Integral Finance - Akhuwat: A Case Study of the Solidarity Economy (Transformation and Innovation)

There are many misconceptions and concerns regarding Islamic societies and how Muslim countries have failed to come up with their own localised solutions to socio-economic problems in dealing with poverty alleviation and societal development. This book explores why there is so much disconnect between spirituality and enterprise development in the world today, and how a part of the Islamic world, in fact located in Pakistan, can be part of the solution rather than being central to the problem.

This book builds upon Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer’s theory of ‘integral dynamics’ which works through a fourfold rhythm of the GENE. Set against a mono-cultural perspective, the authors highlight the ever-increasing and deepening divide between Western and Islamic cultures. Through the course of the book, the authors use the transformational GENE (Grounding, Emergence, Navigation, Effect) rhythm developed by Lessem and Schieffer to take readers through the 4C (Call, Context, Co-creation and Contribution) process, articulated to CAREing-4-Society. They ground their call in Akhuwat’s community of Akhuwateers (donors, beneficiaries, borrowers, volunteers and replicators), to explore alternative models of spiritually based finance through an emerging SOUL-idarity paradigm. Furthermore, through these models and Akhuwat’s CARE (Community, Awareness, Research, Embodiment) process, they put forward that encouraging community activism, raising awareness around Islamic practices of Qard-e-Hasan, institutionalising their innovative research, and finally transforming and educating the community, will provide an alternative to microfinance for poverty alleviation.

Showcasing an unconventional spiritual-financial solution, deeply immersed in spirituality and infused with local moral values and traditions, this book demonstrates how poverty can be alleviated in countries around the world, specifically, in developing Muslim countries.

Muhammad Amjad Saqib is the founder and chairperson of Akhuwat, the world’s largest Qard-e-Hasan Trust. He has also worked as a consultant for various international development agencies, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF, the World Bank, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), USAID and DFID.

Aneeqa Malik is a transformation management consultant and Akhuwat UK’s senior research and development strategist. She is an action learning (ILM) and research facilitator and a research fellow at TRANS4M’s Centre for Integral Development, Hotonnes, France. She is currently on a PHD (Personal Holistic Development) program for TRANS4M’s ‘CARE-4-Society’ module.