The article is devoted to various theories of development in the Muslim world in the second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, among them – Arab socialism, Islamic socialism, Gaddafi's Third World Theory, Touhid economy, the concept of the golden dinar. The author considers the Islamic economy only as one of the possible options for applying Islamic principles in the implementation of economic activities. Key words: Islamic economy, Touhid economy, Arab socialism, Islamic socialism, golden dinar, zakat, riba. "Either capitalism or socialism – there is no third way " (Ludwig von Mises) Recently, not only in religious literature, but also in scientific literature, the judgment has become widespread that the Islamic economy, or the Islamic economic model, is an integral part of Islam as a comprehensive way of life (see: [Pavlov, 2003; Nurullina, 2004; Value Orientations..., 2009; Trunin et al., 2009]). However, with this approach, it is impossible to explain why in a whole number of countries of the Muslim East, where the norms of Islam continue to widely regulate various spheres of public relations, the concept of Islamic economy has either not been developed at all, or is applied on a limited scale. The existing contradictions between various theories of the "third way" in the countries of the Muslim East were repeatedly pointed out by Soviet researchers in the 1960s and 1980s ([Polonskaya..., 1981, p. 113, 119; Sharipova, 1985, p. 68-79;] and others). In accordance with the class approach that prevailed in those years, all theories of economic development based on Islamic ideology were divided into three broad groups in Soviet Oriental studies: bourgeois, petty-bourgeois conservative, and petty-bourgeois radical (see, for example, [Polonskaya and Ionova, 1982]). Today, some theories have disappeared from the historical scene, while others, on the contrary, despite the imminent demise predicted by both Soviet and some Western researchers, have become even ... Read more