responsibility. Using the perspective of Critical Realism, the paper argues that charity functions not merely as an act of personal generosity but as a transformative socio-economic mechanism capable of addressing structural inequality and reducing dependency on exploitative financial systems. The Qur’anic model emphasizes equitable wealth distribution, protection of vulnerable groups, and the promotion of mutual trust and collective wellbeing. The study further contrasts the ethical foundations of capitalism, socialism, and the Qur’anic economic framework. While capitalism prioritizes freedom and profit maximization, and socialism emphasizes equality, the Qur’anic Deen places justice as the central principle governing economic and social relations. The findings suggest that Qur’anic charity provides a humane and universally applicable model for promoting economic justice, reducing inequality, strengthening social solidarity, and fostering sustainable societal prosperity.

A Critical Analysis of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’s View on Adam Smith’s Market Mechanism within the Framework of Hisbah and the Tawhidic Paradigm

2026-05-16T10:15:42+08:00

This article critically analyzes Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’s philosophical perspective on Adam Smith’s market mechanism, particularly the concept of the invisible hand. While Smith’s theory assumes that self-interest and competition can naturally lead to social welfare, al-Attas challenges this notion as a manifestation of the secular worldview that separates economics from divine values. Through his Tawhidic paradigm, al-Attas argues that the invisible hand cannot function as a moral regulator because it operates independently of revelation and adab. Instead, he proposes that true market harmony must emerge from the restoration of adab—right knowledge and proper conduct guided by the recognition of God’s sovereignty. Within this framework, the institution of Hisbah represents the social embodiment of adab: a moral and spiritual system ensuring justice (‘adl), balance (mizan), and accountability in market activities. Hisbah, therefore, becomes the “visible hand” of divine order, directing economic interactions toward spiritual welfare (falah) rather than mere material gain. This study concludes that al-Attas’s conceptualization of Hisbah within the Tawhidic worldview provides a transformative framework for rehumanizing modern markets and grounding economic policies in both ethical and metaphysical dimensions aligned with Islamic and Pancasila values.

Strategies of Da’wah through Tourism: Opportunities and Challenges in the Age of Globalization

2026-05-16T10:16:37+08:00

Tourism has become an important platform for communicating Islamic values and strengthening Da‘wah through ethical, cultural, and Halal-based experiences. This study examines the role of Da‘wah in tourism through the development of a systematic Halal ecosystem that includes Halal hospitality, modest fashion, Islamic entertainment, ethical services, and effective Islamic communication. The study uses a qualitative method based on library research and document analysis. Data are collected from books, journal articles, reports, and other academic sources related to Halal tourism, Islamic lifestyle industries, Islamic communication, and Da‘wah practices. These sources are analyzed thematically to identify key concepts, opportunities, challenges, and strategies for integrating Da‘wah with tourism. The study finds that tourism can serve not only as an economic activity but also as a meaningful medium for presenting Islamic teachings, values, ethics, and ways of life to Muslim and non-Muslim tourists. A well-structured Halal ecosystem can strengthen Da‘wah by offering tourists a positive experience of Islam through services, behavior, environment, communication, and cultural presentation. Key elements such as Halal food, prayer facilities, modest dress, family-friendly entertainment, Islamic hospitality, and respectful communication help present Islam as peaceful and organized modern life. However, several challenges remain, including differences in Halal standards, weak stakeholder coordination, commercialization of Islamic symbols, globalization, and difficulties in communicating Islamic values in multicultural tourism settings. The study concludes that an integrated Halal tourism strategy based on Islamic principles, professional tourism management, stakeholder cooperation, and culturally sensitive Da‘wah communication can strengthen Halal tourism and promote Islamic values positively and practically.

A Critical Realist Reading on The Banking & Interest Crisis

2026-02-17T16:21:30+08:00

This paper examines the ontological nature of modern money creation and the destructive socio-economic impacts of compound interest. It seeks to expose how the private banking sector’s monopoly on money creation through debt-entry mechanisms serves as a fundamental barrier to human rights, mental health, and ecological sustainability. Using a critical political economy approach and a socio-legal case study analysis, the research investigates the mechanics of fractional reserve and credit-creation banking. It specifically analyzes the correlation between usurious debt structures and social collapse, utilizing the Indian agrarian crisis (1997–2010) as a primary case study for the human cost of compound interest. The study reveals that approximately 95% of the global money supply is created as debt by private institutions, making "scarcity" a systemic artifact rather than a physical reality. The research identifies "Accumulated International Debt Syndrome" (AIDS) as a neo-colonial mechanism that prevents developing nations from achieving sovereignty. Furthermore, it demonstrates that "financial unviability" in green energy projects—such as tidal lagoons—is often a mathematical consequence of interest-based discounting rather than a lack of technological or resource feasibility. This paper bridges the gap between monetary theory and humanitarian ethics. By reframing 200,000 farmer suicides not as individual tragedies but as "systemic executions" caused by interest-bearing logic, the work calls for a paradigm shift toward debt-free sovereign money and the abolition of usurious frameworks to facilitate civilizational progress.

