F. Analytical insights
References
Chapter IX: (Conclusion) An Evaluation of Ibn Taimīyah’s Economic Concepts and Theories
A. Sources of thought for Muslim scholars
1. Fundamental sources – primary and secondary
2. Supplementary sources
B. Some aspects of Islamic economic thought
1. Redistribution of income and wealth
2. Land and agriculture
3. Industry
4. Trade
5. Labour and social security
6. Prohibited economic practices
7. Interest
8. Hoarding
9. Fraudulent, ‘speculative’ and usurious businesses
10. Literature on Islamic jurisprudence
C. Ibn Taimīyah’s views and those of his predecessors
1. Sources of public revenue
2. Public expenditure
3. Public borrowing
4. Demand, supply and price regulation
5. Money
D. Ibn Taimīyah compared with his contemporaries
1. Ibn al-Qayyim and interest
E. Economic thinking in the Christian world at that time
1. Aristotle – the framework for Christian scholars
2. St. Thomas Aquinas and Ibn Taimīyah
F. Ibn Taimīyah and the thinkers of following generations
1. Ibn Taimīyah and Ibn Khaldūn
2. Ibn Taimīyah’s influence on Ibn Khaldūn
3. Economic thinking among Muslims in the later period
G. Significance of Ibn Taimīyah’s economic views
References
Bibliography
Glossary of Arabic Terms
Names Index
Subject Index
I wish to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, Professor of Economics, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, for expert guidance, Constant encouragement, and for his kindness and generosity.
I am also grateful to Dr. Fazlur Rahman Faridi, Chairman of Socio-Technical Studies, for his comments on some of the chapters. I benefited likewise from the comments of Dr. Sabahuddin Zaim, Professor of Economics, University of Istanbul, and from those of Dr. Muhammad Anas Zarqa of the Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, Jeddah.
My thanks are due to Dr. S. Fareed Ahmad, my senior colleague, Dr. Hamidullah of the English Department, AMU, Aligarh, and Dr. Syed Z. Abidin, Editor, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. Through their careful reading of the manuscript – in whole or in part – they contributed to its literary improvement, objectivity of viewpoint and precision and quality of presentation (such faults as remain are my own).
My thanks are also due to the Director and research staff of the Centre for Research in Islamic Economics, King Abdul Aziz University, who have, by accepting various research projects, enabled me to continue my research on Ibn Taimīyah and other Muslim thinkers. I want to thank also all my colleagues in general and those from whom I received encouragement and co-operation at different stages of this work.
The Librarian and staff of Maulana Azad Library, the West Asian Studies Library of the Aligarh Muslim University, where I commenced this work; the Librarian and the staff of the King Abdul Aziz University Library, where I completed this work; the London University Library, Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the British Museum Library, London, where I obtained some valuable references – all deserve my sincere appreciation and gratitude.
I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, ex-President King Abdul Aziz University, and now the Secretary General of the Muslim World League, who took a keen personal interest in my research and arranged for my stay in the Kingdom with a view to providing me access to scholars and books available here. I am also grateful to Dr. Muhammad M. O. Jamjoom, formerly the Dean, College of Engineering, and now the Secretary General, King Abdul Aziz University, whose patronage enabled me to devote myself to research along with teaching in the Department of Socio-Technical Studies.
Finally, I am grateful to the Islamic Foundation for publishing this work.
One who is not grateful to human beings,
will not be grateful to Allah.
The primary aim of this book is to study the economic concepts of Ibn Taimīyah and, in doing so, to relate his concepts and theories to his times and to establish their relevance now.
Ibn Taimīyah was deeply involved in public life. His views on many social problems of his age reflect a pragmatic orientation, and in consequence his impact on succeeding generations has been profound. Adequate attention has not been paid to the contribution Muslim thinkers have made to economic thought. In the case of Ibn Taimīyah, though there are some studies of his life and works, they have failed to focus adequately on his economic concepts and theories.
This study should prove useful to economists in general and to students of the Islamic economic system in particular. It should help us understand how one of the most brilliant Islamic scholars of the past handled such issues as property right, prices, money, interest, partnership and other economic organizations, wages, taxation, state regulation of economic activities, etc., in the context of securing justice for all in the light of the relevant teachings of Islam.
This work is a revised version of a doctoral dissertation in Economics submitted at the Aligarh Muslim University in 1981. For transliteration of Arabic terms into the Roman script I have followed the Library of Congress system, except in the case of a few words already established in English. All dates, unless otherwise indicated, are given in the Gregorian calendar.
| King Abdul Aziz University,Jeddah12 Rabī‘ al-Awwal 140624 November 1985 | A. A. Islahi |
I
It is quite natural, in the context of our present endeavour to Islamize our economies, to turn to some of the best brains of the past for inspiration and guidance. To me, the choice of Ibn Taimīyah seems to be very appropriate indeed. Standing midway between us and the age of revelation – he lived in the last third of the seventh and first quarter of the eighth