In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets.\n
\nBehavioral nudging refers to guiding the choices and decisions of a targeted individual so that they fall into the path desired by the influencer. Nudging is not something alien to human social interaction. The famous poetic verse of Miskeen al-Darimi about the beautiful woman and her black veil is not foreign to the literature of consumer habits nor to commercial traditions. That verse and its story offer one of the clearest and most elegant depictions of what we are addressing here. For my part, I will practice a form of behavioral nudging on the curiosity of readers unfamiliar with that verse and its background, nudging them to seek it out themselves.\n
\n\nThe Novelty of Behavioral Nudging\n
\n\nRegardless of the recent spread of the term, its essence has long been present and widely practiced. Merchants, producers, and financiers\u2014past and present\u2014all resort to nudging or behavioral inducement to achieve their goals. What is new about behavioral nudging lies in two aspects:\n
\n\nThe employment of findings from behavioral sciences\u2014psychology, sociology, and even neuroscience\u2014to serve the purposes of nudging.\n
\n\nThe realization by modern public administrations of the importance of tools based on behavioral economics, either as alternatives or complements to authoritative methods. With globalization diminishing the visible role of executive power in economic life, governments increasingly rely on such approaches to achieve their objectives and pass their policies.\n
\n\nTell Me Who Nudges, and I\u2019ll Tell You What They Want\n
\n\nSome might assume that all behavioral nudging corrects people\u2019s negative behaviors and enhances social welfare. This is an illusion. We must differentiate between types of nudges depending on who applies them, for every nudge inevitably reflects the nudger\u2019s interest.\n
\n\nThe producer and merchant nudge consumers toward buying their products, increasing sales, and building loyalty to the brand or store.\n
\n\nThe financier nudges clients toward accepting financing offers, using their services, and repaying debts more smoothly.\n
\n\nAny theory that suggests otherwise does not reflect reality. Thus, it is inaccurate to portray behavioral nudging as purely benevolent or universally aimed at the welfare of the targeted individuals.\n
\n\nThe Collision of Nudges\n
\n\nParents, doctors, and health or educational institutions nudge children toward healthier consumption habits and diets that build strong bodies and sustain well-being.\n
\n\nIn contrast, vendors and producers nudge children through street music, flashy ads for chips, fast food, and soda\u2014luring them in the opposite direction.\n
\n\nTobacco companies, drug dealers, video game makers, and similar industries nudge youth toward consuming their products, building psychological loyalty, habit, and addiction. At the same time, families, health institutions, schools, security agencies, and consumer protection groups struggle to immunize youth against such nudges.\n
\n\nMedia, counter-media, and competing media all nudge audiences\u2014whether by persuasion or provocation\u2014to implant and normalize the sender\u2019s message in public consciousness.\n
\n\nPolitical parties and their candidates nudge voters to secure their votes. Campaigns aim at objectivity but often descend into accusations, smear tactics, and ethical disputes\u2014as recent democratic events in supposedly exemplary states have shown.\n
\n\nCharitable organizations also practice nudging, persuading the public to adopt their values and donate to their causes.\n
\n\nThus, recognizing the role of behavioral economics and spreading its culture does not automatically guarantee welfare. Positive nudges always face negative ones. The human soul and Satan have long been aligned in one camp, and the prophetic advice remains: \u201cOppose the soul and Satan, disobey them; and if they ever advise you sincerely, then doubt them!\u201d\n
\n\nWhat is truly needed is not the blind promotion of behavioral nudging, but its governance\u2014wise oversight that protects society from the relentless manipulations targeting the human mind, soul, and social fabric, ultimately aiming to exploit people\u2019s wealth.\n
\n\nPublic Administration and Behavioral Nudging\n
\n\nHistorically, governments have always sought compliant citizens who fulfill obligations like military service and taxes without delay. Today, governments still seek compliance, alongside other ministry-specific objectives:\n
\n\nMinistries of education want certain behaviors from teachers and students.\n
\n\nMinistries of health want compliance from staff and the public.\n
\n\nAnd so forth.\n\n\nPreviously, coercive administrative tools were the main instruments of executive power. The novelty today is that governments have realized that complementing authority with behavioral nudges allows them to set aside the whip and engage citizens in seemingly cordial dialogue.\n
