Review



Thoughts on Economics

Vol. 28, No. 01 & 02

Maslahah based Production Ensures Peace in the World Economy Compared to the Non-Maslahah based Production: The Empirical Evidences from the World Economy

Basharat Hossain

Abstract: Maslahah means public benefit and welfare. This paper uses secondary data and analyzed the impact of two non-Maslahah products (alcohol and tobacco) and two non-Maslahah services (gambling and prostitution) on the global peace. The findings implied that, non-Maslahah products and services create impediments to attain and maintain the peace in the world economy. Alcohol produces 200 diseases and was the cause of 3.2% of global death in 2016. Tobacco is the causes of the death of over 7 million people globally in 2017 by generating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Gambling causes mental depression, violence in family and society, losses of economic resources. Prostitution disgraces the dignity of women and also produces several diseases, including HIV/AIDS that causes the death of 36.7 million people worldwide. Besides, it creates the hate against women by producing pornography. Conversely, Maslahah product and service such as Juice, rice, interest free banking only provide useful outcome to attain global peace. Finally, this paper recommends the ways to eliminate the production of non-Maslahah product from the economy.

Key Words: Maslahah, Non-Maslahah, Islamic Economics, Peace, World economy

JEL: B410, I310, E230, I10, P40

1. Background of the Study

The main function of economics is to meet the unlimited wants of the people by the efficient management of the scarce resources. In this process, different kinds of products and services are produced in the society to fulfill the need of the people. Moreover, the various products and services provide the different level of utility or satisfaction to the consumer. This article uses the Islamic concept of utility that is known as Maslahah. A product or service is said to have Maslahah if it has only useful attributes and no harmful attributes. In contrast, non-Maslahah or Mafsadah (bad or evil) is the antonym of Maslahah. Non-Maslahah product or service has the harmful attributes while has only little useful attributes. For instance, production of Juice versus production of wine, interest-free financial services versus interest-based financial services. This paper presents that the Maslahah based products and services contribute and ensure the peace in the world economy while non-Maslahah based products and services deteriorates the global peace.

This section (background of the study) discusses the concept of Maslahah and Non- Maslahah, definition, determinants as well as barriers of peace. In addition, section-2 and section-3 discusses the objective and methodology of this study. In addition, the literature review has been presented in section-4. Section-5 describes the effect of non-Maslahah products and services on the global peace. Section-6 and section-7 summarizes the key findings and provides the recommendations, Finally, section-8, section-9 and section-10 present the conclusion, further research scope and reference respectively.

1.1 A Discussion on the Concept of Maslahah and Non-Maslahah

Maslahah (مَصْلَحَة) is an Arabic word that originated from the noun ‘Salaha (صلح)’. The plural form is Masaalih (مَصَالِح). The literal meaning is good, right, appropriate, pious, good-will or friendly feelings, peacemaking, useful, beneficial and constructive (Almaany, 2017).

Terminologically, Maslahah can be defined as the consideration of those factors which obtains or ensures the benefit and welfare or inhibits the harms and also complies the aim and theme as well as the intention of the Islamic shariah (Al-Syatibi 2003, Al Ghazali). In addition, Maslahah ensures the five essential things of the life, namely faith, life, intellect, lineage and property (Mannan, 1984).

Islamic economists develop and employ the concept of Maslahah instead of the concept of utility. According to them, Maslahah is the superior concept of the utility. Utility is the property or power of the goods and services that satisfy the human needs and wants. On the contrary, Islamic economists define the Maslahah as the utility along with the useful and welfare characteristics. Hence, a product may have utility, but may not have Maslahah. Conversely, all Maslahah products have utility. For instance, fruit juice has utility and Maslahah while wine has only utility, but not have Maslahah (Mannan, 1984).

However, non-Maslahah can be used as the synonym of Mafsadah (evil). The literal meaning is harm, bad, deteriorate, perish and destroy. So a product or service may be defined as non-Maslahah product which has harmful effects for the five indispensable elements of the human life (Mannan, 1984). For example; tobacco, tobacco products, alcohol, charging usury or interest etc.

1.2 A Discussion on the Concept of Peace and Determinants of Peace

The word peace derived from the Latin word ‘pacem’ and ‘pax’, the meaning is- peace, reconciliation, silence, permission, compact, agreement, treaty of peace, tranquility, the absence of war (etymonline, 2017).

