Some western writers tend to argue from a Quranic verse that Islam lacks achievement motivation and mastery orientation and therefore provides a sufficient condition to consider it as an obstacle to development. This paper argues that such a position involves misinterpretation of the Quranic verse and unawareness about or overlooking of numerous positive commandments of Islam to have high achievement motivation and mastery orientation. If these are treated as essential prerequisites of development, Islam provides them to the highest degree. In fact, Islam is a powerful vehicle for development because it gives a religious value and sentiment to development, provides all factors that are considered important for development and requires from the state authority to guarantee a favourable socio-politico-economic environment for development.

Keywords: Economic Development, Achievement Motivation, Islamic Economics, Quranic Interpretation, Mastery Orientation, Socio-Economic Environment, AUB.