THE CHALLENGES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ISLAMIC ECONOMICS DISCIPLINE 1
Islamic economics is challenged whether it can be called a discipline in the sense of having a clear subject-matter, well-organized body of knowledge, methodology to appraise theories and systematic accumulation of knowledge. Islamic economics is still in the formative stage to be a discipline. Many fundamental issues need to be seriously addressed by the scientific community for Islamic economics to be a legitimate discipline. This essay attempts to identify several challenges to be answered by Islamic economics scientific community in their effort to develop a discipline of Islamic economics. Embarking from the Islamic worldview that gives foundations in our understanding of economic phenomena, efforts are to be put to develop the conceptual foundations, key-terminologies, discipline conceptual scheme, methodology to appraise and evaluate theory and Islamic ethics framework. The answer to those challenges will determine the scientific direction of Islamic economics, ensure a sustainable growth of knowledge and expedite the speed of the evolutional process of Islamic economics towards becoming a distinct discipline.