Abstract

Purpose:

The paper explores the nature of modern institutions to see if Islamization movement sufficiently attempts to remove the obstacles which the structural design of modern institutions brings in the path to achieve the moral goals of Islamization movement.

Methodology:

The paper being theoretical in nature uses a conceptual and critical interpretative approach based on the analysis of extant literature from institutional history, philosophy, institutionalism, and more. Hollingsworth’s framework of institutional analysis is used to integrate the literature and guide the theoretical analysis.

Findings:

The paper argues that an institutional design that constrains moral agency of individuals is incompatible with the goals of the Islamization movement. This is so because the goals are primarily moral in nature, therefore they necessitate exercising of moral-agency in full capacity. This is unlikely within the constraining nature of modern-institutional design.

Originality/Value:

There is negligible literature that attempts to evaluate the structural nature of modern-institutions from the perspective of their capacity to facilitate the Islamization-movement. The concerned Muslim intelligentsia is therefore invited to further explore how the modern institutional-structure may be obstructing their goals to achieve socioeconomic justice in society.

Keywords

Institution structures, institutionalism, moral-agency, genealogy of institutions, Islamization, shariah compliance, institutional change