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Islamic economics

Islamic economics (الاقتصاد الإسلامي) refers to the knowledge of economics or economic activities and processes in terms of Islamic principles and teachings. Islam has a set of special moral norms and values about individual and social economic behavior. Therefore, it has its own economic system, which is based on its philosophical views and is compatible with the Islamic organization of other aspects of human behavior: social and political systems.

Islamic economics is a broad field, related to the more specific subset of Islamic commercial jurisprudence (فقه المعاملات, fiqh al-mu'āmalāt). It is also an ideology of economics similar to the labour theory of value, which is "labour-based exchange and exchange-based labour". While there are differences between the two, Islamic economics still tends to be closer to labor theory, than subjective theory.

Islamic commercial jurisprudence entails the rules of transacting finance or other economic activity in a Shari'a compliant manner, i.e., a manner conforming to Islamic scripture (Quran and sunnah). Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) has traditionally dealt with determining what is required, prohibited, encouraged, discouraged, or just permissible. according to the revealed word of God (Quran) and the religious practices established by Muhammad (sunnah). This applied to issues like property, money, employment, taxes, loans, along with everything else. The social science of economics, on the other hand, works to describe, analyse and understand production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, and, studied how to best achieve policy goals, such as full employment, price stability, economic equity and productivity growth.

Early forms of capitalism are thought to have been developed in the Islamic Golden Age  from the 9th century and later became dominant in European Muslim territories like Al-Andalus and the Emirate of Sicily. The Islamic economic concepts taken and applied by the gunpowder empires and various Islamic kingdoms and sultanates led to systemic changes in their economy. particularly in the Mughal Empire. its wealthiest region of Bengal, a major trading nation of the medieval world, signaled the period of proto-industrialization,  making direct contribution to the world's first Industrial Revolution after the British conquests.

In the mid-twentieth century, campaigns began promoting the idea of specifically Islamic patterns of economic thought and behavior. By the 1970s, "Islamic economics" was introduced as an academic discipline in a number of institutions of higher learning throughout the Muslim world and in the West. The central features of an Islamic economy are often summarized as: (1) the "behavioral norms and moral foundations" derived from the Quran and Sunnah; (2) collection of zakat and other Islamic taxes, (3) prohibition of interest (riba) charged on loans.

Advocates of Islamic economics generally describe it as neither socialist nor capitalist, but as a "third way", an ideal mean with none of the drawbacks of the other two systems. Among the assertions made for an Islamic economic system by Islamic activists and revivalists are that the gap between the rich and the poor will be reduced and prosperity enhanced by such means as the discouraging of the hoarding of wealth, taxing wealth (through zakat) but not trade, exposing lenders to risk through profit sharing and venture capital, discouraging of hoarding of food for speculation, and other activities that Islam regards as sinful such as unlawful confiscation of land. Complementing Islamic economics, Islamic entrepreneurship has gained traction, focusing on Muslim entrepreneurs, ventures, and contextual factors at the intersection of Islamic faith and entrepreneurship.

Definitions and descriptions
According to Hasan Raza, after more than six decades of its formal/ informal existence, a consensus on the definition of Islamic economics has not yet emerged. Some definitions that have been offered include:

 * "that branch of knowledge which helps to realize human well-being through an allocation and distribution of scarce resources that is in conformity with Islamic teachings without unduly curbing individual freedom or creating continued macroeconomic and ecological imbalances." (Umar Chapra) (similarly, the "study of human behavior with regard to acquiring and using resources for the satisfaction of necessities, needs, and other desires," but "based on the assumptions" of the Islamic "outlook on life and humanity". (Monzer Kahf))
 * "the study of an ... economy which abides by the rules of the Shariah", i.e. an Islamic economy. (A definition used by some, according to M. Anas Zarqa)
 * a discipline that goes beyond the practice of Western economics—which seeks to make "positive analysis" and give an objective description of what is—to provide normative policy prescriptions of what ought to be and can be. And which seeks to achieve a "transformation of human beings from followers of base desires to people concerned with achieving higher goals". (Feisal Khan describing the ideas of M.R. Zaman, M.U. Chapra, and M.N. Khan & M.I. Bhatti. )
 * "a discipline that is guided by the Shariah and studies all human societies" (A definition used by others, according to M. Anas Zarqa)
 * "restatements of Islamic economic teachings", using "modern economic jargon". (What most of the knowledge content in the body of Islamic economics amounts to according to economist Muhammad Akram Khan)
 * an ideology
 * "a revolutionary ideology" to change "the corrupt reality ... into a pure one", and "not a science of political economy" or "an objective analysis of existing reality". (Ayatollah Murtaza Mutahhari)
 * an "ideological construct" developed by 20th century Islamists (by Abul A'la Maududi, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Abolhassan Banisadr, etc.) taking basic prescriptions from sharia (Islamic law), and systematizing and conceptualizing them "to construct a coherent and functional ensemble offering a middle ground between the two systems of the twentieth century, Marxism and capitalism." (Social scientist Olivier Roy)
 * Zaman (2015) argues that confusion regarding appropriate definition of Islamic economics has arisen because of attempts to mix Western economics concepts with Islamic ideals, when the two are diametrically opposed to each other in many dimensions. He proposes a definition based on purely Islamic sources: "Islamic Economics is the EFFORT/STRUGGLE to implement the orders of Allah pertaining to economic affairs in our individual lives (Micro), in our communities (Meso), and at the level of Ummah (Macro)."

Fiqh and Islamic economics
Fiqh (religious law) has developed several traditional concepts having to do with economics. These included:
 * Zakat – the "charitable taxing of certain assets, such as currency, gold, or harvest, with an eye to allocating these taxes to eight expenditures that are also explicitly defined in the Quran, such as aid to those in need."
 * Gharar—"uncertainty". The presence of any element of excessive uncertainty, in a contract is prohibited.
 * Riba—"referred to as usury (modern Islamic economists reached consensus that Riba is any kind of interest, rather than just usury)" is prohibited.

Another source lists "general rules" include prohibition of Riba, Gharar, and also
 * Qimar (gambling) and
 * the encouragement of Taa’won (mutual cooperation),
 * "the overriding doctrine of fairness in commercial dealings is established."

These concepts, like others in Islamic law, came from study of the Quran and ahadith—or as one observer put it, were "constructed on the basis of isolated prescriptions, anecdotes, examples, words of the Prophet, all gathered together and systematized by commentators according to an inductive, casuistic method.'" In addition to Quran and ahadith, sometimes other sources such as al-urf (custom), or al-ijma (consensus of the jurists) are employed, to create laws that determine whether actions were forbidden, discouraged, allowed, encouraged and obligatory for Muslims. The different school of fiqh (madhhab) vary slightly in their rulings.

Works of fiqh are typically divided into different "books" such as a Book of Iman, of Salah, Zakat, Taqwa, Hajj, but not `economics` or `economy`. Some brief works might contain almost nothing related to matters of property, sales, finance Others do not gather questions on economic issues in one heading, the case in Tawzih al-masa'il, a work of fatawa by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who although a pioneer of political Islam approached the subject of economy "as the classical ulamas do ... the chapter on selling and buying (Kharid o forush) comes after the one on pilgrimage and present economic questions as individual acts open to moral analysis: `To lend [without interest, on a note from the lender] is among the good works that are particularly recommended in the verses of the Quran and in the Traditions.`" Other works divided the subjects of fiqh into four "quarters": typically worship (al-`Ibadat), marriage and family law (al-Munakahat), criminal law (Jinayat), commercial transaction law (Mu'amalat). At least one author (M. Kahf) writes that Mu'amalat is "closely related" to Islamic Economics. (However even with the "quarters" division of fiqh topics mu'amalat would not include inheritance or wedding dower (mahr) (which at least often comes under marriage and family law), or calculation of alms (zakat, which comes under al-`Ibadat)).

A number of scholars (Olivier Roy, Timur Kuran, Omar Norman) have noted the recentness of reflecting on economic issues in the Islamic world, and the difference between economics the social science based on data, and Islamic jurisprudence based on revealed truth.

