E-commerce and Islamism

E-commerce and Islamism

Can a highly religious motivated culture accept the rapid and technological way the economy is moving now days? This is a question that brings along various issues and aspects about the convergence of the real world with the beliefs and religions of some cultures that encounter difficulties accepting the technological wave that the world is facing today.

One important issue in this matter is the E-commerce and the reason why I mention it, is because its growth has had an enormous effect on the way people conduct their transactions and it has also generated considerable diversity and complexity in its structure and applications. the E-commerce have revolutionized the global economy making the transactions cheaper and faster which are two important characteristics in the highly competitive globalised world, however there are some discrepancies on how the transactions should be managed and a clear example of this is the Islamist rigid point of view on E-commerce. People probably think that the Islamist position is too strict and out of fashion, but there are some interesting facts on why their beliefs and principles clash with those of the new era like the E-commerce.

The critics or rules that the Islamist have regarding E-commerce are the relative lack of security and the usury interest which are two things that almost all the rest of the world do not find as decisive points and are willing to take the risk in order to enjoy the benefits the E-commerce has to give, but the Islamist are much more careful and selective when engaging in those kinds of transactions that’s why E-commerce has still a long way to go with the Islamic world to be fully accepted.
In my personal opinion, this is a very competitive world in which you have to make compromises in order to succeed and not fall behind, and for that reason I think that the Islamist way of thinking must open up a little more to the rest of the world and take advantage of all the benefits it has to give.

References

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=44093&t=1&c=12&cg=2&mset=1022

picture,http://www.npu.edu/seminars/images/img_ecommerce.jpg

Zainul, Norazlina et al. 2004. “E-commerce from an Islamic perspective”. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 3 (2004): 280-293.