Money Impartiality: Panacea for Economic Crisis

This paper overviews the political-economics of FIAT and asset-based money. The paper further highlights the presumably syaria standpoint of the impartial character of money as the fundamental factor that differentiates asset-based money from the FIAT money. It is argued that while it is ideal for asset-based money to make a comeback in the interest of holistic wellbeing (maslahah) of humankind, it is necessary to complement it with an appropriate financial and regulatory system to safeguard its impartiality, i.e. non-tradable, non-interest bearing, and non-debt financing to avoid the recurring pitfalls which are immanent in the conventional financial system. It is hoped this rather concise paper will offer a thought provoking discourse on how syaria principles may present the world a useful ideological construct for a new monetary and financial architecture in light of the global financial crisis. Keywords: Asset-based money; FIAT money; Syaria perspectives of money; money impartiality; money and sustainable development; money and financial crisis