Capitalism and Islam

Short description: none

Capitalism

Concepts

* Business
* Business cycle
* Businessperson
* Capital
* Capital accumulation
* Capital markets
* Capitalist mode of production
* Company
* Corporation
* Competitive markets
* Economic interventionism
* Economic liberalism
* Economic surplus
* Entrepreneurship
* Fictitious capital
* Financial market
* Free price system
* Free market
* Goods and services
* Investor
* Invisible hand
* Liberalization
* Marginalism
* Money
* Private property
* Privatization
* Profit
* Rent seeking
* Supply and demand
* Surplus value
* Value
* Wage labour

Economic systems

* Anglo-Saxon
* Authoritarian
* Corporate
* Dirigist
* Free-market
* Humanistic
* Laissez-faire
* Liberal
* Libertarian
* Mercantilist
* Monopoly
* National
* Neoliberal
* Private
* Regulated market
* Regulatory
* Rhine
* Social
* State
* State-sponsored
* Welfare

Economic theories

* American
* Austrian
* Chartalism
* MMT
* Chicago
* Classical
* Institutional
* Keynesian
* Neo-
* New
* Post-
* Marxian
* Monetarist
* Neoclassical
* New institutional
* Supply-side

Origins

* Age of Enlightenment
* Capitalism and Islam
* Commercial Revolution
* Feudalism
* Industrial Revolution
* Mercantilism
* Primitive accumulation
* Physiocracy
* Simple commodity production

Development

* Advanced
* Consumer
* Corporate
* Crony
* Finance
* Global
* Illiberal
* Late
* Marxist
* Merchant
* Rentier
* State monopoly
* Techno

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* v
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Islamic capitalism was active during the Islamic Golden Age and Arab Agricultural Revolution, where an early market economy and form of merchant capitalism took root between the 8th and 12th centuries. A vigorous monetary economy was based on a widely-circulated currency (the dinar) and the integration of monetary areas that were previously independent. Business techniques and forms of business organisation employed during this time included contracts, bills of exchange, long-distance international trade, forms of partnership (mufawadha) such as limited partnerships (mudharaba), and forms of credit, debt, profit, loss, capital (al-mal), capital accumulation (nama al-mal),[1] circulating capital, capital expenditure, revenue, cheques, promissory notes,[2] trusts (see Waqf), savings accounts, transactional accounts, pawning, loaning, exchange rates, bankers, money changers, ledgers, deposits, assignments, the double-entry bookkeeping system,[3] and lawsuits.[4] Organizational enterprises independent from the state existed in the medieval Islamic world, while agency institutions were also introduced.[5][6] Many of these early capitalist concepts were adopted and advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.[1] Some have argued that these economic activities laid the foundations for the development of modern capitalism.[7][8]

## Contents

* 1 Market economy
* 2 Historical examples
* 3 Modern examples
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 Further reading

## Market economy

A market economy was established in the Islamic world based on an economic system resembling merchant capitalism. Capital formation was promoted by labour in medieval Islamic society, and a considerable number of owners of monetary funds and precious metals developed financial capital. The Qur'an prohibited Riba (usury), but this did not hamper the development of capital in any way. The capitalists (sahib al-mal) were at the height of their power between the 9th and 12th centuries. Still, their influence declined after the arrival of the ikta (landowners) and after the state monopolized production, both of which hampered industrial capitalism's development in the Islamic world.[9] Some state enterprises still had a capitalist mode of production, such as pearl diving in Iraq and the textile industry in Egypt.[10]

During the 11th–13th centuries, the "Karimis", an early enterprise and business group controlled by entrepreneurs, dominated much of the Islamic world's economy.[11] The group was controlled by about fifty Muslim merchants labelled as "Karimis" who were of Yemeni, Egyptian, and sometimes Indian origins.[12] Each Karimi merchant had considerable wealth, ranging from at least 100,000 dinars to 10 million dinars. The group had considerable influence in the most important eastern markets and sometimes politics through its financing activities and through various customers, including Emirs, Sultans, Viziers, foreign merchants, and common consumers. The Karimis dominated many trade routes across the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean, and as far as Francia in the north, China in the east, and sub-Saharan Africa in the south, where they obtained gold. Strategies employed by the Karimis include using agents, financing projects as a method to acquire capital, and a banking institution for loans and deposits. Another important difference between the Karimis and other entrepreneurs before and during their time was that they were not tax collectors or landlords, but their capitalism was due entirely to trade and financial transactions.[13]