A Critical Realist Reading on Global Poverty and Social Impact

2026-02-17T15:24:50+08:00

This paper critically analyzes the socio-economic narrative of the "useless class" emerging from the discourse of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), as championed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and figures like Yuval Noah Harari. It seeks to investigate how this narrative serves as a precursor to systemic exclusion and new forms of global authoritarianism. Utilizing a critical realism framework and political economy analysis, the study dissects the convergence of technocratic ideology, financialization, and digital surveillance. It maps the power structures of the "Global Asset Monopoly"—specifically the network of 147 companies controlling 40% of global wealth—to understand the structural drivers of human marginalization. The research identifies a transition toward "Digital Fascism," where Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and social credit scoring function as mechanisms for total behavioral compliance. Furthermore, the study finds that immersive technologies like the Metaverse are positioned not merely as entertainment, but as tools for cognitive pacification to manage a population rendered economically redundant by automation and systemic poverty. By synthesizing the critiques of financialization with the psychological implications of the 4IR, this paper offers a unique perspective on the existential threat to human agency. It argues that the "uselessness" of humanity is not a technological inevitability, but a deliberate political construct designed to consolidate power within a hyper-centralized global elite.

BOOK REVIEW John Maynard Keynes, 1963. Essays in Persuasion, “The Future”, W.W. Norton, New York

2025-12-17T12:03:11+08:00

This book review examines John Maynard Keynes’s Essays in Persuasion, particularly the essay “The Future,” as a profound ethical and epistemological reflection on the trajectory of modern economic civilization. The review aims to reassess Keynes not merely as a founder of modern macroeconomics, but as a moral thinker concerned with the wellbeing of future generations. Keynes critically challenges the dominance of wealth accumulation, usury, and material obsession, advocating instead for a return to ethical purpose, leisure, and human flourishing. The review highlights Keynes’s distinction between money as an instrument for productive regeneration and money as an object of pathological accumulation. It further interprets his vision through a dynamic framework linking money, capital formation, technology, and social wellbeing via circular causation. By revisiting Keynes’s foresight in light of contemporary crises stagflation, inequality, and ethical erosion this review underscores the enduring relevance of his moral critique for rethinking economic policy, monetary governance, and the future of global wellbeing.

Introduction to Qur'anic Wisdwom

2025-11-01T19:04:18+08:00

The human Span of Knowability is limited to boundaries defined by Logical Positivism. The Quran as a book of Knowledge is Message contents revealed from God Almighty. The messages in general may broadly be classified into two broad categories i.e. LEARNING and ACADEMIC. The text contents LEARNING in nature are set of Communication materials calling one to change of its behavior voluntarily i.e. Commanding Response appropriate to Specific Message Contents. The other broader class i.e. ACADEMIC are Text Contents that do not command change of behavior or response expressed through conscience, intents, motivations and actions reflected as ATTITUDES. The holy Quran is explored as Message Contents primarily directed to Change of Behaviour and hence LEARNING in nature. The Quranic Learning Texts are attached with dire consequences in terms of Perpetual bliss and Everlasting sufferings and hence referred as Quranic Wisdoms. The success is the result of commitment and actions in due response to such inherent Wisdoms. It provides with basic ingredients for building of Personalities. The Quranic Wisdoms are communicated through combination of Text forms i.e. MUHKAMAAT and MUTASHABIHAAT. The text contents of MUTASHABIHAAT are essentially Unknowable yet Inferable (through reason) whereas as the texts of MUHKAMAAT are direct, precise, perceptible and observable i.e. Knowable in essence. The progress of behavioral change may be evaluated amid various changing environments and circumstances presented as Quranic Templates. The effective monitoring of change observed across various Quranic Templates can be used as tools for right development of Ordinary Self leading to True Islamic Personalities.

BOOK REVIEW: Principal Model of Divergence In Increasing Inequality In Thomas Piketty (Translated By Arthur Goldhammer). Capital In The Twenty-First Century. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2014.

2025-11-01T18:45:49+08:00

The section towards the end is a focused extract from the above masterpiece by Thomas Picketty. The question raised in this partial book review is that the current egalitarian expectation of Islamic Economics, Finance, and Social Contract by shari’ah scholars is untenable in a market economy. Thereby, only an abounding rich and enforcing policy mechanism of non-democratic states can provide exogenously power-structure of such countries to institutionalize Islamic socio-economic enforcement structure, while avoiding the endogenous market process. Yet it is the latter socio-economic structure that induces the most central driving force of the Islamic worldview. That is, the endogenous induction of essential qur’anic knowledge of unity of knowledge, explained by the socio-economic structure of participated complementary in the order of ‘everything’. The qur’anic overarching meaning of maqasid as-shari’ah as the DIVINE WAY is invoked and implicated as the Law of Tawhid. This is explained and continuously sustained as the universal law of unity of knowledge induced by consciousness in ‘everything’, That is the unifying structure of pairing as the regenerative structure of ‘pairing’ in ‘everything’.