:''This is a sub-article of Islamic economic jurisprudence and Muslim world.

Islamic economics in practice, or economic policies supported by self-identified Islamic groups, has varied throughout its long history. Traditional Islamic concepts having to do with economics included

''zakat'' - the "taxing of certain goods, such as harvest, with an eye to allocating these taxes to expenditures that are also explicitly defined, such as aid to the needy."

''Gharar'' - "the interdiction of chance ... that is, of the presence of any element of uncertainty, in a contract (which excludes not only insurance but also the lending of money without participation in the risks)"

These concepts, like others in Islamic law and jurisprudence, came from the "prescriptions, anecdotes, examples, and words of the Prophet, all gathered together and systematized by commentators according to an inductive, casuistic method." Sometimes other sources such as al-urf, (the custom), al-aql (reason) or al-ijma (consensus of the jurists) were employed. In addition, Islamic law has developed areas of law that correspond to secular laws of contracts and torts.

Early Islamic economics

Early reforms under Islam

Some argue early Islamic theory and practice formed a "coherent" economic system with "a blueprint for a new order in society, in which all participants would be treated more fairly". Michael Bonner, for example, has written that an "economy of poverty" prevailed in Islam until the 13th and 14th centuries. Under this system God's 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 by encouraging zakat (charity) and discouraging riba (usury/interest) on loans. Bonner maintains the prophet also helped poor traders by allowing only tents, not permanent buildings in the market of Medina, and not charging fees and rents there.

Social responsibility in commerce

Social responsibility in commerce was stressed in Islamic sociology. The development of Islamic banks and Islamic economics was a side effect of this sociology: usury was rather severely restrained, no interest rate was allowed, and investors were not permitted to escape the consequences of any failed venture—all financing was equity financing (''Musharaka''). In not letting borrowers bear all the risk/cost of a failure, an extreme disparity of outcomes between "partners" is thus avoided. Ultimately this serves a social harmony purpose. Muslims also could not and cannot (in shariah) finance any dealings in forbidden goods or activities, such as wine, pork, gambling, etc. Thus ethical investing is the only acceptable investing, and moral purchasing is encouraged.

Legal institutions

Hawala agency

The ''Hawala'', an early informal value transfer system, has its origins in classical Islamic law, and is mentioned in texts of Islamic jurisprudence as early as the 8th century. ''Hawala'' itself later influenced the development of the agency in common law and in civil laws such as the ''aval'' in French law and the ''avallo'' in Italian law. The words ''aval'' and ''avallo'' were themselves derived from ''Hawala''. The transfer of debt, which was "not permissible under Roman law but became widely practiced in medieval Europe, especially in commercial transactions", was due to the large extent of the "trade conducted by the Italian cities with the Muslim world in the Middle Ages." The agency was also "an institution unknown to Roman law" as no "individual could conclude a binding contract on behalf of another as his agent." In Roman law, the "contractor himself was considered the party to the contract and it took a second contract between the person who acted on behalf of a principal and the latter in order to transfer the rights and the obligations deriving from the contract to him." On the other hand, Islamic law and the later common law "had no difficulty in accepting agency as one of its institutions in the field of contracts and of obligations in general."

Waqf trust

The ''waqf'' in Islamic law, which developed in the medieval Islamic world from the 7th to 9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the English trust law. Every ''waqf'' was required to have a ''waqif'' (founder), ''mutawillis'' (trustee), ''qadi'' (judge) and beneficiaries. Under both a ''waqf'' and a trust, "property is reserved, and its usufruct appropriated, for the benefit of specific individuals, or for a general charitable purpose; the corpus becomes inalienable; estates for life in favor of successive beneficiaries can be created" and "without regard to the law of inheritance or the rights of the heirs; and continuity is secured by the successive appointment of trustees or ''mutawillis''."

The only significant distinction between the Islamic ''waqf'' and English trust was "the express or implied reversion of the ''waqf'' to charitable purposes when its specific object has ceased to exist", though this difference only applied to the ''waqf ahli'' (Islamic family trust) rather than the ''waqf khairi'' (devoted to a charitable purpose from its inception). Another difference was the English vesting of "legal estate" over the trust property in the trustee, though the "trustee was still bound to administer that property for the benefit of the beneficiaries." In this sense, the "role of the English trustee therefore does not differ significantly from that of the ''mutawalli''."

