The effects of the transfer of financial technologies to muslim societies: A Heideggerian framework and assessment of institutional transformation

This study attempts to analyze the nature of the social and economic eclectic structure that arises from the transfer of financial technologies, having a different metaphysical background than Islam, into Muslim societies. Initially, this study examines whether the metaphysical background of financial technologies is compatible with the presumptions of the conformity between financial technologies and Islamic principles, which Islamic finance researchers have broadly accepted. At this juncture, the study's second aim is to investigate how this incompatibility leads to an eclectic and schizophrenic structure that many researchers in Muslim societies disregard. Financial technologies, the research unit of this study, are the direct product of modern Western science and technique based on Enlightenment philosophy. Therefore, financial technologies should not primarily be considered a "technique." As Heidegger expressed, this modern technique is a product of the contemporary philosophical paradigm rather than its utilization in the past. Hence, the modern technique based on Enlightenment ontology has resulted in a radical transformation in the way people perceive the world. Humans have embraced a mentality that calls to dominate every relationship within nature and its elements at the center of reason for the sake of their welfare. As a projection of this mentality, technology, as a modern technique, is a mode of disclosure that encompasses a dominating and challenging framework (ge-stell), which indicates the essence of the tools that allow the process of its emergence. In other words, the unveiling of being, led by technology under the ontological assumptions of the era, involves restriction, intervention, and confrontation. Islamic financial technologies that emerge from such a background of technology create an incompatibility with the ontological structure of Muslim societies.