ent of economic thought in islam history

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ent Of Economic Thought In Islam History Essay Islamic economic thought is not new one it is as old as Islam itself. Throughout the fourteen centuries of Islamic history, we find a continuity of works in which economic issues are discussed in the light of the Shari'ah. However, in the vast literature on the exegesis of the Qur'an (that is, Tafsir), commentaries on Hadith, principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), and law (fiqh). No effort has been made to dig out this material and present it systematically. There is another genre of works devoted exclusively to statecraft and social organization. These and the works on moral philosophy and historiography received some attention when the new born social sciences entered the curricula of universities in the Muslim world and scholars started looking for the Islamic heritage in these fields. Some orientalists have also paid special attention to the political and economic thought of early Muslim thinkers. But we do not have, till date, a single comprehensive book on the history of economic thought in Islam. We do have, however, a number of papers, mostly written after the middle of this century, on the economic thinking of some eminent Islamic scholars in the past. We propose to report these in this brief study. It will require a team of scholars to attempt a comprehensive work on the history of economic thought in Islam after surveying the vast material mentioned above, which is mostly in Arabic, though the other principal languages of Islam, The present writer can only emphasize the importance of this task which will throw much needed light on how the Islamic mind responded to changing economic conditions in various regions of the wide world of Islam. We urgently need this light to chart our own course through history. To be under the illusion that we can do without it will increase the hazards of an already difficult journey. The progress of Islamic economic thought, in its long history, has not followed a smooth path. Ignorance of this fact led many writers to wrong conclusion it is Hoped that knowledge of various

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ent Of Economic Thought In IslamHistory EssayIslamic economic thought is not new one it is as old as Islam itself. Throughout the fourteen centuries of Islamic history, we find a continuity of works in which economic issues are discussedin the light of the Shari'ah. However, in the vast literature on the exegesis of the Qur'an (that is, Tafsir), commentaries on Hadith, principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), and law (fiqh). No effort has been made to dig out this material and present it systematically. There is another genre of works devoted exclusively to statecraft and social organization. These and the works on moral philosophy and historiography received some attention when the new born social sciences entered the curricula of universities in the Muslim world and scholars started looking for the Islamic heritage in these fields. Some orientalists have also paid special attention to the political and economic thought of early Muslim thinkers. But we do not have, till date, a single comprehensive book on the history of economic thought in Islam. We do have, however, a number of papers, mostly written after the middle of this century, on the economic thinking of some eminent Islamic scholars in the past. We propose to report these in this brief study.

It will require a team of scholars to attempt a comprehensive work on the history of economic thought in Islam after surveying the vast material mentioned above, which is mostly in Arabic, though the other principal languages of Islam, The present writercan only emphasize the importance of this task which will throw much needed light on how the Islamic mind responded to changing economic conditions in various regions of the wide world of Islam. We urgently need this light to chart our own course through history. To be under the illusion that we can do without it will increase the hazards of an already difficult journey.

The progress of Islamic economic thought, in its long history, has not followed a smooth path. Ignorance of this fact led many writers to wrong conclusion it is Hoped that knowledge of various

phases in development of economic thought in Islam Will be helpful in the study of the subject. Thus, one has to be aware ofthe various Phases it has passed.

First phase: the formation period. This covered the period just after cessation of the Revelation to the end of the Companions’ era (11–100/632–718) when economic Ideas were fully based on Islam’s internal sources.

Second phase: the translation period when foreign ideas were translated into Arabic language and Muslim scholars got an opportunity to benefit from the intellectual and practical works of other nations (2nd–5th/8th–11th centuries).