Salman Ahmed Shaikh and Monzer Kahf insist on a clear distinction between the roles of Fiqh and Islamic Economics, Shaikh saying "to be meritorious as a separate field of inquiry, Islamic economics cannot confine itself just to explaining and deducing laws in economic matters based on core principles. Since this function is already performed by the discipline of Islamic jurisprudence ..." M. Kahf writes that mu'amalat and Islamic economics "often intermingle", mu'amalat "sets terms and conditions of conduct for economic and financial relationships in the Islamic economy" and provides the "grounds on which new instruments" of Islamic financing are developed, but that the "nature of Fiqh imposes a concern about individual transactions and their minute legalistic characteristics", so that analyzing Islamic economics in terms of Fiqh" risks losing "the ability to provide a macro economic theory".

According to economist Muhammad Akram Khan the "main plank" of Islamic economics is the "theory of riba", while "another landmark" is zakat, a tax on wealth and income. According to another contemporary writer Salah El-Sheikh, "Islamic economic principles" (what he calls a "FiqhiConomic model") utilize the Faqīh (Islamic jurisprudence) as supporting material, but are grounded upon the ethical teachings within the Qu'rān. Sharīah's basic tenets involve gharar and (fadl māl bilā 'iwad). Gharar insists all knowledge about a trade or transaction is known before two individuals complete a transaction and (fadl māl bilā 'iwad) warns against unjustified enrichment through trade and business. These tenets were "among the first economic regulations" and their philosophy can be seen today in modern Capitalism. Within Sharīah, El-Sheikh states, Gharar functions as a divine deterrent against asymmetric information and allows trade to prosper. Riba, ensures each transaction is conducted at a fair price, not allowing one party to benefit exceedingly, which shares a parallel philosophy with Karl Marx "Das Kapital": seeking a greater outcome for the community.

Pre-modern Muslim thought on economics
Classical scholars in the Muslim world did however, make valuable contributions to Islamic thought on issues involving production, consumption, income, wealth, property, taxation, land ownership, etc. are Abu Yusuf (d. 798), Muhammad bin al-Hasan (d. 805), Al-Mawardi (d. 1058), Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), Sarakhsi (d. 1090), Tusi (d. 1093), Ghazali (d. 1111), Al-Dimashqi (d. after 1175), Ibn Rushd (d. 1187), Ibn Taymiyyah (d.1328), Ibn al-Ukhuwwah (d. 1329), Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350), Sayyid Ali Hamadani (d. 1384), Al-Shatibi (d. 1388), Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), Al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), Dawwani (d. 1501), Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir (d. 1707).

Abu Yusuf (d. 798) was author of the book al Kharaj—literally "the return or revenue" but was used by the author to mean "public revenues and taxation"—which was a policy guide to Harun al-Rashid, the fifth Abbasid Caliph. Muhammad bin al-Hasan (d.805) wrote  al Iktisab fi al Rizq al Mustatab [Earned Desired income], intended as advice to businessmen "in their endeavors to create income opportunities". Abu 'Ubaid al Qasim bin Sallam (d.839) was the author of al-Amwal  (plural of "wealth").

Perhaps the most well-known Islamic scholar who wrote about economical issues was Ibn Khaldun, who has been called "the father of modern economics" by I.M. Oweiss. Ibn Khaldun wrote on what is now called economic and political theory in the introduction, or Muqaddimah (Prolegomena), of his History of the World (Kitab al-Ibar). He discussed what he called asabiyya (social cohesion), which he cited as the cause of the advancement of some civilizations. Ibn Khaldun felt that many social forces are cyclic, although there could be sudden sharp turns that break the pattern.

His ideas about the benefits of the division of labor also relate to asabiyya, the greater the social cohesion, the more complex the successful division may be, the greater the economic growth. He noted that growth and development positively stimulates both supply and demand, and that the forces of supply and demand are what determines the prices of goods. He also noted macroeconomic forces of population growth, human capital development, and technological developments effects on development. In fact, Ibn Khaldun thought that population growth was directly a function of wealth.

Medieval Islamic economics appears to have somewhat resembled a form of capitalism, some arguing that it laid the foundations for the development of modern capitalism.

Early modern period
Economic policies based on sharia were introduced throughout the gunpowder empires, which led to their commercial expansion. Chiefly the Ottoman Empire and Mughal India underwent substantial increases in per capita income and population, and a sustained pace of technological innovation. A significant event was the creation of Muslim India's Fatawa 'Alamgiri, compiled by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir and Shah Waliullah Dehlawi's family, through which the Indian subcontinent surpassed Qing China to become the world's largest economy, valued 25% of world GDP, while the region of Mughal Bengal entered a period of proto-industrialization,  making direct contribution to England's first Industrial Revolution after English dominance was established following the Battle of Plassey.

Development of "Islamic economics"
According to Turkish-American economist Timur Kuran, "not until the mid-twentieth century" was there any body of thought that could be called "Islamic economics", that was "recognizable as a coherent or self-contained doctrine". But around 1950 "campaigns launched to identify self-consciously, if not also exclusively, Islamic patterns of economic thought and behavior". The famous early-20th Century Muslim nationalist and author Muhammad Iqbal, for example, did not refer to religion in his treatise on economics.

Islamic economics grew naturally from the Islamic revival and political Islam whose adherents considered Islam to be a complete system of life in all its aspects, rather than a spiritual formula and believed that it logically followed that Islam must have an economic system, unique from and superior to non-Islamic economic systems. "Islamic economics" "emerged" in the 1940s according to the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. Maulana ala Maududi's 1941 address "The economic problem of man and its Islamic solution" (Insaan ka Maashi Maslah aur aus ka Islami Hul) is "generally considered to be one of the founding documents of modern Islamic economics"

More conservative salafi have shown less interest in socioeconomic issues, asking the question, "the prophet and his companions didn't study 'laws' of economics, look for patterns, strive for understanding of what happens in commerce, production, consumption. Why should we?" Maududi himself also dismissed the need for a "new science of economics, embodied in voluminous books, with high-sounding terminology and large organisation", as the true "economic problem of man"—along with all his social, political and other problems—"can be easily understood" and is simply the failure to follow Islamic law.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Shi'a thinkers worked to describe Islamic economics' "own answers to contemporary economic problems." Several works were particularly influential:
 * 1960, 70s
 * Eslam va Malekiyyat (Islam and Property) by Mahmud Taleqani (1951),
 * Iqtisaduna (Our Economics) by Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr (1961) and
 * Eqtesad-e Towhidi (The Economics of Divine Harmony) by Abolhassan Banisadr (1978)
 * Some Interpretations of Property Rights, Capital and Labor from Islamic Perspective by Habibullah Peyman (1979).

Al-Sadr in particular was described as having "almost single-handedly developed the notion of Islamic economics".

In their writings, Sadr and the other authors "sought to depict Islam as a religion committed to social justice, the equitable distribution of wealth, and the cause of the deprived classes," with doctrines "acceptable to Islamic jurists," while refuting existing non-Islamic theories of capitalism and Marxism. Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr and also cleric Mahmoud Taleghani developed an "Islamic economics" emphasizing a major role for the state in matters such as circulation and equitable distribution of wealth, and a reward to participants in the marketplace for being exposed to risk or liability. This version of Islamic economics, which influenced the Iranian Revolution, called for public ownership of land and of large "industrial enterprises," while private economic activity continued "within reasonable limits." These ideas informed the large public sector and public subsidy policies of the Iranian Revolution.

Sunni cleric Taqiuddin al-Nabhani proposed economic system (Nidham ul-Iqtisad fil Islam (The Economic System of Islam) by Taqiuddin Nabhani (1953)) combined public ownership of large chunks of the economy (utilities, public transport, health care, energy resources such as oil, and unused farm land), with use of the gold standard and specific instructions for the gold and silver weights of coins, arguing this would "demolish ... American control and the control of the dollar as an international currency."

