Why the Happiest Country in the World is Not a Muslim Country?
M. Elfan Kaukab (a)*, Z. Sukawi (b), Sri Haryanto (c)
(a) Faculty of Economics
Universitas Sains Al-Quran Jawa Tengah
Wonosobo, Indonesia
*elfan[at]unsiq.ac.id
(b) Faculty of Communication and Politics
Universitas Sains Al-Quran Jawa Tengah
Wonosobo, Indonesia
(c) Faculty of Education and Teaching
Universitas Sains Al-Quran Jawa Tengah
Wonosobo, Indonesia
Abstract
Religions, especially the Abrahamic that include Islam, claim that faith can bring happiness to mankind. However, a small remote country like Bhutan is stated to have the happiest citizens in the world, while Islamic countries are among the unhappiest. By challenging the assumption that religious happiness is merely the eudemonic happiness, this article aims to examine the economic determinant of Islamic welfare and to assess why the Islamic countries have not reached high-level happiness. We focus on the economic aspect of happiness.We argue that there are three keys to sustainable social and individual happiness. They are usury-free finance, Islamic entrepreneurship, and ZISWAF (Zakat, Infak, Sedekah, and Wakaf) empowerment. Those three items are the constructing elements of the Islamic economic framework. We reviewed the World Happiness Report 2019 to see the Islamic countries- positions inside the three comprehensive 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.
Keywords: happiness per capita, Islamic economy, zakat, Bhutan, social welfare
Topic: Economics