The course will discuss socio-economic paradigms as they are represented in the writings of central Islamist scholars. These works were written in response to the challenge that was set by ideologies and economic systems in competition with Islam, which penetrated the Muslim space in the 20th century. The course will begin with a short introduction to economic doctrines of the 20th century as well as a historical introduction to the acceptance process of capitalistic and liberal ideas in the Muslim space.

The second part of the course will focus on the Arab socialist and communist contemplations, which was rejuvenated in the first half of the 20th century among regimes and writings of intellectuals, in Egypt and Syria. At this stage the students will be asked to read the writings of the prominent thinkers of the Ba'ath party and the Nasserism. This philosophy, which aims to manifest Western economic systems in the Muslim space, was conceived as a threat and a challenge in the eyes of the Islamists which must be responded, and is the basis for understanding the Islamist writings in their historic and ideological connotations.

In the third and main part of the course we will read the writings of leading Islamist scholars, who dedicated the majority of their intellectual efforts to presenting Islam as a complete socio-economic system that far outweighs the other systems originating in the West. The students will read the most remarkable writings of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt and Syria on this subject (Hasan al-Banna, Sayid Qutb and Mustafa Siba'i), and the writings of the main Wasati Scholars (Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Muhammad al-Ghazali and Muhammad 'Imara).​