Development of literature from 1950 to 1975. In the second half of the twentieth century also Ibn Khaldun topped the list and maximum researches appeared on his economic ideas. Sharif (1955) and Irving (1955) were the first to write on economic thought of Ibn Khaldun. The others who wrote on his economic ideas include Alam (1960), Ali (1970), Andic (1965), Boulakia (1971), Sattar (1973), Sherwani (1970). Perhaps this was facilitated by the translation of muqaddimah in English language by Rosenthal in 1958 and a translation of selected passages from muqaddimah related to economic issues by Issawi (1950) at an earlier date. El-Alfi completed his Ph. D. in 1968 on Production, Exchange and Distribution in Ibn Khaldun’s writing, from the University of Minnesota. This was the first doctoral dissertation on economic ideas of a Muslim thinker accomplished in the West. An excellent introduction to Ibn Khaldun’s ideas was presented by Spengler (1964)6. Mirakhor (1987) remarked about Spengler’s paper: “Although the paper is riddled with an ‘oriental attitude’, it isa valiant effort by a distinguished historian of economic thoughtto deal, partially, with the economic thought of Islam. This indeed was the first attempt of its kind in the field.

Ibn Taymiyah was next to Ibn Khaldun whose economic ideas were subject of research in this period. Works by Sherwani (1956) and Ilyas Ahmad (1961) formed the earliest writings on his economic ideas. These writers seem to be influenced by the Work of French scholar Laoust (1939). Especially the former’s paper seems to be an English version of Laoust’s reflections on economic ideas of Ibn Taymiyah. In 1973 Monzer Kahf prepared his monograph on economic views of Ibn Taymiyah. A year later a Ph. D. program wasregistered at the Aligarh Muslim University, India, on “Economic Views of Ibn Taymiyah”

A significant aspect of research in this period is investigation about economic ideas of early administrators and scholars of Islam, such as, the second caliph Umar (Rana 1970), Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (Yusuf 1970), Ibn Marwan (Grierson 1960), Umar b. Abdal-Aziz (Gibb 1955). During 1960s Ben Shemesh published English translations of the works of Abu Yusuf, Yahya b. Adam and Qudamahb. Ja`far on kharaj entitled (6) Although Spengler’s focus was Ibn Khaldun’s economics, he mentioned names of a large number of Muslim scholars who had something to say on economic issues.

Later it was published in al-Ittihad (Indiana/Plainfield), the thesis was completed in 1980 and degree was awarded in 1981. Later its revised version was published by the Islamic Foundation, U.K. (Islahi, 1988).

Taxation in Islam. Thus he provided a source for non-Arab scholars to investigate the economic substances in these works. But no research appeared until 1990

How prompt Islamic economics has progressedin lastThirty years

despite the extraordinary achievements that Islamic economic as made over the last three decades, the development process of Islamic economics as a scientific discipline has a long way to goin order to offer a complete and comprehensive economic system.

This can be illustrated by the fact that still most of the attempts on

the question of nature and definition are abstract. The problem as we can see is that they fail.

Author-wise: Mohammed najatulah siddiq in his two survey articleson the history of Islamic economic thought (1982, 1992) introduced briefly the economic ideas of more than two dozen schol in his two survey articles on the history of Islamic economic thought and drew the attention of researchers towards their deep and detail study.

The list included: Zayd b. Ali (d. 120/738), Abu Hanifah (d. 150/767), al-Awza’i, (d.157/774), Malik b. Anas (d. 179/796), AbuYusuf (d. 182/798), Muhammad al-Shaybani (d. 189/804), al-Shafi’i, (d. 204/820), Abu Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam (d.224/838), Ahmad b. Hanbal.

But after passing more than two decades researches could not be initiated on

majority of them. Only Aidit Ghazali (1992) wrote on al-Muhasibi,Ibn Hazm, IbnTufayl and Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi. The other few who could receive the attention of researchers include: Al-Ghazali (Orman 1985, 2001, Ghazanfar and Islahi 1992, 1998, Islahi 2001, Sadeq 1992), Ibn al-Qayyim (Islahi 1984, Ghazanfar and Islahi 1996), , Ibn Abi al-Rabi’ (Hasanuzzaman 1992) and al-Shatibi (Khan and Ghifari 1992). Even in this period maximum number of researches came out on Ibn Khaldun (Andic 1985, Alattas 1990, 2001, Charnay 1979, Gausau 1991, Rozina 1994, Salama 1979-80, andOweiss 2003). In November 2006, the IRTI/IDB organized, in collaboration with UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distance) of Spain, and Islamic Cultural Centre of Madrid, an international conference on Economics of Ibn Khaldun at Madrid in

Spain in which a quite large number of papers were presented on various aspects of Ibn Khaldun’s economic thought which showed the relevance and vitality of his ideas Researches leading to award of Ph D. increased during the last 30 years. Islahi concluded his dissertation on Economic Views of Ibn Taimiyah in 1980.Ibn Battah completed his Ph. D. dissertation on Ibn Khaldun’s Principles of Political Economy: Rudiments of a New Science, in 1988.