Likewise, Sunni imam Imran Nazar Hosein preached a similar system to al-Nabhani, advocating for a syncretic system with a gold / silver standard, while also having heavy government regulations of the market. Hosein is notable for being among a faction of Islamic scholars with a strict interpretation of riba prohibitions in the Qur'an, with the general definition of interest being as broad as money increasing over time for a single purchase.

In the Sunni world the first international conference on Islamic economics was held at the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah in 1976. Since then the International Association for Islamic Economics in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank has held conferences in Islamabad (1983), Kuala Lumpur (1992), Loughborough (2000), Bahrain (2003), Jakarta (2005) and Jeddah (2008), Iqbal (2008). In addition there have been hundreds of seminars, workshops and discussion groups around the world on Islamic economics and finance. In the U.S. a small number of patent applications have been filed for Sharia compliant financial service methods. What has been called one of "two versions" of "Islamic economy" existed during the first ten years (1979–1989) of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the life of Supreme Leader (and revolution founder) Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This was an "Islamist socialist, and state-run": It was "little by little supplanted" by a more liberal economic policy.
 * Khomeini era

In the 1980s and 1990s, as the Islamic revolution failed to reach the per capita income level achieved by the regime it overthrew, and communist states and socialist parties in the non-Muslim world turned away from socialism, Muslim interest shifted away from government ownership and regulation. In Iran, "eqtesad-e Eslami (meaning both Islamic economics and economy) ... once a revolutionary shibboleth, is indubitably absent in all official documents and the media. It disappeared from Iranian political discourse" about 1990. During the era of Zia-ul-Haq, several Islamic economic concepts and practices were introduced into the domestic economy, as part of Zia's Islamisation reforms (see Islamic economics in Pakistan).
 * Post-socialist trend

The term lived on in the Muslim world, shifting form to the less ambitious goal of interest-free banking. Some Muslim bankers and religious leaders suggested ways to integrate Islamic law on usage of money with modern concepts of ethical investing. In banking this was done through the use of sales transactions (focusing on the fixed rate return modes) to support investing without interest-bearing debt. Many modern writers have strongly criticized this approach as a means of covering conventional banking with an Islamic facade. (Sohrab Behada has argued that the economic system proposed by Islam is essentially a capitalist one. )

Similarity of Islamic economy with other countries
In an interview with Professor Hossein Askari, a professor at George Washington University, the German newspaper "Suddeutsche" prepared a report on the ranking of countries that "respect Islamic values". Ireland, Luxembourg and Denmark are at the top of the said ranking table in relation to "Islamic economy in non-Islamic countries". No Muslim-majority country is among the top 25 countries in this ranking. Israel is in 27th place and thus much higher than Saudi Arabia which is in 91st place. Germany is in 26th place in this table. In the research conducted by Shahrzad Rahman and Hossein Askari, two professors of George Washington University, an estimate of the extent of Islamic economy of 208 countries around the world was made, the results of which are very interesting and according to that, many countries that, although are not Islamic (such as Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden); But their economy has similarities with the economic model of Islam or the Islamic economy.

Achievements
As of 2008 there were:
 * Eight magazines recently started "exclusively devoted to Islamic economics and finance",
 * 484 research projects in various universities of ten countries including the US, the UK and Germany.
 * 200 Ph.D. dissertations completed at different universities of the world, literature published English, Arabic, Urdu, Bahasa Malaysia, Turkish and other regional languages.
 * "Over a thousand unique titles on Islamic economics and finance" in IFP databank
 * 1500 conferences (whose proceedings are available in IFP databank)
 * One school—the Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)—has produced over 2000 graduates in 25 years as of 2009.

King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah hosted the first international conference on Islamic economics in 1976. Thereafter the International Association for Islamic Economics in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank has held conferences in Islamabad (1983), Kuala Lumpur (1992), Loughborough (2000), Bahrain (2003), Jakarta (2005), Jeddah (2008) and Iqbal (2008).

Challenges
Along with these achievements, some Islamic economists have complained of problems in the academic discipline: a shift in interest away from Islamic Economics to Islamic Finance since the 1980s, a shortage of university courses, reading materials that are "either scant or of poor quality", lack of intellectual freedom, "narrow focus" on interest-free banking and zakat without data-based research to substantiate claim made for them—that interest causes economic problems or that zakat solves them.

A number of economists have lamented that while Islamic Finance was originally a "subset" of Islamic Economics, economics and research in pure Islamic economics has been "shifted to the back burner". Funding for research has gone to Islamic Finance despite the lack of "scientific knowledge to back" the claims made for Islamic Finance. Enrollment has subsided in classes and second and third generation Islamic economists are scarce, some institutions have "lost their real direction and some have even been closed". and interest of economists in the field's "grand idea" of providing an alternative to capitalism and socialism has "yielded" to the "needs" of the "industry" of Islamic Finance.

According to economist Rasem Kayed, while a number of universities and institutes of higher learning now offer courses on Islamic economics and finance "most of the courses offered by these institutions pertain to Islamic finance rather than Islamic economics." Surveying Islamic economics and finance courses being offered as of 2008 by 14 universities in Muslim countries, Kayed found 551 courses in conventional economics and finance, and only 12 courses in Islamic economics and finance (only 2% of the total). This "appalling and intolerable ... negligence" was made worse by the curriculum of the courses which failed to debate "the issues" the discipline or give "due thought to ... the future development of Islamic financial industry" but rather attempted "to squeeze as much abstract information" as possible in their courses, according to Kayed.

Another economist (Muhammad Akram Khan) lamented that "the real problem is that despite efforts for developing a separate discipline of Islamic economics, there is not much that can be genuinely called `economics`. Most of Islamic economics consists of theology on economic matters." Another (M.N. Siddiqi) notes Islamic economics has been teaching "conventional economics from an Islamic perspective", rather than Islamic economics.

Despite its start in 1976, as of 2009, 2013 Islamic economics was called still in its infancy, its "curricula frames, course structures, reading materials, and research", "mostly" anchored in the "mainstream tradition", "lacking sufficiency, depth, coordination and direction," with teaching faculties in many cases ... found short of the needed knowledge, scholarship, and commitment." "Distinct textbooks and teaching materials" required have been found to "neither exist" nor be "easy to create." Despite shortcomings in academic writing—most of the books are "not cohesive" and are "at best no more than extended papers on specific topics"—constructive evaluations are not common and response to what there is even less common. The lack of an Islamic economics textbook "looms large" for Muslim economists and scholars. Despite the holding of a workshop in November 2010 to arrange the writing of such a textbook, the participation of "a number of eminent Muslim economists", (at the International Institute of Islamic Thought in London) and the appointment of "a noted Muslim economist" to coordinate the production of the textbook, as of 2015 "no standard textbook of Islamic economics was available."

Islamic economic institutes are not known for their intellectual freedom, and according to Muhammad Akram Khan are unlikely to allow criticism of the ideas or policies of their founding leaders or governments. The Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, an organ of the Jeddah University in Saudi Arabia, for example, "cannot allow publication of any work that goes against the orthodox thinking of the influential" Saudi religious leadership. Despite "tall talk about ijtehad", Islamic economists "are shy" about "suggesting innovative ideas" for fear of antagonizing religious clerics.

Use of Islamic terminology not only for distinctive Islamic concepts such as riba, zakat, mudaraba but also for concepts that do not have specific Islamic connotation—adl for justice, hukuma for government—locking out non-Muslim and even not Arabic speaking readers from the content of Islamic economics and even "giving legitimacy" to "pendantry" in the field.

Property
According to authors F. Nomani and A. Rahnema, the Qur'an states that God is the sole owner of all matter in the heavens and the earth, but man is God's viceregent on earth and holds God's possessions in trust (amanat). Islamic jurists divide properties into public, state, private categories.

Some Muslims believe that the Shariah provides "specific laws and standards regarding the use and allocation of resources including land, water, animals, minerals, and manpower."

