Sabahattin Zaim

Sabahaddin Zaim, one of the first names that come to mind in the field of Islamic economics in Turkey, has managed to become a figure appreciated by many circles in terms of his academic knowledge and contributions to the business world. Prior to his work in Islamic economics, he did important work in the field of labor economics and was one of the pioneers of this field in Turkish academia. He also served on the boards of various nongovernmental organizations and associations close to the Muslim community. In the triangle of academia, business life, and civil society, he has lived a life in which his experiences in these fields have fed each other. While contributing to the intellectual corpus of Islamic economics in Turkey, he has also been involved in the practice of Islamic banking. His most important contribution is that he paved the way for the increase in the number of researchers working in this field and the development of systematic education programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, leading to the establishment of an academic tradition. This study focuses on Sabahaddin Zaim’s academic personality as well as his intellectual corpus on Islamic economics and his contributions to Muslim civil society. First, in order to better understand his personality, general information about his life is given, and then Sabahaddin Zaim’s approach to Islamic economics is summarized based on his own articles.