The trust law developed in England at the time of the Crusades, during the 12th and 13th centuries, was introduced by Crusaders who may have been influenced by the ''waqf'' institutions they came across in the Middle East.

After the Islamic waqf law and madrassah foundations were firmly established by the 10th century, the number of Bimaristan hospitals multiplied throughout throughout Islamic lands. In the 11th century, every Islamic city had at least several hospitals. The waqf trust institutions funded the hospitals for various expenses, including the wages of doctors, ophthalmologists, surgeons, chemists, pharmacists, domestics and all other staff, the purchase of foods and drugs; hospital equipment such as beds, mattresses, bowls and perfumes; and repairs to buildings. The waqf trusts also funded medical schools, and their revenues covered various expenses such as their maintenance and the payment of teachers and students.

Classical Muslim commerce

During the Islamic Golden Age, guilds were formed though officially unrecognized by the medieval Islamic city. However, trades were recognized and supervised by officials of the city. Each trade developed its own identity, whose members would attend the same mosque, and serve together in the militia.

Technology and industry in Islamic civilization were highly developed. Distillation techniques supported a flourishing perfume industry, while chemical ceramic glazes were developed to compete with ceramics imported from China.

The systems of contract relied upon by merchants was very effective. Merchants would buy and sell on commission, with money loaned to them by wealthy investors, or a joint investment of several merchants, who were often Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Recently, a collection of documents was found in an Egyptian synagogue shedding a very detailed and human light on the life of medieval Middle Eastern merchants. Business partnerships would be made for many commercial ventures, and bonds of kinship enabled trade networks to form over huge distances. During the ninth century banks enabled the drawing of a check in by a bank in Baghdad that could be cashed in Morocco.

The concepts of welfare and pension were introduced in early Islamic law as forms of ''Zakat'' (charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam, since the time of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur in the 8th century. The taxes (including ''Zakat'' and ''Jizya'') collected in the treasury of an Islamic government was used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to store up food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurs. The Caliphate was thus one of the earliest welfare states, particularly the Abbasid Caliphate. This helped establish the Islamic Empire (including the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates) as the world's leading extensive economic power in the 7th-13th centuries.

Arabic silver ''dirham'' coins were being circulated throughout the Afro-Eurasian landmass, as far as sub-Saharan Africa in the south and northern Europe in the north, often in exchange for goods and slaves. In England, for example, the Anglo-Saxon king Offa of Mercia (r. 757-796) had coins minted with the Shahadah in Arabic. These factors helped establish the Islamic Empire as the world's leading extensive economic power throughout the 7th–13th centuries.

Agricultural Revolution

During the Arab Agricultural Revolution, a fundamental transformation in agricultural practice tied in with significant economic change. This transformation involved diffusion of many crops and plants along Muslim trade routes, the spread of more advanced farming techniques, and an agricultural-economic system which promoted increased yields and efficiency. In addition to significant changes in economy, population distribution, vegetation cover, agricultural production, population levels, urban growth, the distribution of the labour force, and numerous other aspects of life in the Islamic world were affected.

The economic system in place in Muslim areas during this time incorporated reformed land ownership rules and labourers' rights, combining the recognition of private ownership and the rewarding of cultivators with a harvest share commensurate with their efforts also improved agricultural practices. The cities of the Near East, North Africa and Moorish Spain were supported by highly structured agricultural systems which required significant labor inputs. Such regional systems were often significantly more productive than the agricultural practices in most of Europe at the time which relied heavily on grazing animals and systems of fallowing.

The demographics of medieval Islamic society varied in some significant aspects from other agricultural societies, including a decline in birth rates as well as a change in life expectancy. Other traditional agrarian societies are estimated to have had an average life expectancy of 20 to 25 years, while ancient Rome and medieval Europe are estimated at 20 to 30 years. Conrad I. Lawrence estimates the average lifespan in the early Islamic Caliphate to be above 35 years for the general population, and several studies on the lifespans of Islamic scholars concluded that members of this occupational group enjoyed a life expectancy between 69 and 75 years, though this longevity was not representative of the general population.

