Comments on: 'Towards an Islamic macro model of distribution: a comparative approach' by Al-Jarhi, Mabid Ali, Journal of Research in Islamic Economics 2(2), 1986, 1-29

This piece is a highly technical analysis of Mabid Ali al-Jarhi's mathematical model of an Islamic macro-economy. The authors praise al-Jarhi's calculations regarding Zakah and his sophistication in understanding how it affects the economy. The relationship between equity and growth is very briefly discussed--as equity increases, growth is typically said to decline. The details of the model are scrutinized and criticisms are presented that nearly half of the derivations performed are performed incorrectly. The final review of the model is less than admiring. The authors argue that mathematics can never take the place of traditional economic analysis. The indiscriminate application of mathematics to the economy leads to more questions than answers. Jarhi's work is not entirely useless, though--it does put forth some valuable thoughts.