Public property
According to M. A. Khan, "Islam introduced the distinction between private property and public property and made the rulers accountable to the people". Scholars F. Nomani and A. Rahnema state that public property in Islam refers to natural resources (forests, pastures, uncultivated land, water, mines, oceanic resources etc.) to which all humans have equal right. Such resources are considered the common property of the community. Such property is placed under the guardianship and control of the Islamic state, and can be used by any citizen, as long as that use does not undermine the rights of other citizens, according to Nomani and Rahnema.

The owner of previously public property that is privatized pays zakat and, according to Shi'ite scholars, khums as well. In general, the privatization and nationalization of public property is subject to debate amongst Islamic scholars.

According to an analysis by Walid El-Malik in 1993, only the Maliki school took the position that all kinds of natural resources are state-owned; the Hanafi school took the opposite view and held that mineral ownership followed surface ownership, while the other two schools, Shafi'i and Hanbali, drew a distinction between "hidden" and "unhidden" minerals.

State property
State property includes certain natural resources, as well as other property that cannot immediately be privatized. Islamic state property can be movable, or immovable, and can be acquired through conquest or peaceful means. Unclaimed, unoccupied and heir-less properties, including uncultivated land (mawat), can be considered state property.

During the life of Muhammad, one fifth of military equipment captured from the enemy in the battlefield was considered state property. During his reign, Umar (on the recommendation of Ali) considered conquered land to be state rather than private property (as was usual practice). The purported reason for this was that privatizing this property would concentrate resources in the hands of a few, and prevent it from being used for the general good. The property remained under the occupation of the cultivators, but taxes were collected on it for the state treasury.

Muhammad said "Old and fallow lands are for God and His Messenger (i.e. state property), then they are for you". Jurists draw from this the conclusion that, ultimately, private ownership takes over state property.

Private property
There is consensus amongst Islamic jurists and social scientists that Islam recognizes and upholds the individual's right to private ownership. The Qur'an extensively discusses taxation, inheritance, prohibition against stealing, legality of ownership, recommendation to give charity and other topics related to private property. Islam also guarantees the protection of private property by imposing stringent punishments on thieves. Muhammad said that he who dies defending his property was like a martyr.

Islamic economists classify the acquisition of private property into involuntary, contractual and non-contractual categories. Involuntary means are inheritances, bequests, and gifts. Non-contractual acquisition involves the collection and exploitation of natural resources that have not previously been claimed as private property. Contractual acquisition includes activities such as trading, buying, renting, hiring labor etc.

A tradition attributed to Muhammad, with which both Sunni and Shi'a jurists agree, in cases where the right to private ownership causes harm to others, then Islam favors curtailing the right in those cases. Maliki and Hanbali jurists argue that if private ownership endangers public interest, then the state can limit the amount an individual is allowed to own. This view, however, is debated by others.

When Muhammad migrated to Madinah many of the Muslims owned agricultural land. Muhammad confirmed this ownership and allocated land to individuals. The land allotted would be used for housing, farming or gardening. For example, Bilal b. Harith was given land with mineral deposits at 'Aqiq Valley, Hassan b. Thabit was afforded the garden of Bayruha and Zubayr received oasis land at Khaybar and Banu Nadir. During the reign of Caliph Umar, a vast expanse of Persian royal family terrain had been acquired, this lead his successor Caliph Uthman to accelerate the allotment of land to individuals in return for a portion of the crop yield.

Markets
According to M. S. Naz, regulation of markets is among the main functions of hisbah, the "semi-judicial institution" operational from the "earliest days of Islam". It was "charged with responsibility of carrying out the spirit of the system, setting conditions that preserve and enhance the public health and interests, protect the consumers, solve business and labor disputes, promote good market behavior, and ensure their observance." M. A. Khan states, institution of Hisbah as established to "supervise markets, to provide municipal services, and to settle petty disputes". In the contemporary era, Pakistan has attempted to re-create this institution, although it has jurisdiction only over the administrative excesses of the federal government departments and agencies, not provincial ones or private companies.

According to Nomani and Rahnema, Islam accepts markets as the basic coordinating mechanism of the economic system. Islamic teaching holds that the market, given perfect competition, allows consumers to obtain desired goods and producers to sell their goods at a mutually acceptable price.

Three necessary conditions for an operational market are said (by Nomani and Rahnema) to be upheld in Islamic primary sources:
 * Freedom of exchange: the Qur'an calls on believers to engage in trade, and rejects the contention that trade is forbidden.
 * Private ownership (see above).
 * Security of contract: the Qur'an calls for the fulfillment and observation of contracts. The longest verse of the Qur'an deals with commercial contracts involving immediate and future payments.

Another author (Nima Mersadi Tabari) claims that the general doctrine of fairness in sharia law creates "an ethical economic model" and forbids market manipulation such as "inflating the price of commodities by creating artificial shortages (Ihtekar), overbidding for the sole purpose of driving the prices up (Najash) and concealment of vital information in a transaction from the other party (Ghish)".

Further, "uninformed speculation" not based on a proper analysis of available information is forbidden because it is a form of Qimar, or gambling, and results in accumulating Maysir (unearned income). Commercial contracting under conditions of "excessive uncertainty" (however that is defined) is a form of Gharar and so also forbidden.

Interference
Proponents such as M. A. Khan, Nomani and Rahnema also contend that the "Islamic economy" forbids or at least discourages market manipulation such as price fixing, hoarding and bribery. Government intervention in the economy is tolerated under specific circumstances.

Another author (Nima Mersadi Tabari) states that in Islam "everything is Halal (allowed) unless it has been declared Haram (forbidden)", consequently "the Islamic economic model is based on the freedom of trade and freedom of contract so far as the limits of Shari’ah allow".

Nomani and Rahnema say that Islam prohibits price fixing by a dominating handful of buyers or sellers. During the days of Muhammad, a small group of merchants met agricultural producers outside the city and bought the entire crop, thereby gaining a monopoly over the market. The produce was later sold at a higher price within the city. Muhammad condemned this practice since it caused injury both to the producers (who in the absence of numerous customers were forced to sell goods at a lower price) and the inhabitants.

The above-mentioned reports are also used to justify the argument that the Islamic market is characterized by free information. Producers and consumers should not be denied information on demand and supply conditions. Producers are expected to inform consumers of the quality and quantity of goods they claim to sell. Some scholars hold that if an inexperienced buyer is swayed by the seller, the consumer may nullify the transaction upon realizing the seller's unfair treatment. The Qur'an also forbids discriminatory transactions.

Bribery is also forbidden in Islam and can therefore not be used to secure a deal or gain favor in a transaction, it was narrated that Muhammad cursed the one who offers the bribe, the one who receives it, and the one who arranges it.

Nomani and Rahnema say government interference in the market is justified in exceptional circumstances, such as the protection of public interest. Under normal circumstances, governmental non-interference should be upheld. When Muhammad was asked to set the price of goods in a market he responded, "I will not set such a precedent, let the people carry on with their activities and benefit mutually."

Banking and finance
Islamic banking has been called "the most visible practical achievement" of Islamic economics, and the "most visible mark" of Islamic revivalism. By 2009, there were over 300 "shariah compliant banks and 250 mutual funds around the world, and around $2 trillion were sharia-compliant by 2014.

However, the domination of the industry by debt-like instruments such as murabaha rather than risk-sharing products, has driven even some leading advocates and experts in Islamic banking (such as Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi) to talk about "a crisis of identity of the Islamic financial movement."

Interest
The most noticeable and/or important objective of Islamic Banking has been a ban on the charging of interest on loans. The Quran (3: 130) condemns riba (which is usually translated as "interest"): "O, you who believe! Devour not riba, doubled and redoubled, and be careful of Allah; but fear Allah that you may be successful."

Islamic public finance (Bayt-al-Mal)
The only financial institution under Islamic Governance (Prophethood and Caliph Period) was Baitulmaal (public treasury) wherein the wealths were distributed instantly on the basis of need. During Prophethood the last receipt was tribute from Bahrain amounting eight hundred thousands dirham which was distributed in just one sitting. Though the first Caliph earmarked a house for Baitulmaal where all money was kept on receipt. As all money was distributed immediately the treasury generally remained locked up. At the time of his death there was only one dirham in the Baitulmaal. The second caliph besides developing the Central Baitulmaal also opened Baitulmaal at state and headquarters levels. He also carried census during his caliphate; and provisioned salaries to Government employees, stipend to poor and needy people along with social security to unemployed and retirement pensions.

