At the outset of this work was posed the question of the advances of thought in the Islamic Renaissance. Was there anything * new’ in the theses elaborated in the Shi'i colleges, in comparison with the Middle Eastern intellectual scene, and beyond, in the longue duree course of the history of ideas? We have discovered in the works of Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr a system.

As in all systems, its strength comes from the avenues it opens, rather than from the specific answers it is able to provide. Sadr was confronted with several challenges, which he tried to address with the tools of the tradition available to him. In economics and banking, he was operating from difficult uncharted territory, and whilst he sometimes erred, the way he proceeded and the seriousness of his work remain unmatched in Islamic literature. As argued in this research, the detour through the shari'a allowed Sadr to elaborate on economic and banking issues with far more depth than his immediate contemporaries. Even in the works of the great reformists of the twentieth century, contributions in the field have been rare and unalluring.