Though medieval Islamic economics appears to have somewhat resembled a form of capitalism, some Orientalists also believe several parallels exist between Islamic economics and communism, including the Islamic ideas of zakat and riba. Others see Islamic economics as neither completely capitalistic nor completely socialistic, but rather a balance between the two, emphasizing "individual economic freedom and the need to serve the common good."[14] Others point out that Islam has an inherently capitalist nature and argue this most through respect for private property as the foundation of capitalism in Islam, as well as the historical fact that Muhammad was an entrepreneur, a merchant.[15][16]

## Historical examples

Early forms of capitalism are thought to have been developed in the Islamic Golden Age,[1][17][18] starting from the 9th century, and later became dominant in European Muslim territories like Al-Andalus and the Emirate of Sicily.[19][20]

## Modern examples

The economy of Idlib under the rule of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham got described by Ahmed al-Sharaa as a free market model .[21] The HTS weights Islamic capitalism.[22] The organization's Islamic economic model is seen as closer to capitalism than communism, but with a strong social welfare system, some other describe it as economic system in some ways similar to the one of Erdoğan.[23] The Islamic capitalism of the HTS also got described as pro-liberal economics or even as neoliberal.[24][25][26][27][28] After the fall of the Assad regime the government supports free market economics.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] It was also reported that al-Sharaa embraced Fukuyamas version of Free-market capitalism.[42]