The concept of a public financial institution played a historic role in the Islamic economy. The idea of state collected wealth being made available to the needy general public was relatively new. The resources in the Bayt-al-Mal were considered God's resources and a trust, money paid into the shared bank was common property of all the Muslims and the ruler was just the trustee.

The shared bank was treated as a financial institution and therefore subjected to the same prohibitions regarding interest. Caliph Umar spoke on the shared bank saying: "I did not find the betterment of this wealth except in three ways: (i) it is received by right, (ii) it is given by right, and (iii) it is stopped from wrong. As regards my own position vis-a-vis this wealth of yours; it is like that of a guardian of an orphan. If I am well-off, I shall leave it, but if I am hard-pressed I shall take from it as is genuinely permissible."

Savings and investment
An alternative Islamic savings-investment model can be built around venture capital; investment banks; restructured corporations; and restructured stock market. This model looks at removing the interest-based banking and in replacing market inefficiencies such as subsidization of loans over profit-sharing investments due to double taxation and restrictions on investment in private equity.

Hybrids
Islamic banks have grown recently in the Muslim world, but are a very small share of the global economy compared to the Western debt banking paradigm. Hybrid approaches, which applies classical Islamic values but uses conventional lending practices, are much lauded by some proponents of modern human development theory.

Criticism and dispute
Islamic economics has been criticised for "In a political and regional context where Islamist and ulema claim to have an opinion about everything, it is striking how little they have to say about this most central of human activities, beyond repetitious pieties about how their model is neither capitalist nor socialist."
 * its alleged "incoherence, incompleteness, impracticality, and irrelevance", driven by "cultural identity" rather than problem solving (Timur Kuran, John Foster);
 * being "a hodgepodge of populist and socialist ideas" in theory, and "nothing more than inefficient state control of the economy and some almost equally ineffective redistribution policies" in practice (Fred Halliday);
 * being little more than a mimicry of conventional economics embellished with verses of the Quran and sunnah (Muhammad Akram Khan);
 * claiming to call for a return to Islamic practices that are actually an "invented tradition" (Timur Kuran);
 * failing to achieve its goals of abolishing interest on money, establishing economic equality, and a superior business ethic; but nonetheless "spared critical scrutiny out of ignorance, misguided tolerance", and because its methods and objectives are considered "too unrealistic to threaten prevailing economic structures" (Timur Kuran).

On economic reforms, Timur Kuran said it is a "vehicle for asserting the primacy of Islam" with reforms being a secondary motive.

One significant result of Islamic economics (and target of criticism) is the creation of Islamic banking and finance industry. According to several scholars it has bred a new "Power Alliance" of "wealth and Shari'ah scholarship", —wealthy banks and clients paying Islamic scholars to provide bank products with Islamic "shariah compliance". Journalist John Foster, quotes an investment banker based in the Islamic Banking hub of Dubai on the practice of "fatwa shopping",
 * Islamic banking and finance

"We create the same type of products that we do for the conventional markets. We then phone up a Sharia scholar for a Fatwa [seal of approval, confirming the product is Shari'ah compliant]. If he doesn't give it to us, we phone up another scholar, offer him a sum of money for his services and ask him for a Fatwa. We do this until we get Sharia compliance. Then we are free to distribute the product as Islamic."

Foster explains that the fee for services provided by "top" scholars is "often" in six-figures, i.e. over US$100,000.

One critic (Muhammad O. Farooq) argues that this unfortunate situation has arisen because the "preoccupation" among supporters of Islamic Economics that any and all interest on loans is riba and forbidden by Islam, and because risk-sharing alternatives to interest bearing loans originally envisioned for Islamic banking have not proven feasible. With the elimination of interest being both the basis of the industry and impractical, shari'a scholars have become "entrapped in a situation" where they are forced to approve transactions fundamentally similar to conventional loans but using "hiyal" manipulation to "maintain an Islamic veneer".

Instead of "fixating" on interest, Farooq urges a focus on "the larger picture" of "justice", and in economics on fighting exploitation from "greed and profit," and the concentration of wealth. He quotes an ayat in support: "What God has bestowed on his Messenger (and taken away) from the people of the townships, - belongs to God, - to his Messenger and to kindred and orphans, the needy and the wayfarer; in order that it may not (merely) make a circuit between the wealthy among you. ..." As an example of the neglect of this issue, Farooq complains that one "rather comprehensive" bibliography of Islamic economics and finance, contains "not a single citation for exploitation or injustice" among its 700 entries.
 * Justice

A former director of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics and the head of Pakistan's Economic Affairs Division, Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi, also called for "comprehensive Islamic reform to establish an exploitation-free economic system" and not just "mechanical substitution of profit for interest."

On the issue of zakat, one of the pillars of Islam, M.A.Khan also criticizes the conservatism of Islamic Economics, complaining that "the insistence of Muslim scholars in implementing it in the same form in which it was in vogue in the days of the Prophet and the first four caliphs ... has made it irrelevant to the needs of a contemporary society."
 * Zakat

A supporter of Islamic economics (Asad Zaman) describes a "major difficulty" faced by Islamic reformers of Islamic economics and pointed out by other authors, namely that because a financial system is an "integrated and coherent structure", to create an Islamic system "based on trust, community and no interest" requires "changes and interventions on several different fronts simultaneously".
 * Practicality

Torts

 * A. Basir Bin Mohamad. "The Islamic Law of Tort: A Study of the Owner and Possessor of Animals with Special Reference to the Civil Codes of the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan and Iraq" in Arab Law Quarterly V.16, N.4 2001
 * "Vicarious Liability: A Study of the Liability of the Guardian and his Ward in the Islamic Law of Tort" Arab Law Quarterly V. 17, N.1 2002
 * Immanuel Naveh. "The Tort of Injury and Dissolution of Marriage at the Wife's Initiative in Egyptian Mahkamat al-Naqd Rulings" in Islamic Law and Society Volume 9, Number 1, 2002
 * Islamic law of tort Liaquat Ali Khan Niazi, 1988
 * An outline of Islamic law of tort Abdul-Qadir Zubair, 1990

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Islamic economics


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Lynn Fontanne

Lynn Fontanne (6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and West End productions over the next four decades. They became known as "The Lunts", and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fontanne was born in what is now the London suburb of Woodford, and received her first training as an actress from Ellen Terry. After building up an acting career in Britain she worked extensively in the US, first appearing in New York in 1910. Although she appeared in classics including The Taming of the Shrew and The Seagull, experimental drama by Eugene O'Neill, and dark comedy by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fontanne and her husband were best known for their stylish performances in light comedies by Noël Coward, S. N. Behrman, Terence Rattigan and others, and romantic plays by writers such as Robert E. Sherwood.

The Lunts retired from the stage in 1960, and lived at their home in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, where, after outliving her husband by six years, Fontanne died at the age of 95.

Early years
Fontanne was born Lillie Louise Fontanne in Woodford, Essex (now London), on 6 December 1887. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Jules Pierre Antoine Fontanne (1855–1942) and his wife Frances Ellen, née Thornley (1858–1921). She was educated in London, after which a family friend introduced her to the leading actress Ellen Terry, who sometimes gave lessons to promising young players. Partly as a result of Terry’s training and influence, Fontanne was given roles in plays in London and on tour throughout England from 1905 to 1916. She made her first appearance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, at Christmas 1905, in the chorus of the pantomime, Cinderella, and subsequently "walked on" (i.e. was a non-speaking extra) in productions in London starring Lewis Waller, Sir Herbert Tree, Lena Ashwell and others.

During 1909, she toured as Rose in Lady Frederick with Mabel Love. At the Garrick Theatre, London, in December 1909 she appeared in Where Children Rule, and in Billy's Bargain at the same theatre in June 1910 she played Lady Mulberry. She then made her first visit to America, making her début in New York at Nazimova's 39th Street Theatre in November 1910 as Harriet Budgeon in Mr Preedy and the Countess with Weedon Grossmith.

