Forum on Moral Capitalism in Muslim Societies

Dates: 6/9/2008 - 6/9/2008

Time: 3:00pm - 5:00pm

Location: Center for Strategic and International Studies
1800 K Street, N.W.
Washington, DC
20006

SB NOW and the Caux Round Table, an SB NOW Partner, are proud to jointly promote a forum on moral capitalism in Muslim societies taking place at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Caux Round Table (CRT) is an international network of principled business leaders working to promote a moral capitalism.  The CRT advocates implementation of the CRT Principles for Business through which principled capitalism can flourish and sustainable and socially responsible prosperity can become the foundation for a fair, free and transparent global society.

The Caux Round Table working in close cooperation with scholars at the International Islamic University of Malaysia ("IIUM") are engaged in a project that takes a close look at Qur'anic guidance for good governance. The Hills Program on Governance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies ("CSIS"), which is currently opening a Governance Center in Jakarta, is pleased to be a co-sponsor and will provide a forum for IIUM scholars who will be presenting their analysis of the Qur'an at CSIS in Washington, D.C. (1800 K Street, N.W.) on Monday, June 9th, from 3 to 5 pm.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, DC, and Michael Novak, the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute will comment on the IIUM presentation.

In July 2007, the CRT convened a workshop at IIUM to discuss Qur'anic support for the Caux Round Table's ethical principles for government. The outcome of the workshop was remarkable for the constructive theology about Qur'anic guidance that emerged. Noted scholars were present from Nigeria, Malaysia, Pakistan, The Sudan, Bangladesh, and the United States. The group included the former Minister of Islamic Religious and Minority Affairs from Pakistan, a Sunni expert in the Hadith and the Sharia.

The group's conclusions, in brief, were:

• God has constituted humanity as his vice-regent on earth to complete creation in line with his vision of justice for all;
• God has given each human part of his nature - including a moral sense and rational faculties - with which to carry out the mission of being vice-regent;
• Individuals hold their powers - intellectual, economic, political - in trust to further God's purposes and not their own hubris or ambitions;
• Economic development is part of the trust responsibility.  

The implications of this understanding of the Qur'an are stunning. It is, conceptually, no more than a short step from these premises to the intellectual framework of John Locke's Second Treatise on Government. With such Qur'anic guidance in hand, interesting new departures become possible for planning and implementing principles of good governance in both public and private sectors in Muslim societies.

The CRT asked Dean Ibrahim Zein of the graduate faculty in Islamic studies at IIUM, and Professors Abdullah al-Ahsan and Muhammad Arif Zakaullah to come to Washington to present their paper on Qur'anic Guidance for Good Governance at CSIS with the Hills Program on Governance.

Contact: Jed Ipsen, 202-224-1363 Send Email