For that cause we must to now there is more scholars that write to Islamic economic thoughts, but there is something to motion here that most of author are written in Arabic knowledge so its difficult to get or see English translation books so money of books you get in Arabic or in Turkish and some of scholars they told or motion the first time that translate books .

Idea-wise. Since early days of Islam, public finance attracted the attention of scholars. Azmi in his Ph. D. dissertation in 1999 on Public Finance in Early Islamic Thought16 analyzed ‘earlyIslamic fiscal institutions and practices and the underlying theories and principles evolved by some early writers within the broader Theoretical framework.

Collected papers and General Themes. With the introduction of Islamic economic thought as a paper of study in this period at various levels in different universities, the demand for reading materials in the subject increased.

This was met to some extent through preparation of collective papers. Sadeq and Ghazali (1992) presented Readings in Islamic Economic Thought. Addressing the Western scholars Ghazanfar (2003) edited his own and some others articles that fall in the

period of so-called “Great Gap” under the title Medieval Islamic Economic Thought: Filling the “Great Gap” in European Economics.

He highlights ‘inexorable historic connections between the two worlds whose origins lie in the same crucible. His thrust is thatthe history of Economic thought provides a common ground for civilization dialogue because of its ‘multi-dimensional linkages and influences, extending over several medieval centuries, between the then vibrant Islamic civilization and the evolving Latin-European culture.

Ahghari’s Ph. D. (1991) on The Origin and Evolution of Islamic Economic

Thought, from the Florida State University, must be mentioned here, as she discusses a number of Persian scholars’ economic thought, perhaps first time, in some details.

Hosseini (2003) has also taken the note of Persian Muslim contribution to economic thought to disprove Schumpeterian “greatgap” thesis. It would have been a useful article for researchers had he provided the bibliographical details at the end of the paper for references noted in the middle of the text.

Another work that addressed Western audience and published in theWest was authored by Essid (1995) entitled “A Critique of the Origins of Islamic Economic Thought”. He maintains that Arab-Muslims have made a significant contribution, one which is not yet well recognized in the West. He rightly admits that Arab-Muslim thinkers were indebted to Greek scholars.

The German scholar, Helmut Ritter, in 1917 somewhere observed that ‘the whole

Economic literature of Islam can be traced to economics of Neo-Pythagorean Bryson. The‘unidentified Greek Bryson or Brason or Brasson (Brusson), whose work was unknown to the West.

The First international conference on Islamic EconomicsAs we all aware in February 1976 king abdulaziz university organized the first international conference on Islamic economicsin the holy of city of makkah al mukarammah.

The conference became a turning point or motion as it turning point and provided a golden chance for scholars working scatteredon Islamic economics to be now of existing state of affairs in the field of Islamic economics, to discuss with each other, and to know more information about the subject to realize the challenges ahead.

Islamic economics got a progress or development after this conference never seen before.

So it led to many scholar to dare to write about Islamic economics and after that development of cuuricula on Islamic economics, foundation of research center and study departments, establishment of a chair of Islamic banks and financial institutions which were already founded in few places and issue of specialized journals on Islamic economics.

The need to benefit from the Islamic intellectual heritage in thearea led to increasing effort to explore economic thought of pastMuslim thinkers. The works completed in this particular aspect ofthe discipline is many times more than what was done in the past three quarters of the twentieth century, both in terms of qualityand quantity11. However, as compared to 1400 years of Islamic tradition of knowledge and culture and leading role of Muslim scholars in most of fourteen centuries, the researches carried on

hitherto are still far less than they deserved. In this period role of professional economists enhanced, while that of others contracted.

The role of Islamic Tradition in Economic Thoughts:All Muslims believe that the Islamic laws are very flawless because it was revealed from god, the economic in Islamic law is not like nowadays economics in the sense of a systematic analysisof production and demand, consumption, distribution, but it was all in a form of traditions sometimes orders, and sometimes attracting and encouraging to get a reward in the afterlife.

