A Critique of the Origins of Economic Thought (Islamic History and Civilization): 11 - Hardcover

Essid, Mohammed Yassine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004100792 ISBN 13: 9789004100794

Publisher: Brill, 1995

Synopsis

Through the presentation of Muslim material in administrative literature the author has developed a broader and more coherent picture of the way in which the 'Mirrors for Princes', the manuals on market supervision and on household fitted into a broader concept of centralised administration in Islamic political economy. This volume provides an enlightening and original synthesis of a great deal of economic literature that is usually treated in a rather fragmentary fashion with no common analytic thread.

About this title

Review:

'This is a serious piece of scholarship in the field of Arab-Muslim Economic Thought. In my opinion, it is essential reading for those interested in the history of economic thought.'
Mohammed K. Abdel-Haq, Muslim World Book Review, 1997.

Synopsis:

The possible indebtedness of political economy to fourth-century Greek thinkers has been widely debated; the contribution of Islam, on the other hand, is consistently forgotten. This volume addresses this neglect by examining in three parts the following questions: is there a school of economic thought that can be considered specifically "Arab", or have the Arabs succeeded in combining the Greek heritage with other, more oriental currents? Muslim economic thought has enriched the Hellenic contribution to economic thought in the areas of government of the kingdom by the caliph, of the city and the household organization; the Arab concept of "tadbir" should be examined in relation to each of these three levels. In rejecting profit, usury, egoism and monopoly, and in preaching moderation, altruism, the practice of fair prices, and unselfishness, Islam inaugurated an "economic system" which has derived from that of the Greeks and which laid the basis for pre-capitalist thought.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brill
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 9004100792
• ISBN 13: 9789004100794
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 257