During the past decades, there has been an emerging interest among scholars as to whether an “Islamic economy” or an “Islamic economic development” in contrast to western economic and development models exists. On the one hand, a number of practical experiences indicate that there are certain similarities between what is called “Islamic economy” and Western economic systems. On the other hand, one may find unique economic institutions throughout Muslim history, which may indicate the possibility of a different economic system. In this paper, I aim to shed some lights on some of these similarities and distinctions. In particular, one must note that generalizing the conceptual framework of Western economic discourses to alternative economic systems may cause an unwarranted analytical jump. Accordingly, I intend to offer a more complicated picture of Muslim economy. In this paper, I shall briefly review the literature on Muslim economy and specifically, the ontological differences that arguably exist between Muslim and Western systems of economy. As mentioned before, however, the focus of this paper will be on Shi’ah Islam. To discuss the differences and similarities between the two economic systems, I will first explore the Islamic understanding of ownership. Moreover, I will analyze the practice of Waqf (or endowment) to discuss the similar aspects of Western economies and Muslim economy. One of my key assertions throughout this paper is that Muslim thinking about economy is different from western thinking in terms of ontology and worldview. The starting point of the inquiry, however, is what Muslim economy is and how it defines the notion of “ownership”. Based on the concept of “ownership”, investigating the practice of waqf (or religious endowment) is a useful analytical practice to study similarities and differences of Muslim and non-Muslim economic systems. Muslim waqf shows that how Muslim economy accepts some of the important aspects of liberal economy and, at the same time, rejects it as a pure solution. Furthermore, there are some similar institutions in western systems of economy that bear similarities with waqf in Islam. Some scholars, for instance, have argued that the institution of “trust” in the West has been influenced by Islam.