According to the most recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public life, nearly one in four people in the world are Muslim. In light of these numbers, Handbook on Islam and Economic Life is one of the first books to consider Islam within a broader economic sphere by focusing on the ways in which Islam shapes and interacts with the economy. With contributions from leading scholars, this unique Handbook explores how Islam impinges upon and seeks to condition major aspects of economic life including economic organisation, business and management, finance and investment, charity, mutuality and self-help, and government. It concludes by analysing the link between religion and development, the present economic circumstances in Arab countries and the vexed issue of the origins and causes of underdevelopment in Muslim countries. Covering a breadth of topics and research, this book will be essential reading for academics in both Muslim and western universities, graduates and postgraduates of Islamic studies as well as Islamic and other research institutes