## See also

* Islamic socialism
* Religious views on capitalism

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Banaji, Jairus (2007). "Islam, the Mediterranean and the Rise of Capitalism". Historical Materialism 15 (1): 47–74. doi:10.1163/156920607X171591. https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/15983/1/Islam and capitalism.pdf.
2. ↑ Robert Sabatino Lopez, Irving Woodworth Raymond, Olivia Remie Constable (2001), Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World: Illustrative Documents, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231123574.
3. ↑ Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), pp. 79–96 [92–3].
4. ↑ Ray Spier (2002), "The history of the peer-review process", Trends in Biotechnology 20 (8), p. 357-358 [357].
5. ↑ Said Amir Arjomand (1999), "The Law, Agency, and Policy in Medieval Islamic Society: Development of the Institutions of Learning from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century", Comparative Studies in Society and History 41, pp. 263–93. Cambridge University Press.
6. ↑ Samir Amin (1978), "The Arab Nation: Some Conclusions and Problems", MERIP Reports 68, pp. 3–14 [8, 13].
7. ↑ Heck, Gene W. (2006), Charlemagne, Muhammad, and the Arab roots of capitalism, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3110192292
8. ↑ Nolan, Peter (2007), Capitalism and Freedom: The Contradictory Character of Globalisation, Anthem Press, p. 277, ISBN 978-1843312802
9. ↑ Maya Shatzmiller, pp. 402–3.
10. ↑ Judith Tucker (1975), "Islam and Capitalism by Maxime Rodinson", MERIP Reports 34, pp. 31–2 [31].
11. ↑ Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), pp. 79–96 [81–2].
12. ↑ The Cambridge economic history of Europe, pp. 438–40. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521087090.
13. ↑ Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), pp. 79–96 [81–4].
14. ↑ "An Islamic Alternative_ Equality, Redistributive Justice, and the Welfare State in the Caliphate of ‘Umar (rta)". https://www.renaissance.com.pk/Augvipo2y3.html.
15. ↑ "Is Islam a socialist religion?" (in en). https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/mustafa-akyol/is-islam-a-socialist-religion
20301.
16. ↑ "ILN | Economic freedoms in Islamic countries – Admir Čavalić - ILN". https://islamandlibertynetwork.org/blog/2015/06/24/admir-cavalic/.
17. ↑ Maya Shatzmiller (1994), Labor in the Medieval Islamic World, pp. 402–03, Brill Publishers, ISBN 90-04-09896-8.
18. ↑ Labib, Subhi Y. (1969). "Capitalism in Medieval Islam". The Journal of Economic History 29 (1): 79–96. doi:10.1017/S0022050700097837.
19. ↑ Arrighi, Giovanni (2010). The Long Twentieth Century. Verso. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-84467-304-9.
20. ↑ Ruggles, D. Fairchild (2008). Islamic Gardens and Landscapes. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 15–36. ISBN 978-0812240252. https://archive.org/details/islamicgardensla0000rugg.
21. ↑ Azhari, Timour (2025-04-30). "A tale of two Syrias: Free-market opening sows resentment of new rulers" (in en). https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/04/30/world/politics/syria-free-market-new-rulers/.
22. ↑ McLoughlin, Paul. "Syria Insight: HTS weighs up Islamic capitalism and free market" (in en-EN). The New Arab. https://www.newarab.com/analysis/syria-insight-hts-weighs-islamic-capitalism-and-free-market.
23. ↑ McLoughlin, Paul. "Syria Insight: HTS weighs up Islamic capitalism and free market" (in en-EN). The New Arab. https://www.newarab.com/analysis/syria-insight-hts-weighs-islamic-capitalism-and-free-market.
24. ↑ McLoughlin, Paul. "Syria Insight: HTS weighs up Islamic capitalism and free market" (in en-EN). The New Arab. https://www.newarab.com/analysis/syria-insight-hts-weighs-islamic-capitalism-and-free-market.
25. ↑ "Syria’s Economic Transition: From Kleptocracy to Islamic Neoliberalism in a War-Torn Economy" (in en-US). 2025-02-13. https://peacerep.org/publication/syrias-economic-transition/.
26. ↑ https://www.compactmag.com/article/neoliberalism-with-salafi-characteristics/
27. ↑ https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/neoliberal-economic-objectives-in-syria-the-real-war-begins-now
28. ↑ https://english.aawsat.com/features/5140705-100-days-al-sharaas-presidency-syria’s-gains-and-losses
29. ↑ "Exclusive: Syria's new rulers back shift to free-market economy, business leader says" (in en-US). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syrias-new-rulers-back-shift-free-market-economy-business-leader-says-2024-12-10/.
30. ↑ Upreti, Dia (2024-12-18). "Roadmap for Syrian Recovery: Transitioning Towards Free-Market Economy" (in en). https://www.jadetimes.com/post/roadmap-for-syrian-recovery-transitioning-towards-free-market-economy.
31. ↑ "“Idlibization” of the Economy: HTS’s Economic Model Expands Nationwide" (in en-US). 2025-11-07. https://syria-report.com/idlibization-of-the-economy-htss-economic-model-expands-nationwide/.
32. ↑ "Syria’s interim government pledges free-market reforms under HTS" (in en-EN). The New Arab. https://www.newarab.com/news/syrias-interim-government-pledges-free-market-reforms-under-hts.
33. ↑ "Syria’s Sharaa meets with Saudi foreign minister in run-up to key investment conference". 28 October 2025. https://www.newarab.com/news/syrias-sharaa-meets-saudi-fm-amid-push-investment.
34. ↑ Staff, AOL. "Syria’s Islamist rulers overhaul economy with firings, privatization of state firms" (in en-US). https://www.aol.com/news/syria-islamist-rulers-overhaul-economy-070459848.html?guccounter=1.
35. ↑ https://www.reuters.com/investigations/syria-is-secretly-reshaping-its-economy-presidents-brother-is-charge-2025-07-24/
36. ↑ https://syria-report.com/transition-year-syrias-public-sector-faces-free-market-purge-and-centralised-control/
37. ↑ https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/05/21/free-market-economy-in-syria-weve-seen-this-failure-before/
38. ↑ https://carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/diwan/2025/10/syria-needs-a-reconstruction-plan?lang=en
39. ↑ https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/1/8/rebuilding-syrias-economy-can-stability-return-after-war
40. ↑ https://fortune.com/2025/06/02/syrian-stock-exchange-reopens-after-hiatus-free-market-economy/
41. ↑ https://www.aol.com/news/syria-islamist-rulers-overhaul-economy-070459848.html?guccounter=1
42. ↑ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250217-does-sharaas-syria-reflect-huntingtons-clash-of-civilisations-or-fukuyamas-end-of-history/?amp=

## Further reading

* Peter Nolan (2009) Crossroads: The end of wild capitalism. Marshall Cavendish, ISBN 9780462099682

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