However, many scholars and institutions defined the peace from several dimensions. These ideas are discussed below:

Albert Einstein defined the peace as- it is not only the absence of war or conflict, but the existence of justice, law and order of the government (Einstein 1968). In addition, it is the absence of physical, social, psychological and structural violence (Reardon 1988). Moreover, Trostles (1992) defines the Peace as the state of well-being that is the combination of trust, compassion, and justice. It is the good without any pain and makes all the part of the human family. Furthermore, Alfred Nobel wrote in his will to award peace prize to the person who has the best works or contributions for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses (Nobel Prize, 2017). From Nobel’s will, peace can be defined as the making brotherhood between nation, elimination as well as minimizing armed forces and promoting the amity.

In addition, the Global Peace Index (GPI) -2017 measures the peace by three indicators. These are the Societal Safety and Security, the Current Domestic and International Conflict, and the degree of militarization.

As well, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, peace can be defined in two ways. Negative peace and Positive peace. Negative peace is nothing but the absence of violence or fear of violence. For instance, stop the conflict or war. On the contrary, Positive Peace comprises the attitudes, arrangements and organizations that build and sustain the peaceful societies. For example, respectful relations with neighbors, recognition of the rights of others, useful goods and services, good governance (IEP, 2016). From the above discussion, the determinants as well as barriers of peace can be defined.

|Barriers |Determinants |

|War |Making brotherhood |

|Conflict |Trust |

|Militarisation |Compassion |

|physical, social, psychological |Justice |

|and structural violence |Societal Safety and security |

|interpersonal violence |Good neighbor |

|Harmful goods and services, |useful goods and services, |

2. Objective

The main objective of this paper is to show that the non-Maslahah products and services deteriorate and abolish the peace from the world economy, whereas Maslahah products and services ensure the peace in the world economy.

3. Methodology

This is a qualitative as well as descriptive paper that has been prepared by collecting the secondary data. The secondary data were collected on the global alcoholic beverage industry, tobacco industry, casino and gambling industry, and the prostitution industry. Besides, different books, articles, reports and newspapers have been reviewed to prepare this report. Moreover, the secondary data were also collected from the Global Peace Index- 2017, tobacco fact sheet by WHO (World Health Organization), Havocscope, and alcohol rehab guide respectively.

4. Literature Review

A good number of researches have been done on the concept of Maslahah. This section describes the related researches conducted on the Maslahah.

Syaputra et al (2014) discusses the application of Maslahah in financial transactions, Shahar uddin (2010) analyses the Maslahah and Mafsadah Approach in assessing the Islamic banking products, moreover, the significances of Maslahah and the doctrine of Maqasid al-shari’ah was evaluated by Jalil (2006). In addition, Al-Mubarak (2010) analyzed the applications of Maqasid al-shariah and Maslahah in the Islamic banking practices.

However, this research paper is different from the earlier research in a sense that, it analyses the effects of non-Maslahah products and services on the peace of the world economy and presents that the non-Maslahah products and services deteriorate the peace of the world economy. In contrast, Maslahah based products and services ensure the peace of the world economy. This research has a new addition, that is the linking the Maslahah and non-Maslahah with the global peace. There were no researches conducted on this topic earlier.

5. Negative Impact of Non-Maslahah based Products on the Peace in the World Economy: The Empirical Evidences

From the above discussion, it can be said that, Maslahah based product and services always provides the useful features for the human being and the society. Thus, it contributes to generate peace in the society and the country. In contrast, non-Maslahah based product and services creates harms for human being and for the society. Moreover, it deteriorates the peace in the family, society, country and finally, in the world. For instance, alcohol and prostitution.

To be precise in analysis, this paper has incorporated the effects of selected non-Maslahah product and services on the peace. These are the alcoholic beverage, tobacco, gambling and prostitution. The detailed discussion has given below:

A. Alcohol and Its Negative Impact

The alcoholic beverage is a kind of drinks that has ethanol or alcohol. There are three kinds of alcoholic beverages, namely, beers, wines, and spirits. Moreover, each kind has different categories. Such as beer (Ale, Lager, Hybrid), Distilled Spirits (Rum, Whiskey, Vodka, Others) and Wine (Sparkling, Fortified).

Alarmingly, the current value of the global alcoholic beverages Market is $1,344 billion (2015) and the projected growth rate is 2.1% between 2016 and 2022. The allied market research (AMR) projected that the value of this industry will reach to $1,594 billion in 2022. It also revealed that, the main consumers are young as well as adult and high income people in the world (AMR, 2017).