After returning to London in 1911 she played at the Criterion Theatre in The Young Lady of Seventeen and at the Vaudeville in A Storm in a Tea Shop. She then toured in the provinces in 1912–13 as Gertrude Rhead in Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock's Milestones, before playing the part in London. In that role she had to play the same character in youth, middle age and old age. The American star Laurette Taylor saw her in the role and was impressed. At the Royalty Theatre in April 1914 Fontanne scored a success as Liza and Mrs Collison in Knoblock's My Lady's Dress. She played in four other London productions in 1914–15, including the premiere of The Starlight Express. She became engaged to marry a young lawyer, Teddy Byrne, but he was killed in action in 1916 during the First World War.

Broadway
Shortly before Byrne's death, Fontanne accepted an offer to join Laurette Taylor's company in New York. Taylor and her husband, Hartley Manners, fostered the young Fontanne's career. Taylor later said, "While acting with her I forgot we were actresses". After five plays with them, Fontanne graduated to leading roles for other managements. Between 1918 and 1920, she succeeded Laura Hope Crews as Mrs Rockingham in "A Pair of Petticoats" in New York, and was the female lead in new plays on Broadway and in Chicago and Philadelphia. During this time, playing in summer stock in Washington DC, she met the actor Alfred Lunt. They fell in love, although at first Lunt's wooing was more hesitant than Fontanne would have wished.

In mid-1920 Fontanne appeared once again in the West End, appearing with Taylor in a play by Manners, One Night in Rome. She had little chance to shine in what The Stage called "a one-part play" written as a vehicle for Taylor. Wanting to be reunited with Lunt, Fontanne quickly returned to the US, where in 1921 she had her first big success, in the lead role of George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly's comedy Dulcy. She did not return to the West End for nine years.

In May 1922 Fontanne married Lunt, and in 1923 they made their first appearance together in a Broadway production, a revival of Paul Kester's 1900 costume drama Sweet Nell of Old Drury. Although Taylor was the female lead, it was Fontanne who impressed the critics. In The New York Herald, Alexander Woolcott dismissed the play as "gaudy rubbish", but added:

Theatre Guild
In 1924, the Lunts joined the company of the Theatre Guild, which, in the words of Fontanne's biographer Jared Brown, "staged plays on Broadway but defied Broadway conventions by offering serious and innovative plays that were regularly rejected by commercial managements". The first play in which the couple appeared for the Guild was Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman, in which they established a reputation for playing light comedy. They acted together in three plays by Bernard Shaw: Arms and the Man (as Raina and Bluntschli, 1925), Pygmalion (as Eliza and Higgins, 1926) and The Doctor's Dilemma (as the Dubedats, 1927). Fontanne had the chance to demonstrate her versatility by switching from comedy to demanding experimental drama in Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude (1928), described by Woolcott as "the Abie's Irish Rose of the pseudo-intelligentsia".

Fontanne and Lunt introduced a naturalistic new way of delivering dialogue, building on a technique Fontanne had begun to explore in her performances with Laurette Taylor. It was unheard of for an actor to speak while another was still speaking, but, in Brown's words:

As a consequence, according to Brown, the Lunts' scenes together could be "more vivid, more real than those of other actors". In 1928, Fontanne and Lunt co-starred in what for the Guild was an untypically frothy comedy, Caprice. The biographer Margot Peters calls the production a milestone in their careers for two reasons: it was the first production in which they, rather than the play, were the main draw, and it marked the start of their inseparable theatrical partnership: from then on they always appeared together. They took Caprice to London in 1930 – Lunt's first appearance there – and won the admiration of audiences, critics, and writers including Shaw and J. B. Priestley. For the Guild in New York, Fontanne and Lunt starred in Robert Sherwood's romantic comedy Reunion in Vienna which opened in November 1931 and ran throughout the season, before a nationwide tour. The two were strong believers in touring, taking many of their Broadway hits to remote locations as well as the larger American cities. They felt a double responsibility to do so: to ensure that playwrights had their works presented to as many people as possible, and to allow people outside New York to see Broadway productions.

Design for Living
Fontanne and Lunt had been close friends of the English actor and playwright Noël Coward since they met in New York in 1921, before any of them had achieved success in the theatre. They had resolved then that when they were famous, Coward would write a play for all three of them to star in. The Lunts' marriage was the subject of much conjecture in theatrical circles: although they were clearly devoted to each other, there were unsubstantiated but persistent rumours that Lunt was bisexual and had gay liaisons; there was also speculation that Fontanne had extramarital interests. Against this background, Coward wrote a comedy for the three of them, Design for Living (1932), in which Fontanne's character switches back and forth between the two men, who then pair up when she deserts them both, before all three end up together. The combination of the risqué subject and the popularity of the three stars caused box-office records to be broken, and reportedly earned Fontanne and her co-stars the highest salaries paid on Broadway to that time.

The immense success of Design for Living led Coward to write another play for his friends, but his Point Valaine, in which Fontanne and Lunt starred in 1934, was a failure. Coward set out to write an uncharacteristically serious drama, but the grim plot and unsympathetic characters did not appeal to audiences used to seeing the Lunts in glamorous and romantic roles; Fontanne's prediction that the play would only run for a matter of weeks proved correct. It was the only outright failure of the Lunts' joint career.

1934 to 1945
Between the two Coward plays in New York, Fontanne and Lunt played in London, in Reunion in Vienna, repeating their American success with the piece. The Times commented: For the rest of the 1930s Fontanne and her husband appeared in Guild productions. In 1935 they played Katherina and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew; in 1936 they starred in a new Sherwood play, Idiot's Delight; in 1937 they took the leading roles in S. N. Behrman's adaptation of Jean Giraudoux's comedy Amphitryon 38; and in 1938 they played Arkadina and Trigorin in The Seagull on Broadway and took the production of Amphitryon 38 to London, before touring it extensively in the US in repertory with Idiot's Delight and The Seagull.

The Lunts had a country estate in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, close to where Lunt had grown up. It was their summer home, where they entertained a great many theatrical friends and colleagues over the decades. Carol Channing later said "Genesee Depot is to performers what the Vatican is to Catholics". They gave up their usual summer break there during the latter part of the Second World War, because at Fontanne's behest the couple moved to England. She felt she should share the hardships of her family and friends there, and from 1943 to 1945 the Lunts appeared in the West End, and in performances for the troops, including a tour of army camps in France and Germany in 1945.

Later years and death
After the war Fontanne and Lunt returned to the US and resumed their association with the Theatre Guild. They appeared in 1946–47 in Terence Rattigan's comedy Love In Idleness (given on Broadway under the title O Mistress Mine), and in 1949–50 in I Know My Love, Berhman's adaptation of Auprès de ma blonde by Marcel Achard; these productions ran for 482 and 247 performances respectively. The Lunts toured the latter throughout the US. They returned to England in 1952 for their third and final Coward premiere, Quadrille, a romantic comedy set in the 1870s. After a West End run of 329 performances they took the play to Broadway in 1954, where it ran for 159 performances; it could have profitably run for longer, but the Lunts chose to close in March 1955.

Fontanne and Lunt's last Broadway premiere was in Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse's "melodramatic comedy" The Great Sebastians in 1956. After a six-month run in New York they toured the piece throughout the US. Their final production was in 1957: The Visit, Maurice Valency's adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Der Besuch der alten Dame, in which a rich old woman exacts a terrible revenge on the man who betrayed her fifty years earlier. They toured the play in Britain in 1957–58, initially under the title Time and Again, in a production directed by Peter Brook. In May 1958 they opened the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York with the same play (by then renamed The Visit) and toured it in the US. In June 1960, in Brook's production, they opened the new Royalty Theatre, London in June 1960, running until 19 October. After a final week playing the piece at the Golders Green Hippodrome in November they retired from the stage.

