Critiquing the Methodological Foundations of Mainstream Economics and Reconstructing Economic Knowledge Formation: A Layered Methodological Framework Linking Philosophical Foundations, Economic Schools of Thought, Economic Systems, and Economic Scien

The possibility of developing Islamic economics as a scientific discipline and the process through which such knowledge is generated constitute one of the fundamental debates in economic methodology and the literature on Islamic economics. A major source of disagreement stems from the conceptual confusion between fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), economic school, economic system, and economic science, as well as from the positivist assumptions of mainstream economics, particularly the claim of value neutrality. This study reconstructs the process of economic knowledge formation and explains the methodological basis of Islamic economics by integrating the ideas of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr with contemporary philosophy of science and New Institutional Economics through a descriptive–analytical approach.

The findings indicate that economics is context-dependent rather than context-free. Economic theories are shaped through the interaction of philosophical foundations, value systems, institutions, and social structures. The paper proposes a methodological framework that conceptualizes the formation of economic knowledge as a layered causal sequence consisting of religious sources, philosophical–theological foundations, normative–jurisprudential formulation (fiqh), economic school, economic system, economic behavior, and finally economic science. Within this framework, fiqh does not directly produce economic science; instead, it shapes philosophical principles and institutional rules that generate distinct economic behaviors, which become the empirical subject of economic analysis.

The principal contribution of this study is the development of an integrated methodological framework linking philosophy of science, New Institutional Economics, and al-Sadr's theory. It argues that the theoretical formulation of Islamic economics is possible prior to the full realization of an Islamic economic system; however, the empirical development of a mature body of knowledge about the behavior of such a system depends on the relative and stable realization of its institutions and corresponding behaviors.