Why the Happiest Country in the World is Not a Muslim Country?

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.200529.217How to use a DOI?

Keywords

happiness per capita, Islamic economy, Zakat, Bhutan, social welfare

Abstract

Religions, especially the Abrahamic that include Islam, claim that faith can bring happiness to mankind. However, Islamic countries are among the unhappiest countries on Earth. The purpose of this article is to examine the happiness determinant of Islamic society in Islamic countries based on Islamic economics framework to happiness. A literature review produces three keys to sustainable social and individual happiness: usury-free finance, Islamic entrepreneurship, and ZISWAF (Zakat, Infak, Sedekah, and Wakaf) empowerment. Based on this framework, we reviewed three global reports: World Happiness Report 2019, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2019, and Standard & Poor 2019 Islamic Finance Outlook to see the Islamic countries’ positions inside the three happiness elements. The result shows that Islamic entrepreneurship is relatively large. However, ZISWAF is still low, while interest-based finance is still large. This imperfect condition of the Islamic economy contributes to the low happiness of the Muslims in these countries. The findings implicate the importance of Islamic countries to participate in sharia banking and to motivate their citizens to pay zakat, sedekah (alms), infak, and wakaf. The fund will then be managed to effectively, efficiently, and transparently promote society’s welfare.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - M Elfan Kaukab
AU  - Z Sukawi
AU  - Sri Haryanto
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/05/04
TI  - Why the Happiest Country in the World is Not a Muslim Country?
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st Borobudur International Symposium on Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences (BIS-HESS 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1039
EP  - 1044
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200529.217
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.200529.217
ID  - Kaukab2020
ER  -