Traditional Islamic concepts involves economics:

ZAKAT (alms giving) :Is a kind of tax in Islam, and it is a giving of percentage of the Muslim’s possession (wealth) to the needy and the poor Muslims, and all the individuals must give this amount of money to charity, and there is no disagreement among Muslims about the obligatory purpose of this alms giving, and if someone denies it means that he is denying Islam, because it is one of the five most important pillars in Islam.

It is a duty of a Muslim community (like Mosque) to collect this almsgiving and to distribute it among the needy as well, and the distribution must be fair.

The is so many assets that are subject to be given as (zakat) andthe most common assets are gold, silver, crops and fruits, earning of all trades and business and all what is taken from theearth, plus some other things(natural resources).

Alms giving should not be given to anybody, but there is some kind of people, who are in the Quran, needy individuals,

extremely poor people, those who are collecting zakat, to free the captives, those in debts, the way farers.

The socio-economic purpose of zakat was not referred to in Quran,but the scholars tried to understand the economic benefit behind the obligation of this alms giving:

It promotes an economic growth by providing a great circulation of wealth with enabling the poor and needy to have a sum of moneyso they become active the economic

It helps the state to channel the wealth in some profit occurringprojects, hence, creating job opportunities to reduce the amount of jobless people.

To ameliorate the consumption demand of the poor and needy, and improving their purchasing power for goods and services.

Produce more goods and services by activating the idle money.

To help financing the welfare projects such as building schools and healthcare centers.

It provides and equitable and faire distribution of wealth among the society, and hence, avoiding the great social and financial gap between the rich and the extremely poor which creates the social conflicts in the society thus keep it away from the severest disease that affects the capitalist societies.

HAWALA (agency):

It is an early informal way of transferring money from one place or county to another without a real physically moving to the sum of money.

Its early origins go to the Islamic law and jurisprudence in the 8th century where it started to be used in transactions.

And the way how the agency (hawala) operates is very simple and effective, where the relatives in another place or country can receive funds from their families in a different place without having the troubles of moving with the physical amount of money, but they can just give the sum of money to the hawala agency in their place to be transferred to the relative, so the agency willin a way or another contact their operator in the other place, sothis one will give the amount of money to the customer abroad, and later the tow operators will refund each other.

Hawala has influenced the development of the agency in the English common law and civil law, and it became widely practiced in medieval Europe especially in commercial transactions, and that was due to the large extent of the trade conducted by the Italian cities with the Muslim world in the middle ages

One of the most obvious pictures of the influence the aval in French law and avallo in Italian law, and both words(aval and avallo) themselves are derived from the Arabic word hawala.

A simple representation of the principle operating of hawala.

WAKF (trust):It is a donation or let us say a gift in Islam, typically donating a building or part of a land or garden for a charitable purpose.

The profits from these funds are then used to support the needy through various projects that should keep giving on years on tears, like schools, hospitals, mosques…

In Islam the reward from this charity will not stop by the death of the funder, but it will keep increasing his good work even after his death until the Day of Judgment.

Waqf conceptually resembles to the English law “trust”, but the only deference is that waqf was first created in the Islamic ageson the 7th century, when the English trust was introduced on the 13th until 14th centuries.

Every waqf (trust) should have a waqif (funder), and mutawali (trustee), and qadi (judge), and people who benefit from the trust, and under both trust and Islamic waqf the property is reserved and appropriate for the benefit of specific individuals.

The English trust was introduced by crusaders who were obviously influenced by the Islamic waqf when they came across the Arabic world.

The roll of waqf in developing the economy of a county has more than one role, and it had a significant role in developing the Islamic world in an early era:

It facilitates renting buildings and shops in a very ship price, and hence leading to decreasing the price of renting in the market, therefore activating the business movement in that market, and beside, every market had a high renting price(and no waqf) had to decrease the price of renting to maintain the business and be able to compete with the other markets that had waqf.

It helped the poor and needy to have money which leads to increase the demand on some goods and services that was going to be provided only for the wealth segments in a society.

