The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 5, No. 2 ,  1988 317 

ConferencedSerninars 

Second A M U ~  Economics Seminar 
Rob? al Akhir 8-10. 1409/November 18-20, 1988 

The Second Economics Seminar of the AMSS Economic Discipline 
Council on Islamic Economics co-sponsored by the International Institute 
of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists 
(AMSS) was held Rabi‘ al kkhir 8-10, 1409/November 18-20, 1988, at the 
IIIT headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. The program chairman for the 
conference was Dr. Mohammad Safa of Southeastern University, Washmgton, 
DC and the Seminar was attended by over fifty (50) people from various 
parts of the United States and Canada including academicians, Islamic bankers, 
and graduate economics students. 

Following recitations from the Holy Qur’in, the opening session 
commenced with the welcome addresses of Dr. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani, 
President, and Dr. AbdulHm-d AbiiSulaymiin, Director-General of the ID”, 
respectively. Dr. Taha emphasized the importance of the implementation of 
Islamization of Knowledge in modem social sciences particularly in economics, 
and the role of IIIT in this process. Dr. Taha also paid tribute to the services 
of Dr. AbiiSulaymin in building Islamic institutions like the AMSS and the 
IIIT in their formative years. He prayed for the success of Dr. ’AbiiSulaymin 
in his new assignment as the Rector of the International Islamic University 
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Dr. AbiiSulaymin then outlined the challenges lying ahead for Muslim 
economists in their efforts to Islamize the science of economics. 

Conference Program and Papers: 

The conference program was divided into four sessions. The first session 
was on “Methodological Issues in Islamic Economics” chaired by Dr. Rasool 
M. Hashimi of Southern Illinois University. Drs. Syed Iqbal Mahdi of Benedict 
College and Masudul Alam Choudhury of University College of Cape Breton 
presented papers entitled “Methodological Issues in Islamic Economics” and 
“Cost-Benefit Framework in an Islamic Economic System” respectively. The 
last paper in this session was given by Shamim Siddiqui who is a doctoral 
candidate at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The title of 
his paper was “Savings and Investment in an Islamic Economic System.” 



318 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 5, No. 2, 1988 

The second session was on “Islamic Ideology and Economic Fk~ormance,” 
chaired by Dr. Khalid Bin Sayeed of Queen’s University. Drs. Khairy A. 
Tourk of Illinois Institute of Technology and Hasan A. Al Yahya of Michigan 
State University presented papers entitled “Islamic Ethics and Industrialization” 
and “Innovation and Life Satisfaction: A Case Study of a Muslim Group” 
respectively. 

The third session on “Issues in Islamic Economics” was chaired by Dr. 
M. Raquib uz Zaman of Ithaca College, New York. Dr. Rasool Hasihmi 
presented a paper on “Issues in Islamic Economic System.’’ Following that 
there was a discussion on “Practical Applications” which included a speech 
by Nadeem A. Siddiqui of the Muslim Savings and Investments, Inc., group 
in California. 

Following the third session there was a Business Session and Elections 
supervised by Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Director of Academic Outreach at IIIT 
who is also the General Secretary of the AMSS. Dr. Safa presented the Annual 
Report of the Economics Discipline Group and the session ended with the 
election of Dr. Mohammad Safa and Dr. Syed Iqbal Mahdi as the Chairman 
and the Secretary of the Economic Discipline Council respectively for the 
year 1988-89. Following the election, Drs. Safa and Mahdi briefly spoke 
to the members and asked for their input, help and cooperation for the Third 
Annual Seminar to be held in November 1989. 

The fourth and last session of the seminar was chaired by Dr. Mohammad 
Safa. Drs. Khalid Bin Sayeed and Raquib uz Zaman presented papers entitled 
“Spheres of Private and Public Ownership in an Islamic Economy” and 
“Developing Islamic Financial Instruments for an Islamic State.” Following 
that, Dr. Yaqub Mirza, Vice President of SAAR Foundation, using the 
experiences of Amana (an Islamic mutual funds institution) explained the 
“Problems and Prospects of Islamic Financial Institutions in North America.” 

The conference ended with a brainstorming session in which there was 
very lively discussion on theoretical and practical aspects of Islamic economics. 
From this discussion, it was clear that such an annual conference was extremely 
vital in the development of Islamization of economics and economic institutions. 

Syed Iqbal Mahdi 
Benedict College 
Columbia, SC