Abstract
As monotheism has broken with the idea of an eternal, unchanging world outside of history, the historicization of religious faith also implies an ethics of acting in the world, and, in particular, an ethics of economic and commercial activity. The three monotheistic world religions have accordingly developed their own economic practices. In Islam, the prophet was himself a merchant and keenly aware of various economic and commercial pursuits. Later, the thinker Ibn Khaldoun became interested in regulating these practices. This article will deal with the question what Islam can teach us today in the contemporary globalized market economy.
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Notes
- 1.
See Boisard (1979), p. 65 f.
- 2.
See Courcelles (2009), pp. 19–98.
- 3.
As the hand-made copies of Ibn Khaldoun’s works were scattered throughout the Muslim world, from Fez to Istanbul, it was not until the eighteenth century that they were translated into Turkish. They were then published in the nineteenth century in Arabic, before being translated into French and Portuguese. The first Arabic edition of Al Muqaddima, his famous introduction to the Reflections on World History, was printed in Bulaq near Cairo. Ibn Khaldoun’s last manuscript, which he authenticated himself and is dated 1402 – 4 years before his death – is preserved in the Atif Efendi Library in Istanbul under the reference number 1936 AE.
- 4.
- 5.
All quotations are from the translation and edition of Monteil (1967), here: p. 69.
- 6.
Ibid., p.75.
- 7.
Ibid., p. 411.
- 8.
Ibid., p. 411.
- 9.
Ibid., p. 350.
- 10.
See Souissi (1976).
- 11.
Monteil (1967), p. 765.
- 12.
Ibn Khaldoun, ibid (1967), p. 591.
- 13.
- 14.
Monteil (1967), p. 799.
- 15.
This is the title of Emile Durkheim’s dissertation, which he defended in 1893 during his thesis defense.
- 16.
Monteil (1967), p. 584.
- 17.
Ibid., p. 572.
- 18.
Ibid., p. 630.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 436.
- 20.
Ibid., p. 448.
- 21.
Ibid., p. 617–631.
- 22.
Ibid., p. 627.
- 23.
With reference to the spelling charia or chari’a, which is often used in the French-speaking world, I have decided here to adopt the spelling sharia, which is also used e.g. by Mohammed Arkoun or Eric Geoffroy.
- 24.
Ferjani (2005), p. 73.
- 25.
Eric Geoffroy (2009), p. 148.
- 26.
Wahhâb (Al-) Khallâf (1997), pp. 119–122.
- 27.
I would like to take this opportunity to refer to the concluding statement of my article “L’ entreprise et la quête de sens, au risque du monde: comment faire monde comun” (2012), pp. 9–14.
- 28.
For further details, I refer here to an informative study by Sami Al-Suwailem, “Tenets of the Islamic Economic System” (2009).
- 29.
According to estimates by the ISFL based on “The Banker, Ernst & Young” at the end of 2008, Islamic commercial banks dominate the Islamic finance market at 73%.
- 30.
Even in ancient Greece, Aristotle wrote that “money doesn’t create more money” and thus dismissed the role of interest. The occidental approach distinguishes “wear and tear” from “interest.”
- 31.
Waqf, a good made of velvet gloves or religious foundations, could play an important role in projects of sustainable development, e. g. for hospitals, schools, or various infrastructures; this immobilization of a good allows for the continuous reproduction of a donation. This example could also be generalized for all cultures and religions.
- 32.
Zakat is a system of moral transmission that helps eliminate the concentration of wealth; it is the third pillar of Islam. The Koran contains over 80 verses dealing with zakat. This charity is regarded as the right of the poor to remove the surplus from the wealthiest. The duty of zakat strengthens social relations and economic efficiency. Currently, the regulation of zakat is being developed and is not comparable in all Muslim countries. There are two types of zakat: zakat al-Fitr is distributed after Lent by Aid al-Fitr, the feast at the end of Ramadan; and zakat al-mâl is the legal alms-giving of goods, corresponding each year to the sum that has not moved on an account; it is a minimum taxable amount. Zakat is obligatory for Muslims, but there are two problems: On the one hand, there are people, often the richest, who try to evade this responsibility; on the other hand, the ultimate aim of the collected funds is far from transparent. Islamic banks can thus be persuaded to play a regulatory role. See http://www.sajidine.com/les-piliers-de-lislam/zakat_questions/seuil_zakat.htm, last accessed: January 29, 2016.
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de Courcelles, D. (2019). The Ethics of the Merchant in the Islamic Faith: From Ibn Khaldoun to Islamic Finance. In: Lütge, C., Strosetzki, C. (eds) The Honorable Merchant – Between Modesty and Risk-Taking. Ethical Economy, vol 56. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04351-3_11
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