The waqf helped a lot in decreasing the unemployment rate and providing more fob opportunities for the jobless individuals.

Some types of waqf had a serious support in some specific areas, like the fountains (which is an early branch of waqf) that was built on the edge of the important commercial roads, which leads to enriching the movement of the commerce and activating the trade by facilitating the movement of the commercial caravans whowere traveling between villages and cities for trade.

The waqf helped in reaching a significant levels of development in economic, social, and educational areas, and the educational role started from the mosques which was not only a place of prayer and worshipping god, but it was also a place where young students gather to learn and get some knowledge form the old and intellectual scholars.

The interdiction of riba(usury/interest):The exact literal meaning of the Arabic word riba is “excess, increase, augmentation, expansion or growth.”

While the Islamic meaning of “riba” is the augmentation in the thing itself, or an increase in an exchange or sale of money liketo sell one (ringgit) for tow (ringgits), or of commodities like when someone barters a measure of one good for more of the same good.

From the above definition we can say that riba must contains the next three elements

Growth or excess over the capital loaned

The measuring of this excess must be related to time.

The condition of this surplus should be in the agreement between the lender and the borrower.

The prohibited riba in Islam has two branches:

The first one called (riba of fadl) and it happens when someone barters a sum of a commodity or good for another sum (greater or lower) of the same commodity, even if this commodity is money, i.e. when someone barters (exchanges) tow dirham for one dirham. And the second type is called (riba nassi’a) and it occurs when the lender of money asks the borrower for an interest according to the time.

The Islamic scholars tried to define the wisdom behind the prohibition of both types of usury, and they came out with some significant economic benefits when the usury is avoided, so the economic purpose of prohibiting the first type:

It is the call for the other hand and for the transition of the society from the primary barter system to the monetary system where money is the only means of exchange, and this is because money is the perfect measure of value and the best means of exchange, and it caries the exchange on a fair basis, where everyfraud is reduced.

I can would love here to indicate a short and so meaningful storyor it is not actually a story, it is a (hadith) from the prophet Mohamed (p.b.u.h),when billal bin rabah once came to Mohamed and brought him some good quality dates, so the prophet asked him where did he get it, billal replied: I had some inferior(bad quality) dates which I exchanged for these tow kilo for one kilo,so the prophet replied :”oh no!!, this is exactly riba, don’t do so, but when you wish to buy, sell the inferior dates against cash, and then buy the better dates with the money you received.

While the wisdom behind the prohibition of the second type of riba is a bit deferent from that behind the prohibition of the first one, here is some important facts about the second type:

The taking of interest implies appropriating another person’s property and without giving him anything in exchange, and in Islam the property of every individual is as important as his soul, and taking it without anything in exchange is a big sin andit is prohibited.

When the interest rate is allowed, people will always depend on it to earn money, since the person who has one dirham can earn anextra dirham through interest and without working at all to get that extra money.

The value of the work will diminish in the estimation of the person who get interest, so he will never bother himself in taking the trouble of running a business or risking in trading orsomething else that needs some hard work.

The laziness caused by the interest will probably lead to withholding people from getting the benefit of some business thatwould have been held if the interest is not allowed, and like that the world cannot go on without industries, trade and commerce, building and construction, all of which need capital atrisk.

The permission of taking the interest will lead to some social conflicts between the poor, working class and the wealthy ones, and this will be caused by the exploitation of the rich to the poor, when the borrower is more likely to be poor and the lender is more likely to be wealthy and rich, and by asking for the interest the rich is forcing the poor to give him more than the borrowed sum, so this will discourage him from the good will and friendliness towards the lender.

The interdiction of gharar:The good translation to the Arabic word gharar is “risk” and “uncertainty”.

There is so many definitions for gharar but it all takes into thesame sense, and some definitions are:

It is the doubtfulness or uncertainty like when someone doesn’t know whether something is going to take a place or not, and this definition had been said by the imam Hanfi an shafi’i, and they argued: so it is the uncertainty over the existence of the objectmatter of sale.

Ibn hazim has defined gharar when the subject matter of sale is even unknown neither by the seller nor by the buyer, so he argued: gharar in sale occurs when the buyer doesn’t know what hehas bought and the seller doesn’t know what he sold.