The early Islamic Empire also had the highest literacy rates among pre-modern societies, alongside the city of classical Athens in the 4th century BC, and later, China after the introduction of printing from the 10th century. One factor for the relatively high literacy rates in the early Islamic Empire was its parent-driven educational marketplace, as the state did not systematically subsidize educational services until the introduction of state funding under Nizam al-Mulk in the 11th century. Another factor was the diffusion of paper from China, which led to an efflorescence of books and written culture in Islamic society, thus papermaking technology transformed Islamic society (and later, the rest of Afro-Eurasia) from an oral to scribal culture, comparable to the later shifts from scribal to typographic culture, and from typographic culture to the Internet. Other factors include the widespread use of paper books in Islamic society (more so than any other previously existing society), the study and memorization of the Qur'an, flourishing commercial activity, and the emergence of the Maktab and Madrasah educational institutions.

Islamic capitalism

A number of concepts and techniques were applied in early Islamic commerce, including bills of exchange, forms of partnership (''mufawada'') such as limited partnerships (''mudaraba''), and early forms of capital (''al-mal''), capital accumulation (''nama al-mal''), cheques, promissory notes, trusts (see ''Waqf''), transactional accounts, loaning, ledgers and assignments. Organizational enterprises independent from the state also existed in the medieval Islamic world, while the agency institution was also introduced. Many of these early concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.

A market economy was established in the Islamic world on the basis of an economic system resembling merchant capitalism. Capital formation was promoted by labour in medieval Islamic society, and financial capital was developed by a considerable number of owners of monetary funds and precious metals. Riba (usury) was prohibited by the Qur'an, 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–12th centuries, but their influence declined after the arrival of the ''ikta'' (landowners) and after production was monopolized by the state, both of which hampered the development of industrial capitalism in the Islamic world. Some state enterprises still had a capitalist mode of production, such as pearl diving in Iraq and the textile industry in Egypt.

During the 11th–13th centuries, the "Karimis", an early enterprise and business group controlled by entrepreneurs, came to dominate much of the Islamic world's economy. The group was controlled by about fifty Muslim merchants labelled as "Karimis" who were of Yemeni, Egyptian and sometimes Indian origins. Each Karimi merchant had considerable wealth, ranging from at least 100,000 dinars to as much as 10 million dinars. The group had considerable influence in most important eastern markets and sometimes in politics through its financing activities and through a variety of customers, including Emirs, Sultans, Viziers, foreign merchants, and common consumers. The Karimis dominated many of the trade routes across the Mediterranean, 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 from gold mines. Practices employed by the Karimis included the use of agents, the financing of projects as a method of acquiring capital, and a banking institution for loans and deposits.

Islamic socialism

Though medieval Islamic economics appears to have somewhat resembled a form of capitalism, some arguing that it laid the foundations for the development of modern capitalism, some Orientalists also believe that there exist a number of parallels 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 both "individual economic freedom and the need to serve the common good."

Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, a Companion of Prophet Muḥammad, is credited by many as the founder of Islamic socialism. He protested against the accumulation of wealth by the ruling class during ‘Uthmān's caliphate and urged the equitable redistribution of wealth.

The concepts of welfare and pension were introduced in early Islamic law as forms of ''Zakat'' (charity), one of the Five Pillars of Islam, during the time of the Rashidun caliph Umar in the 7th century. This practiced continued well into the era of the Abbasid Caliphate, as seen under Al-Ma'mun's rule in the 8th century, for example. The taxes (including ''Zakat'' and ''Jizya'') collected in the treasury of an Islamic government were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurred. The Caliphate is thus considered the world's first major welfare state.

Industrial development

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world were responsible for numerous innovative industrial uses of hydropower, early industrial uses of tide mills, wind power,and fossil fuels such as petroleum. A variety of industrial mills were used in the Islamic world, including fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, sawmills, shipmills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills, and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia. Muslim engineers also employed water turbines, and gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe later laid the foundations for the Industrial Revolution in 18th century Europe.