Currently, about 2 (two) billion people drink alcoholic Beverages and more than 76 million people are affected by the alcohol use disorder (AUD) worldwide. Moreover, every year, 1.8 million people die for alcoholic drinks which are 3.2% of the global deaths (Green facts, 2017). In addition, this figure was 5.9% in 2012. Besides, World Health Organization found that, alcohol is the causes of 200 diseases including liver cirrhosis and cancers. As well, alcohol is the fifth leading cause of premature death (NIAA, 2017).

However, about 1.4 million alcohol-related violence was happening at each year in the USA. More precisely, among the family violence, 70 percent of the violence is alcohol-related. In addition, 15 percent robberies, 13 percent of child abusers, 37 percent of sexual assaults and rapes, and 86 percent of murderers are committed by the alcohol addicted people in USA (alcohol rehab guide, 2017).

B. Tobacco and Its Negative Impact

Tobacco products are cigarettes and bidis. According to the WHO, about 1 (one) billion people consume tobacco in the world of which 80% smokers are from the lower and middle-income countries. It also revealed the devastating effects of tobacco. That is, tobacco is the cause of cardiovascular as well as respiratory diseases, such as coronary heart disease and lung cancer respectively. Moreover, over 7 (seven) million people die globally for tobacco consumption. Among them, More than 6 million people die for the cause of direct tobacco, whereas 0.89 million people die for the cause of the second-hand or passive smoking (WHO, 2017).

According to the health economists, tobacco reduces the productivity of the smoker. Besides, it also liable to the premature death of Tobacco consumers deprives their family and country from income, increase the health care cost and hamper the economic growth.

C. Gambling and Its Negative Impact

The current value of global casino and gambling industry was $450 billion (business wire 2016). Moreover, about 1.6 billion people gamble around the world (gambling addiction blog, 2011). In addition, the current value of online gambling industry is 47.11 billion and the growth rate is 10.81%. In 2020, it is expected to reach at $66.59 Billion (pr newswire 2016).

However, gambling is the major cause of cheating, forgery, alcohol consumption, violence in the family and the society, mental disorder, bankruptcy and so more. According to a research by the researcher of the University of Lincoln in 2016 on 3025 gambler; 73% gamblers were engaged in physical violence in the past five years, whereas this figure was only 19 per cent among the non-gamblers (Roberts et al, 2016). Moreover, Australian researchers have found that 50% of the family members of a gambler had faced the violence in the last one year (Nightingale, 2013). In the USA, more than 85 percent gamblers, family member received threats from the creditors. Besides, about 80% gamblers lose their job around the world. Moreover, the researcher found that, about 47.2% gambler suicides in Hong Kong (Wong et al, 2010).

D. Prostitution and Its Negative Impact

According to the Havocscope, the current value of global prostitution industry is $186 Billion and 13.83 million prostitutes are working around the world (Havocscope, 2017). Prostitution is always against the peace. It denies and disgraces the women, whereas women is the part of humanity. According to a research, over 90 per cent of the prostitute wants to escape from the prostitution. Besides, 100 percent said, prostitution is not choice but they’re engaged in it by force (Farley, 2010). Moreover, prostitution is also the cause of HIV-AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). HIV virus infects among 70 million people since its infection was started, of which 36.7 million people died in 2016 (WHO, 2018).

6. Key Findings of the Study

The key findings of this article are:

• Alcoholic beverages are responsible for 3.2% of the global deaths and the serious violence. So, it deteriorates the peace.

• Tobacco is the cause of 7 (seven) million people’s deaths around the world. And also produces different kind of diseases, including cancer. So, it worsens the peace.

• Gambling is the cause of violence and suicide. It violates the condition of the peace.

Prostitution industry disgraces the women and creates violence against the women. Since, women are the part of humanity, so prostitution disgraces the humanity. It is also the cause of death for 36.7 million people worldwide. That is the threat to social safety and the peace

7. Recommendations

Non-Maslahah products and services are harmful and the threats to the society and the global peace. The evidences are presented in section-5 of this article. So this paper recommends that

• Make or prepare the effective strategic plan to abolish the production of the non-Maslahah products and services

• Set a step by step plan to stop the production of it from the world

• Allocate the budget to conduct research on the negative effect of non-Maslahah products and services and propagate the results to aware the people

• Pass a law to punish the producer and promoter of non-Maslahah products and services

• Finally, it should be abolished from the Muslim countries first. So, cooperation from the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) is needed.