Gharar happens when the probability of the existence of the object matter of sale is equal to the probability of non-existence.

And here are some examples of gharar:

Selling the unborn animal without his mother

Selling fruits before its emergence

Selling the find of the diver in advance

Selling some unidentified objects.

Selling fish still in the sea.

Selling something absent and neither of the buyer and seller has seen it yet.

Selling a runaway animal.

And the wisdom behind the prohibition of this kind of sale is more likely to protect the seller and the buyer from the absolute

risk of losing a big sum of money in the fact of uncertainty, andit is also to avoid social conflicts and problems that occurs when the subject matter of sale does not appear or will not be asexact as in the deal or the agreement, and if it is so, the dealers will have some problems between one another.

Early economic reforms under Islam:

Corporate social responsibility in commerce:In Islamic sociology, the corporate responsibility in commerce was seriously stressed and was clearly defined by the Quran, and this responsibility meant to make the allowed things and the forbidden behaviors more clearly for Muslims individuals, and to prevent any way of exploitation for the poor and needy, and to prohibit all kinds of fraud in the transaction to purify the wealth of the individual and the society.

We can see some side effects of this sociology in the developmentof the Islamic banking and Islamic economics even if it is not asdeveloped as it was supposed to be.

Islam made it clear for Muslims that:

No interest rate is permitted in any transaction or exchange, and

Investors are not allowed to runaway form the consequences of anyfruitless business.

All the participants in the financing aspect are fairly getting the benefits.

Islam does not let the borrower uphold and carry all the cost andthe risk of the unsuccessful transaction.

Avoiding the serious disparity of the benefit distribution among the partners.

Islam tended to cease all the social gaps and conflicts and served to setup the harmony among the social levels.

Islam does not permit Muslims to serve or finance any dealings inthe prohibited goods and services, activities and businesses, such like the beer or wine, pork, gambling, fornicating…

Islam guidance made sure the circulation and the flow of money and wealth and goods was extremely purified by being conducted and transmitted from the people who had plenty of it to those whohad a little of it, or even who had not at all.

The prophet tended to help the unable and the poor traders and businesses in several ways, one of them is by allowing only tentsto be held in the market rather than buildings in the market of medina, and not charging fees of renting there.

All these rules and behaviors are making the economic benefit in one way and in the same level with the sociological benefit and social harmony, and this harmony beneath the society is what was missing in the Arabic world before the lights of Islam has came, and it is still missing until now in the capitalist societies where the economic benefit is the first and the only goal that should be caught.

Property rights in islam:_In the holly Quran there is no such a definition of the property right or a dividing of the property into some kinds of branches, but the Quran stressed the importance of the property of the individuals though, and the value of everybody’s rights and possessions is as important as his soul.

The Islamic jurists and scholars divided the property into three categories: The public property, the state property, and the private property.

-Public property:It refers to all the natural resources that are provided around the country like forests, water resources, uncultivated land, forests, gardens, mines, pastures, oceanic resources, etc…

Over these resources all the individuals have the right, and the equal right to use and benefit from, because it is considered thecommon property of the society.

All these public resources are considered under the guardianship and the protection of the state, to make sure it is utilized in the appropriated way, and not in some ways that can damage it.

Every individual has the right to utilize the public resources aslong as it does not disable the rights of the other citizens towards it.

Some scholars argued that such properties (public properties) cannot be privatized, and must stay among the public rights, and they toke this according to the saying of the prophet Mohamed (p.b.u.h) that “people are partners in three things: water, fire,and pastures”.

This saying of the prophet has led these scholars to presume thatwater, energy, and agricultural land should not be privatized in Islamic law.

-State property:The state property in Islam includes some natural resources and some particular assets that cannot be privatized and the state isthe owner of these properties, hence it can use it for the governmental benefit and commonwealth.

The Islamic state property could be movable or immovable, and it could be used for wars and conquest or be used as a harmonious and peaceful means.

The scholars considered some of the unclaimed and heirless properties as a state property, like the uncultivated land can beunder the state rights and properties.

In early Islamic world, after wars the state takes one fifth of the military equipment and the army instruments which been captured from the enemy, under its properties, and the other partis considered as public property.