Many industries were generated due to the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, including astronomical instruments, ceramics, chemicals, distillation technologies, clocks, glass, mechanical hydropowered and wind powered machinery, matting, mosaics, pulp and paper, perfumery, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, rope-making, shipping, shipbuilding, silk, sugar, textiles, weapons, and the mining of minerals such as sulfur, ammonia, lead and iron]. The first large factory complexes (''tiraz'') were built for many of these industries. Knowledge of these industries were later transmitted to medieval Europe, especially during the Latin translations of the 12th century, as well as before and after. The agricultural and handicraft industries also experienced high levels of growth during this period.

In Islamic governments such as the Fatimid Caliphate, the tax collection, rather than being wasted on temples or courts, was invested industrial development, such as the Fatimid government's investment in the textile industry. In addition to government-owned ''tiraz'' textile factories, there were also privately owned enterprises run largely by landlords who collected taxes and invested them in the textile industry.

Labour force

The labor force in the Caliphate were employed from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, while both men and women were involved in diverse occupations and economic activities. Women were employed in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupations in the primary sector (as farmers for example), secondary sector (as construction workers, dyers, spinners, etc.) and tertiary sector (as investors, doctors, nurses, presidents of guilds, brokers, peddlers, lenders, scholars, etc.). Muslim women also held a monopoly over certain branches of the textile industry, the largest and most specialized and market-oriented industry at the time, in occupations such as spinning, dyeing, and embroidery. In comparison, female property rights and wage labour were relatively uncommon in Europe until the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The division of labour was diverse and had been evolving over the centuries. During the 8th–11th centuries, there were on average 63 unique occupations in the primary sector of economic activity (extractive), 697 unique occupations in the secondary sector (manufacturing), and 736 unique occupations in the tertiary sector (service). By the 12th century, the number of unique occupations in the primary sector and secondary sector decreased to 35 and 679 respectively, while the number of unique occupations in the tertiary sector increased to 1,175. These changes in the division of labour reflect the increased mechanization and use of machinery to replace manual labour and the increased standard of living and quality of life of most citizens in the Caliphate.

An economic transition occurred during this period, due to the diversity of the service sector being far greater than any other previous or contemporary society, and the high degree of economic integration between the labour force and the economy. Islamic society also experienced a change in attitude towards manual labour. In previous civilizations such as ancient Greece and in contemporary civilizations such as early medieval Europe, intellectuals saw manual labour in a negative light and looked down on them with contempt. This resulted in technological stagnation as they did not see the need for machinery to replace manual labour. In the Islamic world, however, manual labour was seen in a far more positive light, as intellectuals such as the Brethren of Purity likened them to a participant in the act of creation, while Ibn Khaldun alluded to the benefits of manual labour to the progress of society.

By the early 10th century, the idea of the academic degree was introduced and being granted at Maktab schools, Madrasah colleges and Bimaristan hospitals. In the medical field in particular, the ''Ijazah'' certificate was granted to those qualified to be practicing physicians, in order to differentiate them from unqualified quacks.

Urbanization

There was a significant increase in urbanization during this period, due to numerous scientific advances in fields such as agriculture, hygiene, sanitation, astronomy, medicine and engineering. This also resulted in a rising middle class population.

As urbanization increased, Muslim cities' growth was largely unregulated, resulting in narrow winding city streets and neighborhoods separated by different ethnic backgrounds and religious affiliations. Suburbs lay just outside the walled city, from wealthy residential communities, to working class semi-slums. City garbage dumps were located far from the city, as were clearly defined cemeteries which were often homes for criminals. A place of prayer was found near one of the main gates, for religious festivals and public executions. Similarly, Military Training grounds were found near a main gate.

While varying in appearance due to climate and prior local traditions, Islamic cities were almost always dominated by a merchant middle class. Some peoples' loyalty towards their neighborhood was very strong, reflecting ethnicity and religion, while a sense of citizenship was at times uncommon (but not in every case). The extended family provided the foundation for social programs, business deals, and negotiations with authorities. Part of this economic and social unit were often the tenants of a wealthy landlord.

State power normally focused on Dar al Imara, the governor's office in the citadel. These fortresses towered high above the city built on thousands of years of human settlement. The primary function of the city governor was to provide for defence and to maintain legal order. This system would be responsible for a mixture of autocracy and autonomy within the city. Each neighborhood, and many of the large tenement blocks, elected a representative to deal with urban authorities. These neighborhoods were also expected to organize their young men into a militia providing for protection of their own neighborhoods, and as aid to the professional armies defending the city as a whole.

