Hamka’s Action Guide for Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

This article attempts to explore the works of a Muslim scholar from Indonesia better known as HAMKA (d. 1981) about ethical principles for healthy business growth or better known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) which is deemed as crucial issue today. While in the western world at that era where capitalism predominantly controled the economy depreciating the moral dimension in business transaction, HAMKA wrote about ethics and values in the field of bussiness since the seventies of the last centuries. In this textual study HAMKA argues that moral dimension such as trust, fair and honesty are necessary to sustain free markets and ethical business practices. On the contrary devoid of integrity in business conduct, will ultimately lead to business failure and, at times, to counterproductive regulation. Due to the current dynamic business environment, Muslims find themselves confronted with serious dilemmas and need guidance from a clearly developed Islamic business ethics which serves the basis of CSR in Islamic perspective. Consequently, business leaders must always assert ethical leadership so as to protect the foundations of sustainable prosperity. This article concludes that both responsiblity and morality are nessesary in order for business to be sustainable and for global prosperity.