-Private property:The islamic economists have classified the private property into three main categories:

The involuntary property: which includes all the inheritance, thebequests, legacy, heritage, patrimony, gifts, presents, offerings, hand outs, bonuses…

Contractual private property: includes all the activities that occurs benefit to the owner such as trading, buying, renting, hiring labor, exchanging, barter, commerce…

Non-contractual private property: its acquisition involves all kinds of collections and exploitations of natural resources that were not claimed before as a private property.

Every kind of these natural resources is entirely under the rightof the individual owner since it doesn’t cause any harm to the

safety of the others, but if it does so the state will have all the right to take it out of his properties and.

Insurance in Islam :There is still some debates among the resent islamic scholars in defining whether or not the nowadays insurance(like the life insurance, and accidents insurance) is prohibited in islam, when the majority of them argued that it is not permitted because theysee it as a riba(usury), and as a gambling which both of them areforbidden.

The scholars say that insurance is not permitted because:

The insurance exchanging money with money, whether by lower or greater sum, and this is one kind of riba we already talked about.

They claim that insurance is a type of gambling, and plying with chances when the insurers ask you to pay a sum of money and then if some particular thing happens to you or to your possessions they will pay you back another amount of money, and if nothing happens to you, you won’t get anything in exchange of your money.

All kinds of insurance involve the uncertainty, which is forbidden in Islam.

They see that the insurance companies are taking and consuming people’s wealth against nothing in exchange.

Market and pricing in islam:

Market:In Islam market is the basic coordinating mechanism of the economic system and it is accepted in Islam as it holds the necessary conditions which are:

freedom of exchange:

The Quran calls Muslims to do trade and engage in businesses and that the absolute freedom of exchange is given to them since theydo not deal with the prohibited transactions.

Respect the private ownerships:The most important fact in Islamic markets is the respect of the properties and rights of the others.

The security of contracts:The Quran calls for the fulfillment and the precise observation of every kind of contracts, and that every little part of the transaction must be noted.

The longest verse in the holly Quran in deals with the contracts in commerce, touching immediate and further payment.

freedom of information:The market in Islam must be characterized by information free forany lies, and both producer and consumer should not deny or disclaim information regarding supply and demand situation and condition.

Producers are supposed to enrich the consumers with true information about the quality and the quantity of products they claim to sell.

Quran also forbids all the discriminatory means and all kinds of frauds, and stressed on the punishment in this life before the afterlife that if someone uses tricky ways, his business will fail and he will lose everything, and his money will not be purified, and full of rubbish.

Nongovernmental intervention:

The government interference in Islamic market is not permitted, and it is for the tradesmen and the purchasers to settle the prices and other market stuff.

The intervention of the government is justified in exceptional circumstances, such as the protection of the public interest and the guard the safety of the private properties, while in other normal cases the government is not permitted to interfere in the freedom of the market.

Pricing in islam:The first thing I should bring here when I am talking about the pricing in islam is a saying of the of the prophet Mohamed (p.b.u.h) when he was asked to set the price of goods in the market, and he responded “I will not set such a precedent, let the people carry on with their activities and benefits mutually” in a mild indication for the freedom of trade and letting the price to be determined by the supply and demand.

Islam also prohibits the fixation of the price by a handful of buyers and sellers who have become dominant in the market and from this we can derive the prohibition of monopoly in Islam.

Conclusion:Some argued that early islamic theory and practices formed a coherent economic system with a blue print for a new order in society, in which all participants would be treated more fairly.

Michael Bonner (a professor in university of Michigan) has written that an economy of poverty prevailed in islam until the 13th century, and he said that under this system islam god guidance made sure the flow of money and goods was purified by being channeled from those who had much of it to those who had little.

In early Islamic world, when Muslims were following these Islamicrules when dealing with money, trade, wealth, market, and all

economic concepts they could reduce the poverty rate and the unemployment degree, or we can insist that they totally got rid of it, and there was a time when the stat was seeking for the needy people and the poor individuals to give them money that wascollected from charities and alms giving, but nobody was in need for that money because everyone was in a self-sufficiency, therefore they return the money back.

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