The head of the family was given the position of authority in his household, although a qadi, or judge was able to negotiate and resolve differences in issues of disagreements within families and between them. The two senior representatives of municipal authority were the qadi and the muhtasib, who held the responsibilities of many issues, including quality of water, maintenance of city streets, containing outbreaks of disease, supervising the markets, and a prompt burial of the dead.

Another aspect of Islamic urban life was waqf, a religious charity directly dealing with the qadi and religious leaders. Through donations, the waqf owned many of the public baths and factories, using the revenue to fund education, and to provide irrigation for orchards outside the city. Following expansion, this system was introduced into Eastern Europe by Ottoman Turks.

While religious foundations of all faiths were tax exempt in the Muslim world, civilians paid their taxes to the urban authorities, soldiers to the superior officer, and landowners to the state treasury. Taxes were also levied on an unmarried man until he was wed. Instead of zakat, the mandatory charity required of Muslims, non-Muslims were required to pay the jizya, a discriminatory religious tax, imposed on Christians and Jews. During the Muslim Conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries conquered populations were given the three choices of either converting to Islam, paying the jizya, or dying by the sword.

Animals brought to the city for slaughter were restricted to areas outside the city, as were any other industries seen as unclean. The more valuable a good was, the closer its market was to the center of town. Because of this, booksellers and goldsmiths clustered around the main mosque at the heart of the city.

By the 10th century, the library of Cairo had more than 100,000 books, while the library of Tripoli is said to have had as many as three million books. The number of important and original Arabic works on science that have survived is much larger than the combined total of Greek and Latin works on science.

Classical Islamic economic thought

To some degree, the early Muslims based their economic analyses on the Qur'an (such as opposition to ''riba'', meaning usury or interest), and from sunnah, the sayings and doings of Muhammad.

Early Islamic economic thinkers

Al-Ghazali (1058–1111) classified economics as one of the sciences connected with religion, along with metaphysics, ethics, and psychology. Authors have noted, however, that this connection has not caused early Muslim economic thought to remain static. Persian philosopher Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274) presents an early definition of economics (what he calls hekmat-e-madani, the science of city life) in discourse three of his ''Ethics'':

Many scholars trace the history of economic thought through the Muslim world, which was in a Golden Age from the 8th to 13th century and whose philosophy continued the work of the Greek and Hellenistic thinkers and came to influence Aquinas when Europe "rediscovered" Greek philosophy through Arabic translation. A common theme among these scholars was the praise of economic activity and even self-interested accumulation of wealth.

Persian philosopher Ibn Miskawayh (b. 1030) notes:

This view is in conflict with an idea Joseph Schumpeter called the great gap. The great gap thesis comes out of Schumpeter's 1954 ''History of Economic Analysis'' which discusses a break in economic thought during the five hundred year period between the decline of the Greco-Roman civilizations and the work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274). However in 1964, Joseph Spengler's "Economic Thought of Islam: Ibn Khaldun" appeared in the journal ''Comparative Studies in Society and History'' and took a large step in bringing early Muslim scholars to the attention of the contemporary West.

The influence of earlier Greek and Hellenistic thought on the Muslim world began largely with Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun, who sponsored the translation of Greek texts into Arabic in the 9th century by Syrian Christians in Baghdad. But already by that time numerous Muslim scholars had written on economic issues, and early Muslim leaders had shown sophisticated attempts to enforce fiscal and monetary financing, use deficit financing, use taxes to encourage production, the use of credit instruments for banking, including rudimentary savings and checking accounts, and contract law.

Among the earliest Muslim economic thinkers was Abu Yusuf (731-798), a student of the founder of the Hanafi Sunni School of Islamic thought, Abu Hanifah. Abu Yusuf was chief jurist for Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, for whom he wrote the ''Book of Taxation'' (''Kitab al-Kharaj''). This book outlined Abu Yusuf's ideas on taxation, public finance, and agricultural production. He discussed proportional tax on produce instead of fixed taxes on property as being superior as an incentive to bring more land into cultivation. He also advocated forgiving tax policies which favor the producer and a centralized tax administration to reduce corruption. Abu Yusuf favored the use of tax revenues for socioeconomic infrastructure, and included discussion of various types of taxes, including sales tax, death taxes, and import tariffs.