Lunt died on 3 August 1977. Fontanne died at Genesee Depot on 30 July 1983, aged 95, from pneumonia, and was interred next to her husband at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Cinema and broadcasting
Fontanne, like her husband, disliked acting for the camera and she made only four films. She appeared in the silent films Second Youth (1924) and The Man Who Found Himself (1925). For The Guardsman (1931) she and Lunt were both nominated for Academy Awards. She and Lunt were in Stage Door Canteen (1943) in which they had cameos as themselves. The two starred in four television productions in the 1950s and 1960s with both Lunt and Fontanne winning Emmy Awards in 1965 for The Magnificent Yankee. She narrated a 1960 television production of Peter Pan starring Mary Martin and received a second Emmy nomination for playing Grand Duchess Marie in the Hallmark Hall of Fame telecast of Anastasia in 1967, two of the few productions in which she appeared without her husband. The Lunts also starred in several radio dramas in the 1940s, notably on the Theatre Guild programme. Many of these broadcasts still survive.

Honours
In September 1964 Lunt and Fontanne were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson at a White House ceremony. Like Lunt, Fontanne was a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. She received a Kennedy Center Honor for the Performing Arts in 1980. She received no official British honour, which was a matter of mild regret as she would have liked to be Dame Lynn Fontanne: "They thought I was American. But I was always British. I would have cherished the award". When she was 90 she received a standing ovation when she attended a performance of Hello, Dolly! at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

title: Lynn Fontanne


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Laverne & Shirley

Laverne & Shirley is an American sitcom television series that ran for eight seasons on ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, two friends and roommates who work as bottle-cappers in the fictitious Shotz Brewery in late 1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From the sixth season onwards, the series' setting changed to mid-1960s Burbank, California. Michael McKean and David Lander co-starred as their friends and neighbors Lenny Kosnowski and Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman, respectively; along with Eddie Mekka as Carmine Ragusa, Phil Foster as Laverne's father Frank DeFazio, and Betty Garrett as the girls' landlady Edna Babish.

Featuring regular physical comedy, Laverne & Shirley became the most-watched American television program by its third and fourth season; in total, it received six Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nomination.

History
The series is a spin-off from Happy Days, as the two lead characters were introduced on that series as acquaintances of Fonzie (Henry Winkler). The original working title was Laverne DeFazio & Shirley Feeney. The characters were originally "two girls who date the fleet", but for family hour, they had to be changed and mellowed down, which, in Cindy Williams' opinion, gave the show more depth. Set in roughly the same period, the timeline started in approximately 1958, when the series began, through 1967, when the series ended. As with Happy Days, it was made by Paramount Television, created by Garry Marshall (along with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman) and executive produced by Garry Marshall, Edward K. Milkis, and Thomas L. Miller from Miller-Boyett Productions.

According to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Cindy Williams had refused to do the Laverne & Shirley spin-off, so her role was recast with Liberty Williams (no relation), and a seven-minute screen test was filmed. Between that afternoon shoot and the evening, Cindy Williams was eventually talked into doing the role and she re-filmed the scene that night with Penny Marshall, who became her co-star in the series. Executives wanted to see both versions, but Eisner hid the first reel of film in a closet of the building and said at the screening that the film from the first shoot had got lost, so they only watched the performance of Cindy Williams with Penny Marshall.

Seasons 1–5
In the opening credits, Laverne and Shirley recite "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated," a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant, which then leads into the series' theme song, "Making Our Dreams Come True" performed by Cyndi Grecco. In the final season without Cindy Williams, the chant is recited by a group of schoolchildren. The hopscotch chant is from Penny Marshall's childhood. For the first five seasons, from 1976 to 1980, the show was set in Milwaukee (executive producer Thomas L. Miller's home town), taking place from roughly 1958–59 through the early 1960s. Shotz Brewery bottle cappers and best friends, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney live in a basement apartment, where they communicate with upstairs neighbors Lenny and Squiggy by screaming up the dumbwaiter shaft connecting their apartments. Also included in the show are Laverne's father, Frank DeFazio, proprietor of the Pizza Bowl, and Edna Babish, the apartment building's landlady, who later married Frank. Shirley maintained an off-again on-again romance with dancer/singer/boxer Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Ragusa. During this period, characters from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley made occasional guest appearances on each other's series.

Michael McKean and David Lander created the characters of Lenny and Squiggy while both were theater students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lander told an interviewer in 2006 that they created the characters while high on marijuana. After graduating, they continued to perform the characters in live comedy routines before joining the show's cast.

During the fifth season, the girls went into the Army Reserve, and they contended with a tough-as-nails drill sergeant named Alvinia T. "The Frog" Plout (Vicki Lawrence). While their time in the Army Reserve was brief in the live action series, it did inspire an animated series with the duo in the army contending with their immediate superior, a commanding pig named Sgt. Squealy who was voiced by Ron Palillo (best known for his role as Arnold Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter) who is always threatening to report them to Sgt. Turnbuckle (voiced by Kenneth Mars).

Seasons 6–8
For the sixth season in 1980, Laverne and Shirley and their friends all moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California. Laverne and Shirley took jobs at Bardwell's department store as gift wrappers. Frank and Edna managed a Texas barbecue restaurant called Cowboy Bill's, Carmine delivered singing telegrams and sought work as an actor, and Lenny and Squiggy started a talent agency called Squignowski Talent Agency. From this point until the end of the series' run, Laverne & Shirley was set in the mid-1960s. In one of the shots in the show's new opening sequence, the ladies are seen kissing a 1964 poster of the Beatles. With each season, a new year passed in the timeline of the show, starting with 1965 in the 1980–81 season, and ending in 1967 with Carmine heading off for Broadway to star in the musical Hair. When the series' setting changed to California, two new characters are added: Sonny St. Jacques, a stunt man, landlord of the Burbank apartment building and love interest for Laverne; as well as Rhonda Lee, the ladies' neighbor and an aspiring actress.

In March 1982, Cindy Williams became pregnant with her first child. In August, two episodes into production of the series' eighth season, Williams left the show and filed a $20 million lawsuit against Paramount after they demanded Williams work on her scheduled due date. The case was later settled out of court and Williams was released from her contract.

The series' final season continued with two episodes with Williams still playing Shirley; then it was just Marshall as Laverne, who now worked for an aerospace company. Despite the absence of Williams and her character, the series' title remained unchanged. Ratings dipped but were strong enough for the show to be considered for a ninth season. Marshall agreed based on the agreement that the show would move production to New York City. Faced with the high cost of such an endeavor, ABC opted not to renew the series and it was removed from the schedule in May 1983.

