Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T11:10:22.631Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Capitalism in Medieval Islam

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Subhi Y. Labib
Subhi Y. Labib
Affiliation:
University of Hamburg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

He who looks for the term “capitalism” in the Islamic sources of the Middle Ages will look in vain. On the other hand, the term “capital” has been known since the beginning of Islamic culture. Even in the Holy Book of Islam, in the Sūrat al-Baḳara, the idea of capital appears in connection with trade, business, and the illicit practice of loaning for profit—usury. “O you who believe, keep your duty to Allah and relinquish what remains [due] from usury, if you are believers. But if you do [it] not, then be apprised of war from Allah and His messenger; and if you repent, then you shall have your capital. Wrong not, and you shall not be wronged.” In the same Sūrah God forbids usury but not Bai', trading, or buying. At another place God's commands clear the way for investments. “O you who believe, devour not your property among yourselves by illegal methods, although you may engage in trading by mutual consent. And kill not your people. Surely Allah is merciful to you.”The Islamic merchant tried to follow this system of ethics.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 1969 , pp. 79 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 The Holy Book of Islam: Sūrat al-Baḳara, vers No. 275; Sūrat al-Nisā', vers No. 29.

2 Spuler, B., Geschichte Mittelasiens seit dem Auftreten der Türken, in Handbuch der Orientalistik, erste Abteilung (Leiden, 1966), Bd. 5, pp. 215–2Google Scholar.

3 Labib, S., Handelsgeschichte Ågyptens im Spätmittelalter (Wiesbaden, 1965), pp. 102–2, 116Google Scholar.

4 Labib, p. 115.

5 Labib, p. 116.

6 Fischel, W., “The Origin of Banking in Medieval Islam,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1933Google Scholar.

7 Labib, p. 79.

8 Aubin, J., “Ḷes Princes d'Ormuz du XIIIe siecle,” Journal Asiatique, 1953Google Scholar; Labib, p. 117.

9 Khaldūn, Ibn, Prolegomena (English translation by Rostenthal, Franz, New York, 1958) Vol. II, pp. 298 ffGoogle Scholar.

10 al-Dimashkī/Ritter, H., “Ein arabisches Handbuch der Handelswissenschaft,” Der Islam, 17, 1917Google Scholar.

11 Hinz, W., “Das Rechnungswesen orientalischer Reichsfinanzämter,” Der Islam, 28, 1950Google Scholar.

12 Encyclopaedia of Islam, article “Tiraz”; Imamuddīn, S. M., The Economic History of Spain (Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca, 1963), pp. 197 ff.Google Scholar; Labib, pp. 293–2.

13 Mez, A., Die Renaissance des Islam (Heidelberg, 1922) p. 448Google Scholar.

14 Gibb, H. A. R., Ibn Battūta, Traveb in Asia and Africa (London, 1929pp. 154–85Google Scholar.

15 Labib, p. 501 (b. Private No. 2).

16 Labib, p. 216.

17 al-Dimashki/H. Ritter, p. 62.

18 Dozy, R., Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes (Leiden and Paris, 1927),Google Scholar article 'awana, ma 'ūna; with references.

19 Plessner, M., Der Oikonomikoe des Neupythagoreers “Bryson” und sein Einfluss auf die islamische Wissenschaft (Heidelberg, 1928), pp. 40, 59–2, 144Google Scholar.