Early discussion of the benefits of division of labor are included in the writings of Qabus, al-Ghazali, al-Farabi (873–950), Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037), Ibn Miskawayh, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–74), Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), and Asaad Davani (b. 1444). Among them, the discussions included division of labor within households, societies, factories, and among nations. Farabi notes that each society lacks at least some necessary resources, and thus an optimal society can only be achieved where domestic, regional, and international trade occur, and that such trade can be beneficial to all parties involved. Ghazali was also noted for his subtle understanding of monetary theory and formulation of another version of Gresham's Law.

The power of supply and demand was understood to some extent by various early Muslim scholars as well. Ibn Taymiyyah illustrates:

Ibn Taymiyyah also elaborated a circumstantial analysis of the market mechanism, with a theoretical insight unusual in his time. His discourses on the welfare advantages and disadvantages of market regulation and deregulation, have an almost contemporary ring to them.

Ghazali suggests an early version of price inelasticity of demand for certain goods, and he and Ibn Miskawayh discuss equilibrium prices. Other important Muslim scholars who wrote about economics include al-Mawardi (1075–1158), Ibn Taimiyah (1263–1328), and al-Maqrizi.

Riba

The common view of ''riba'' (usury) among classical jurists of Islamic law and economics during the Islamic Golden Age was that it is only ''riba'' and therefore unlawful to apply interest to money ''exnatura sua''—exclusively gold and silver currencies—but that it is not ''riba'' and is therefore acceptable to apply interest to ''fiat'' money—currencies made up of other materials such as paper or base metals—to an extent.

The definition of ''riba'' in classical Islamic jurisprudence was "surplus value without counterpart." When "currencies of base metal were first introduced in the Islamic world, no jurist ever thought that paying a debt in a higher number of units of this ''fiat'' money was ''riba''" as they were concerned with the real value of money rather than the numerical value. For example, it was acceptable for a loan of 1000 gold dinars to be paid back as 1050 dinars of total equal mass. The rationale behind ''riba'' according to classical Islamic jurists was "to ensure equivalency in real value" and that the "numerical value was immaterial." Thus an interest rate that did not exceed the rate of inflation was not ''riba'' according to classical Islamic jurists.

Ibn Khaldun

Perhaps the best known Islamic scholar who wrote about economics was Ibn Khaldun of Tunisia (1332–1406), who is considered a forerunner of modern economics. Ibn Khaldun wrote on economic and political theory in the introduction, or ''Muqaddimah'' (''Prolegomena''), of his ''History of the World'' (''Kitab al-Ibar''). In the book, he discussed what he called ''asabiyya'' (social cohesion), which he sourced as the cause of some civilizations becoming great and others not. Ibn Khaldun felt that many social forces are cyclic, although there can be sudden sharp turns that break the pattern. His idea about the benefits of the division of labor also relate to ''asabiyya'', the greater the social cohesion, the more complex the successful division may be, the greater the economic growth. He noted that growth and development positively stimulates both supply and demand, and that the forces of supply and demand are what determines the prices of goods. He also noted macroeconomic forces of population growth, human capital development, and technological developments effects on development. In fact, Ibn Khaldun thought that population growth was directly a function of wealth.

Although he understood that money served as a standard of value, a medium of exchange, and a preserver of value, he did not realize that the value of gold and silver changed based on the forces of supply and demand. He also introduced the concept known as the Khaldun-Laffer Curve (the relationship between tax rates and tax revenue increases as tax rates increase for a while, but then the increases in tax rates begin to cause a decrease in tax revenues as the taxes impose too great a cost to producers in the economy).

Ibn Khaldun used a dialectic approach to describe the sociological implications of tax choices, which is now of course part of economics:

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This analysis anticipates the modern economic concept known as the Laffer Curve.

Ibn Khaldun also introduced the labor theory of value. He described labor as the source of value, necessary for all earnings and capital accumulation, obvious in the case of craft. He argued that even if earning "results from something other than a craft, the value of the resulting profit and acquired (capital) must (also) include the value of the labor by which it was obtained. Without labor, it would not have been acquired."

