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In the Name of God بسم الله
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About this blog

Ideas about modern issues from an Islamic perspective. Those posts which were written with the help of GenAI have been spun off into a separate blog as have the posts which contained a semantic field analysis of the Qur'an.

The pinned entries in this blog are longer and articles and unpinned articles are much shorter and the latter may likely be works in progress. The longer articles are followed by a ChatGPT critique to help identify areas for future improvement.

Entries in this blog

Economics

Large numbers of people living comfortably, in close proximity & in harmony

Chongqing in 2025   TLDR Chinese economic success has many contributory factors. I argue that one of these has been the ability of the country to enable large numbers of its population to live comfortably, in close proximity and in harmony. This particular cause for success will be hard for any other country to achieve. Introduction People talk about various reasons for economic performance. I think population density has something to do with it. This is Chongqing, for a
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

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Economics

Whichever option you choose - you lose

[updated in May 2023 to include the Nvidia example and refine the argument overall, updated August 2024 to include an assessment by the FRBNY and the quotation from Sashi Tharoor. Updated 14 Jan 2025 to include the example of RedNote. Updated 12 Feb 2025 to include the material on free trade at the end of the article].   Summary When you are in a weak position, all the choices you have are bad ones. Your opponent who dominates you due to more and/or better resources will ultimatel
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

4
Economics

Riba and economic inequality

Summary For Muslims, the questions around Riba are focused at the level of the individual because we want to know what we can and cannot do. This post looks at the broader societal issue. The conclusion is that riba and the business of lending can increase economic inequality between different segments in society. Assuming an Islamic state has an overriding need to address economic inequality - it cannot accede to the provision of credit in a manner that we are used to in the West.
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

3
Economics

Money, markets and minorities

Summary Buying and selling in the market place may provide advantages to minority groups at the expense of the majority. A State that represents the majority may need to act in order to address the imbalance in a manner that may seem on the face of it to be discriminatory. The impact of buying and selling in the market place The problem with money and markets is that they strip exchanges between people of all social and cultural content. In market-based exchanges, you can buy/sell
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

3
Economics

Why conspiracy theorists sell food supplements

I won't mention names for fear of giving these people even more (unwarranted) publicity. I wanted to draw attention to some theory that explains the title of this blog post. Typically, the conspiracy theorist will draw attention to some phenomenon (unrelated to food supplements) and tell you how you have been lied to. This device is used to build your trust in the conspiracy theorist as someone who is both an expert (they know things) and also benevolent (they care about you). The
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

0
Economics

All this on a Ford factory worker's wages

Why has the West seen falling living standards? Variations on this question are commonly asked on social media. The common theme is that living standards in the West used to be so good but what happened? Popular answers to the following tweet include: But they didn't have internet and dad worked 50-60 hours a week Our rulers sent jobs overseas Women thought it would be a good idea to work Bigger government Inflation I think the real answers ar
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

2
Economics

Misplaced Trust

Summary Following someone else's lead (whether their advice or actions) because they are credible is not sufficient. You need to understand the motives for their actions. The problem https://www.forbes.com/profile/sam-bankman-fried/?sh=2e43415d4449 The firm grew to this size because of investments by large, well-known and reputable organisations, which in turn drew in investments from many other smaller investors. One of those reputable investors was Temasek (the Singapore
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

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Economics

The role information in exchanges - Introduction

Summary I have a few blog posts dealing with knowledge and information (see links at the end of this post). Some of that material tries to frame Qur'anic injunctions in terms of contemporary ideas about exchange to help understand them and their direction better. This post provides some basic background to the contemporary concepts I am familiar with and which underpin some of that discussion. The ideas here are taken from the economics discipline. I have taken care to only reference c
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

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Economics

Hoarding in Islam

Islamic injunctions against hoarding - permissibility of prepping The pandemic was the first time that many in the West were faced with shortages of food and other products. It's worth considering the Islamic view on hoarding, which is many peoples' response to such shortages.  https://www.al-islam.org/greater-sins-volume-3-sayyid-abdul-husayn-dastghaib-shirazi/forty-fifth-greater-sin-hoarding-and There are caveats, which are interesting: https://www.al-islam.org/gre
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

0
Economics

Where Saudi sports and entertainment initiatives are headed

TL:DR Saudi is increasing investments in sports and entertainment. This is supposedly diversifying the economy away from oil and gas. They are also laying open Saudi to 'international consumer culture' because these industries also rely on international tourists. To cater for the latter you have to accommodate their tastes and these include alcohol, music and the exploitation of women.  By investing now in these industries the Saudi government is making itself hostage (deliberately) to
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

0
Economics

Private sufficiency and public luxury

In Shiachat threads many years ago the argument was presented that the sums spent e.g. on the Imam Raza ((عليه السلام).) shrine could be better spent on various social services for Iranians. My counter argument at the time was that visiting the shrines was and is for many ordinary Iranians their only escape from the mundane aspects of everyday life. In addition spending such sums on the social space meant that it could be consumed by all, rather than the few. The British journalist and
Haji 2003

Haji 2003 in Economics

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