Main

 * Laverne Marie DeFazio (Penny Marshall) is known for being a tough-talking tomboy. She grew up in Brooklyn, with her Italian immigrant parents. Laverne's parents moved to Milwaukee, where her mother died. Laverne works alongside best friend and roommate Shirley. Milk and Pepsi is Laverne's favorite drink. Her trademark is the script letter "L" monogrammed on her shirts and sweaters, an idea Marshall got from seeing a vintage sweater in the wardrobe department with an initial sewn in the upper left corner, something that would help the audience remember that she is Laverne. She is the only character to appear in all 178 episodes of the series.
 * Shirley Wilhelmina Feeney (Cindy Williams) is the perky, positive one. She also tends to be meek, while Laverne is more outspoken. She later becomes a huge fan of teen-idol Fabian. Her overbearing mother Lily (Pat Carroll) expects more from Shirley than she can give. Shirley is sensitive and tends to overreact. When she tries to hold back a laugh, she bites her knuckle on her index finger. Shirley works at Shotz brewery with Laverne. She has a special relationship with her stuffed cat Boo Boo Kitty, a name Williams gave the toy after forgetting a line in rehearsal, and was the name of her mother's cat.
 * Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski (Michael McKean) is a lovable goofball greaser who pesters Laverne and Shirley, along with his best friend and roommate Squiggy, both of whom live upstairs from Laverne and Shirley's lower-level apartment. Lenny works as a truck driver at the Shotz brewery. Lenny says that, while he is not completely sure, he thinks his last name is Polish for "Help, there's a hog in my kitchen". McKean's role was shortened in the eighth season due to his filming This is Spinal Tap. He only appeared in five episodes, credited as a guest star. (As of 2023, McKean is the only surviving original cast member.)
 * Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman (David Lander) works and lives with childhood friend Lenny. Squiggy, who is a greaser like Lenny, makes nearly every entrance (as a running gag, they usually enter just as Laverne and/or Shirley are describing something unpleasant) with his trademark "Hello" said in a comically dopey voice. In the final season, Squiggy's lookalike sister Squendoline is introduced. Originally created by Lander and McKean as Anthony Squiggliano, the character's name was changed to German because the producers believed there were already too many Italians in the show.
 * Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka) is Shirley's high-school sweetheart and on-again, off-again romance. "The Big Ragoo" is a part-time boxer and former Golden Gloves champion who owns a dance studio and is constantly working to make it big as a dancer and singer. In the final episode of the series, he auditions for the musical Hair, at last landing a major role on Broadway.
 * Fabrizio "Frank" DeFazio (Phil Foster) is Laverne's father who runs the Pizza Bowl, a local hang out. He later opens up Cowboy Bills in Burbank, California. Although he could be harsh and lose his temper, he did have a heart of gold. He loves Laverne very much, having been her only parent for years. His pet name for his daughter is "Muffin". Frank is also protective of Shirley, becoming somewhat of a surrogate father to her since her family was far away.
 * Edna Babish DeFazio (Betty Garrett, seasons 2–6) is the five-time-divorced landlady who eventually marries Laverne's father. In season 2, she was dressed quite plainly, and Garrett's then-long hair was put under a more conservative wig, but in the third season, a new wardrobe worker suggested that she should be more "jazzy", with her real hair and colorful costumes, and this change fleshed out the character. Edna occasionally sings and dances in the local brewery talent shows. When the series was extended beyond the intended final season, Garrett had already committed to another project necessitating Edna be written out as having left Frank.
 * Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook, seasons 6–8) is a tall, voluptuous, somewhat ditzy blonde actress/singer/dancer/model trying to get discovered and make it big in Hollywood. She is Laverne and Shirley's neighbor and a regular character after they move to Burbank. Rhonda, who also comes off as rather narcissistic about her good looks and self-obsessed, always refers to herself in the third person, by her first name. Rhonda often bursts into Laverne and Shirley's apartment (occasionally at inopportune times, much like Lenny and Squiggy often do) to borrow things without really asking and to brag about her social engagements or romantic dates with desirable men with the intention of making the girls envious.
 * Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro, season 6) is a stuntman and Laverne and Shirley's landlord in Burbank. A tall, handsome, muscular man, Sonny is often seen with his shirt off or open. He was intended as a love interest for Laverne. After several episodes in Burbank, Sonny was written out of the show and rarely, if ever, mentioned again. (In reality, Marinaro left the series to star in Hill Street Blues.)

Recurring

 * (Big) Rosie Greenbaum (Carole Ita White) is Laverne and Shirley's childhood nemesis. She married a rich doctor and rubs this in the ladies' faces, though they make fun of the fact that he is a proctologist. She is Laverne's rival and upsets her by calling her a "bimbo". Big Rosie and fellow Milwaukee classmate Terri Buttefuco both return in the season-seven episode "Class of '56".
 * Terri Buttefuco (Judy Pioli) is a former classmate of Laverne and Shirley. She is tough and athletic and has a better relationship with Laverne and Shirley than they do with Rosie Greenbaum. Pioli also wrote and acted as a script consultant for the series.
 * Sgt. Alvinia T. Plout (Vicki Lawrence) is a tough-as-nails drill sergeant Laverne and Shirley met when they went into the Army, who's known on the base as "The Frog". She returns in Season 6 having gone AWOL from the Army after falling in love with a four-star general who jilted her.
 * Officer Norman Hughes (Bo Kaprall) is a police officer and love interest for Laverne.
 * Mr. Hildebrand (Norman Bartold) is Laverne and Shirley's boss at Bardwell's Department Store.
 * Mrs. Kolchek (Rose Mitchum) is a neighbor living in Laverne and Shirley's Milwaukee apartment building and appeared in 5 episodes from 1977 to 1980. She rarely has speaking roles, but when she does speak, she only speaks to Laverne, as she is annoyed at Shirley for always yelling at her because Shirley thinks she is very hard of hearing, which she isn't, and because she is also interested in Carmine in spite of their age differences.
 * Chuck (Charles Fleischer) is Laverne's co-worker in season 8.

Broadcast history and ratings
Laverne & Shirley debuted in the 1975–76 TV season, with its first episode airing in January 1976, in the Tuesday night time slot after Happy Days. By its third season, it had become the most-watched American television program according to Nielsen ratings. In August 1979, before the start of its fifth season, Laverne & Shirley was moved to Thursdays at 8 pm opposite The Waltons on CBS and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on NBC. By the end of the fifth season, ratings fell sharply and the sitcom failed to make the list of the top 30 programs. In an effort to improve the show's ratings, ABC moved Laverne & Shirley to Mondays at 8 p.m. in December 1979. The ratings fared no better, so in February 1980 the network moved the series back to its familiar Tuesday-night berth, where it remained for the next three years. Between 1980 and 1982, the ratings improved considerably, but, despite having regained its original time slot and changing its format, Laverne & Shirley never regained the popularity it had attained during its first four years on the air, and during its final season struggled against The A-Team on NBC. By the time of its cancellation in 1983, the series ranked at number 25 for the season. The show aired in reruns on ABC daytime from April 1979 to June 1980.

Animated spin-off
During the run of the main show, an animated spin-off called Laverne & Shirley in the Army began airing on Saturday mornings. The first program was aired on October 10, 1981, and featured the voices of Marshall and Williams playing Laverne and Shirley in the Army with a talking piglet drill sergeant named "Squealy" (voiced by Ron Palillo). The show was retitled Laverne & Shirley with Special Guest Star The Fonz when the Fonz began working in the motorpool as the chief mechanic, and then again retitled Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour when new segments involving a teenaged Mork & Mindy were added to the mix. The series ran until September 3, 1983.

Merchandise
The program was so successful at the time that it spawned a merchandise franchise. Mego released two models of Laverne and Shirley dolls, and one model of Lenny and Squiggy dolls. Matchbox created a Shotz Brewery delivery van, and several novelty toys were sold such as Halloween costumes, a board game, jigsaw puzzles, coloring books, video slot machine and other toys.

Home media
Paramount Home Entertainment and (starting with season 2) CBS DVD have released the entire series of Laverne and Shirley on DVD in Region 1, albeit with music substitutions and scene deletions.

On June 16, 2015, CBS DVD released Laverne & Shirley – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.

Season 1 has also been released on DVD in Region 2.

The first three seasons have been released on DVD in Region 4 by Paramount.

Music
The theme song from the series ("Making Our Dreams Come True" as performed by Cyndi Grecco) was released as a single from Cyndi's LP by the same name and became a radio favorite, becoming a top-30 American hit in 1976.

In 1976, Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams released an album, performed in character, titled Laverne & Shirley Sing, which contained some original songs along with some 1950s and 1960s standards. The album was originally released on Atlantic Records. On November 11, 2003, Collector's Choice released it on CD. The single "Sixteen Reasons" reached #72 in Canada.

In 1979, Michael McKean and David Lander followed suit with the album Lenny and the Squigtones, also performed in character, featuring original songs (and some spoken material) penned by McKean and Lander. The album was released on Casablanca Records.

In July 1979, McKean and Lander also appeared together (in character) on American Bandstand performing the song "King of the Cars", the single released from their Lenny and the Squigtones album. They also performed "Love Is a Terrible Thing", another song from the album.

In 1980, Romina Power (of Al Bano and Romina Power fame) recorded a separate theme tune for the show when it was introduced to the Italian market. The track, simply titled "Laverne & Shirley", featured verses in English and Italian. Released as a single in the same year, the track failed to chart.

title: Laverne & Shirley