His theory of ''asabiyyah'' has often been compared to modern Keynesian economics, with Ibn Khaldun's theory clearly containing the concept of the multiplier. A crucial difference, however, is that whereas for John Maynard Keynes it is the middle class's greater propensity to save that is to blame for economic depression, for Ibn Khaldun it is the governmental propensity to save at times when investment opportunities do not take up the slack which leads to aggregate demand.

Another modern economic theory anticipated by Ibn Khaldun is supply-side economics. He "argued that high taxes were often a factor in causing empires to collapse, with the result that lower revenue was collected from high rates." He wrote:

Post-colonial era

During the modern post-colonial era, as Western ideas, including Western economics, began to influence the Muslim world, some Muslim writers sought to produce an Islamic discipline of economics. Because Islam is "not merely a spiritual formula but a complete system of life in all its walks", it logically followed that Islam also had its own economic system unique from and superior to non-Islamic systems. To date, however, there have been no agreement as to the methodological definition and scope of Islamic Economics.

In the 1960s and 70s Shia Islamic thinkers worked to develop a unique Islamic economic philosophy with "its own answers to contemporary economic problems." Several works were particularly influential,

''Eslam va Malekiyyat'' (Islam and Property) by Mahmud Taleqani (1951),

''Iqtisaduna'' (Our Economics) by Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr (1961) and

''Eqtesad-e Towhidi'' (The Economics of Divine Harmony) by Abolhassan Banisadr (1978)

''Some Interpretations of Property Rights, Capital and Labor from Islamic Perspective'' by Habibullah Peyman (1979).

Al-Sadr in particular has been described as having "almost single-handedly developed the notion of Islamic economics"

In their writings Sadr and the other Shia authors "sought to depict Islam as a religion committed to social justice, the equitable distribution of wealth, and the cause of the deprived classes", with doctrines "acceptable to Islamic jurists", while refuting existing non-Islamic theories of capitalism and Marxism. This version of Islamic economics, which influenced the Iranian Revolution, called for public ownership of land and of large "industrial enterprises", while private economic activity continued "within reasonable limits." These ideas helped shape the large public sector and public subsidy policies of the Iranian Islamic revolution.

In the 1980s and 1990s, as the Iranian revolution failed to reach the per capita income level achieved by the regime it overthrew, and Communist states and socialist parties in the non-Muslim world turned away from socialism, Muslim interest shifted away from government ownership and regulation. In Iran, it is reported that "''eqtesad-e Eslami'' (meaning both Islamic economics and economy) ... once a revolutionary shibboleth, is indubitably absent in all official documents and the media. It disapperared from Iranian political discourse about 15 years ago [1990]."

But in other parts of the Muslim world the term lived on, shifting form to the less ambitious goal of interest-free banking. Some Muslim bankers and religious leaders suggested ways to integrate Islamic law on usage of money with modern concepts of ethical investing. In banking this was done through the use of sales transactions (focusing on the fixed rate return modes) to achieve similar results to interest. This has been criticised by some western writers as a means of covering conventional banking with an Islamic facade.

Traditional approach

While most Muslims believe Islamic law is perfect by virtue of its being revealed by God, Islamic law on economic issues was/is not "economics" in the sense of a systematic study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Contemporary economics

In modern times, economic policies of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in predominately Shia Iran were heavily statist with a very large public sector, and official rhetoric celebrating revolution and the rights of the dispossessed, although this tendency has faded over time. In Sudan, the policies of the National Islamic Front party dominated regime in the 1990s have been the reverse, employing economic liberalism and accepting "market forces in the formulation of state policies." In Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Pakistan, Islamist parties have supported populist policies, showing a "marked reluctance to adopt austerity policies and decreased subsidies." In recent years, Turkey had a rapidly growing economy and became a developed country according to the CIA. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are members of the G-20 major economies.

In 2008, at least $500 billion in assets around the world were managed in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law, and the sector was growing at more than 10% per year. Islamic finance seeks to promote social justice by banning exploitative practices. In reality, this boils down to a set of prohibitions—on paying interest, on gambling with derivatives and options, and on investing in firms that make pornography or pork.

