Entrepreneurial Intentions From an Islamic Perspective

Abstract

In Islam, with its own method of doing business as stated in the Quran and Hadith, entrepreneurship is part of everyday life. In Islam, determining a person's intentions and personality traits when starting a business largely depends on his intentions. This study attempts to cast an Islamic perspective on Muslim business owners in Pakistan regarding the concept and element of business intent. A survey of over 250 Muslim business owners in Pakistan was conducted to collect primary data on the motivations and characteristics of Pakistani Muslim entrepreneurs, such as their reasons for deciding to pursue a career. According to previous studies, the two main characteristics of business intentions in Islam are honesty and worship of Allah (functions of a spiritual, personal, and socio-economic nature). This research shows that all human behavior, especially that related to entrepreneurship, has been consistently driven by the effects of five key traits on entrepreneurial personalities: amanah, tabligh, fathonah, istiqomah, and saddiq.