\n\nSoviet economic administration offers a telling example of oscillating between coercive tools and moral incentives before settling on material incentives\u2014ideologically hollow yet practically effective.\n
\n\nBehavioral nudging in governance is not new enough to be attributed to Thaler or others, as much contemporary literature suggests. Throughout history, rulers relied on advisors\u2014poets, sages, preachers, and ministers\u2014who nudged public behavior and often made the ruler\u2019s scepter unnecessary.\n
\n\nThe Islamic Economic School is Behavioral\n
\n\nIslamic economic thought is normative and behavioral by nature. It consistently pushes believers toward the most upright choices (\u201cto that which is most sound\u201d). Muslims reaffirm their need for guidance in every prayer. Islam is realistic: it recognizes human imperfection\u2014\u201cEvery son of Adam errs, and the best of those who err are those who repent\u201d\u2014but it demands constant striving toward maturity.\n
\n\nThus, the entire Islamic economic framework is a positive and impartial behavioral intervention, free from cognitive or emotional biases, because it originates from the All-Knowing, the Most Just. Alongside this divine guidance, Islamic legal policy prescribes additional behavioral interventions as needed, grounded in wisdom and aimed at public interest.\n
\n\nLegal Rulings and Behavioral Nudging\n
\n\nLegal rulings (ahkam taklifiyya) declare the divine stance toward human actions. These are not nudges per se, but jurisprudential determinations grounded in evidence and reasoning. Yet Islamic legislation does not present rulings as cold, lifeless commands, as positive law often does. Rather, it surrounds them with psychological and emotional framing that prepares believers to accept and internalize them.\n
\n\nFor example, the prohibition of usury (riba) is not conveyed merely as \u201cforbidden.\u201d The Qur\u2019an surrounds it with stark imagery: the usurer bloated and unable to stand, staggering like the possessed, swimming in a sea of blood. Such depictions act as nudges\u2014emotional reinforcements\u2014deterring believers from engaging in usury.\n
\n\nOn the positive side, the command to give charity is framed with imagery: a seed growing into seven ears of corn, a foal raised for the donor, or even a reciprocal trade with God (\u201cWho will lend to Allah a goodly loan?\u201d). These images encourage believers to embrace giving.\n
\n\nThus, beyond direct rulings, Islam activates the psychological and emotional dimensions of human nature, reinforcing good actions and deterring prohibitions.\n
\n\nBeyond Economics: Metabehavioral Considerations\n
\n\nBehavioral economists often critique the \u201crationality assumption\u201d to justify nudging. But this is only partially valid. As we noted earlier, the effect of a nudge depends entirely on who delivers it and with what aim.\n
\n\nSome scholars of Islamic economics have suggested moving from the \u201cMuslim man assumption,\u201d posed against the \u201crational man assumption,\u201d toward an \u201cordinary man assumption.\u201d Yet theoretical debates around rationality, utility maximization, and economic self-interest often overlap and become confused.\n
\n\nUltimately, deviations from sound behavior arise from:\n
\n\nCognitive or informational deficiencies, correctable through education.\n
\n\nPursuit of short-term pleasures at the expense of greater goods, addressable through reminders and guidance.\n
\n\nMore dangerous self-centered biases, represented in archetypes:\n
\n\nThe Iblisian: \u201cI am better than him.\u201d\n
\n\nThe Pharaonic: \u201cIs not the kingdom of Egypt mine?\u201d\n
\n\nThe Qarunic: \u201cI was given it because of knowledge I possess.\u201d\n
\n\nCorrecting these requires not only education but also spiritual purification and vigilance against egoistic distortions.\n
\n\nExalted is your Lord, the Lord of Might, above what they ascribe. Peace be upon the messengers, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Abduljabbar Al-Sabhany \u0628\u0633\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u062d\u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u062d\u064a\u0645\u060c \u0627\u0644\u062d\u0645\u062f \u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0631\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0627\u0644\u0645\u064a\u0646\u060c \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0635\u0644\u0627\u0629 \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0633\u0644\u0627\u0645 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0631\u0633\u0648\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0648\u062e\u0627\u062a\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0646\u0628\u064a\u064a\u0646\u060c \u0648\u0628\u0639\u062f\u061b…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-17"],"yoast_head":"\n
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