Trusteeship, Justice and Economic Governance: A Qur’anic Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Investment Projects

This article contributes to debates in economic ethics and governance by developing a Qur’anic‑informed framework for evaluating sustainable investment projects. Using a temporal (Meccan/Medinan) mixed‑methods reading, it documents a shift from moral formation of the economic agent to the institutionalization of rights, redistribution, and procedural discipline. Descriptive lexical counts of explicit wealth terms (māl/amwāl) show a higher concentration in the Medinan corpus (60 occurrences) than in the Meccan corpus (26 occurrences), consistent with a transition toward enforceable institutions. Building on this staged logic—and drawing on insights from institutional economics and civil economy on trust, accountability, and the common good—the paper proposes an audit‑inspired Project Governance Evaluation Model (PEM). The PEM translates key determinants (trusteeship, justice, public benefit, transparency, protection of the vulnerable, environmental stewardship, anti‑corruption, and life‑cycle financial sustainability) into weighted criteria, indicators, and evidence requirements that can complement cost–benefit analysis and ESG screening in project appraisal and oversight. The result is a replicable toolkit for funding agencies and financial institutions seeking governance‑robust and value‑consistent development decisions.