8. Conclusion

Islam has several first-rated tools to achieve the personal, family, societal and global peace. Maslahah is one of the key principles to obtain this goal. Hence this paper presented the negative effect of non-Maslahah products and services on the global peace. This paper has been prepared by collecting secondary data. This paper found that, non-Maslahah products and services such as alcoholic beverage, tobacco, gambling and prostitution have devastating effects in abolishing the global peace. Hence, this paper suggests five steps to eliminate the non-Maslahah products and services from the world to ensure the peace in the world’s economy.This is the high time to reduce the growth of non-Maslahah products and services, because it warns the Muslim world as well as the whole world about the future threat to peace. Nevertheless, if we will not take any steps to check it now, it will create a hell for the Muslim and Humanity in the near future.

9. Scope for Further Research

The application of the Maslahah and non-Maslahah is a wide area of research. This paper only discusses the negative effect of non-Maslahah products and services on the global peace. In addition, the research can be done on the application of Maslahah in the industrial sector, capital market, government operation, business transaction, country peace and so more. There are huge scopes to do the further research on these issues and so more.

10. References

Alcohol rehab guide, (2017), Alcohol Related Crimes, Retrieved from

Almaany (2017), Translation and Meaning of صلح in Almaany English Arabic Dictionary, Retrieved from صلح/ فسِد/

Al-Mubarak, T and Osmani, N. M. (2010). Applications of Maqasid al-Shariah and Maslahah in the Islamic Banking Practices: An Analysis, Conference Paper, India: International Seminar on Islamic Finance in, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3578.0644 

Al-Syatibi (2003), Al-Muawafaqat Fi Ushul al-Syari’ah. Beirut : Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyah

AMR (2017), Alcoholic Beverages Market Overview, Allied Market Research, Retrieved from

Business wire (2016), Analyzing the Global Casinos & Gambling Industry 2016, Business wire, Retrieved from

Einstein, A, (1968), Einstein on Peace, New York: Schocken

Farley, M. (2010, " October). The real harms of prostitution, catholic education, Retrieved from

Gambling addiction blog, (2011). Gambling Statistics, Retrieved from

GPI (2017), executive summary, the Global Peace Index (GPI)-2017, Retrieved from

IEP, (2016), what is positive peace? Positive Peace Report 2016, Retrieved from

Havocscope (2017), Prostitution Statistics, Retrieved from

Jalil, A. (2006), The Significances of Maslahah Concept and Doctrine of Maqasid (Objectives) Al-Shari’Ah in Project Evaluation, the Journal of Muamalat and Islamic Finance Research (JMIFR), 3(1), 171-202

Mannan, M.A (1984). The making of Islamic economic society. Cairo: International Association of Islamic Banks

NIAA (2017), National institute of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, Alcohol Facts and Statistics, Retrieved from

Nightingale, Tom. (2013, September 5). Study unearths hidden link between domestic violence and gambling, The ABC News, Retrieved from:

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PR newswire (2016, October 20), Global Online Gambling Market, PR Newswire, Retrived from:

Reardon, B.A. (1988.), Comprehensive Peace Education. New York: Teachers College Press

Roberts, A. ,Jeremy, C. Robert, K. Raegan, M.John, T.Henrietta, B.J.Katie, PP.and Jason, L. (2016), Gambling and violence in a nationally representative sample of UK men. Addiction, 111, 2196-2207, DOI: 10.1111/add.13522

Shaharuddin, A.(2010). Maslahah-Mafsadah Approach in Assessing the Shari’ah Compliance of Islamic Banking Products, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 1(1), 129-136

Syaputra, E. Faridl, N. H., Muhammad, F., Issa, Q. Muhammad M. A. Muhammad, R. A. A.(2014), Maslahah as an Islamic Source and its Application in Financial Transactions, Quest Journals Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 2 (5), 2321-9467

Trostle, T. (1992), Personal correspondence, New York

WHO (2017), Tobacco Fact sheet, Updated May 2017, Retrived from:

WHO (2018), Global Health Observatory (GHO) data, HIV/AIDS, Retrived from:

Wong PW, Cheung DY, Conner KR, Conwell Y, Yip PS (2010), Gambling and Completed Suicide in Hong Kong: A Review of Coroner Court Files, Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. 12(6): doi: 10.4088/PCC.09m00932blu

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