Muslim Women and Entrepreneurship: An Islamic Ethical Evaluation

This paper examines Muslim women’s entrepreneurship through the lens of Islamic ethics, challenging dominant narratives that frame religion primarily as a constraint on women’s economic participation. Drawing on a conceptual empirical synthesis, the study integrates Islamic ethical theory with empirical literature on Muslim women entrepreneurs across diverse socio-cultural contexts, including the Arab world, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa. The paper argues that Islamic ethics, grounded in the principles of halal and haram, amanah (trustworthiness), adl (justice), Ihsan (excellence), and taqwa (God-consciousness), provides a robust moral framework that not only permits but can actively support women’s entrepreneurial agency. Empirical evidence suggests that Muslim women engage in entrepreneurship for multiple reasons, including economic necessity, a desire for autonomy, faith-based motivations, and the need for flexible work arrangements that accommodate family responsibilities. At the same time, women entrepreneurs face significant institutional and socio-cultural constraints, many of which stem from patriarchal cultural practices rather than Islamic doctrine itself. The article critically evaluates these tensions, highlighting how selective religious interpretations can obscure Islam’s ethical commitment to justice, dignity, and equitable participation. It further explores how Islamic feminist scholarship and processes of ijtihad enable alternative readings that legitimise women’s economic leadership within religious frameworks. The study concludes by outlining policy and practice implications, emphasising the importance of Sharia-compliant finance, ethics-integrated capacity building, legal reforms, and support for home-based and digital enterprises. Thus, the studies argue that Muslim women’s entrepreneurship should be viewed not as an exception to Islamic ethics, but as a potential embodiment of it, capable of simultaneously contributing to economic development, social well-being, and moral accountability.