Another form of modern finance that originated from the Muslim world is microcredit and microfinance. It began in the 1970s in Bangladesh with Grameen Bank, founded by Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Land reform

One issue "generally absent" from contemporary Islamist economic thought (with the exception of Sayyid Qutb) and action "whether moderate or radical" is the question of agrarian reform. Opposition to agrarian reform even played a role in Islamist uprisings (Iran 1963, Afghanistan, 1978). At least one observer (Olivier Roy) believes this is primarily because it would "imply a reexamination of the concept of ownership", and in particular "throw into question the Waqf, endowments whose revenue ensures the functioning of religious institutions." In the Islamic Republic of Iran, for example, waqf holdings are very large (in Khorasan Province, "50% of the cultivated lands belong to the religious foundation Astan-i Quds, which oversees" the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad). Thus questioning waqf property would mean questioning "the foundation of the financial autonomy of the mullahs and mosques", particularly among Shia Muslims.

See also

Dow Jones Islamic Fund

Dow Jones Islamic Index

;Banks

Islamic Development Bank

Bank Islam Malaysia

Bank Muamalat Malaysia

Dubai Islamic Bank

Islamic Bank of Britain

Meezan Bank Limited

References

Further reading

Waleed Addas (2008). Methodology of Economics: Secular versus Islamic

Category:Islamic economical jurisprudence

ms:Sistem ekonomi Islam di dunia ur:اسلامی اقتصادی تاریخ

World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, ''worldwide'', i.e. anywhere on Earth.

In a philosophical context it may refer to: (1) the whole of the physical Universe, or (2) an ontological world (''see world disclosure''). In a theological context, ''world'' usually refers to the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred. The "end of the world" refers to scenarios of the final end of human history, often in religious contexts.

World history is commonly understood as spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present.

World population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies (all countries), especially in the context of globalization. Terms like world championship, gross world product, world flags etc. also imply the sum or combination of all current-day sovereign states.

In terms such as world religion, world language, and world war, ''world'' suggests international or intercontinental scope without necessarily implying participation of the entire world.

In terms such as world map and world climate, ''world'' is used in the sense detached from human culture or civilization, referring to the planet Earth physically.

Etymology and usage

The English word ''world'' comes from the Old English ''weorold (-uld), weorld, worold (-uld, -eld)'', a compound of ''wer'' "man" and ''eld'' "age," which thus means roughly "Age of Man." The Old English is a reflex of the Common Germanic ''*wira-alđiz'', also reflected in Old Saxon ''werold'', Old High German ''weralt'', Old Frisian ''warld'' and Old Norse ''verǫld'' (whence the Icelandic ''veröld'').

The corresponding word in Latin ''mundus'', literally "clean, elegant", itself a loan translation of Greek ''cosmos'' "orderly arrangement." While the Germanic word thus reflects a mythological notion of a "domain of Man" (compare Midgard), presumably as opposed to the divine sphere on the one hand and the chthonic sphere of the underworld on the other, the Greco-Latin term expresses a notion of creation as an act of establishing order out of chaos.

'World' distinguishes the entire planet or population from any particular country or region: ''world affairs'' pertain not just to one place but to the whole world, and ''world history'' is a field of history that examines events from a global (rather than a national or a regional) perspective. ''Earth'', on the other hand, refers to the planet as a physical entity, and distinguishes it from other planets and physical objects.

'''World''' can also be used attributively, to mean 'global', 'relating to the whole world', forming usages such as world community or world canonical texts.

By extension, a '''world''' may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of as inhabited, especially in the context of science fiction or futurology.

'''World''', in original sense, when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain of human experience.

The ''world of work'' describes paid work and the pursuit of career, in all its social aspects, to distinguish it from home life and academic study.

The ''fashion world'' describes the environment of the designers, fashion houses and consumers that make up the fashion industry.

historically, the ''New World'' vs. the ''Old World'', referring to the parts of the world colonized in the wake of the age of discovery. Now mostly used in zoology and botany, as New World monkey.

Philosophy

In philosophy, the term world has several possible meanings. In some contexts, it refers to everything that makes up reality or the physical universe. In others, it can mean have a specific ontological sense (see world disclosure). While clarifying the concept of world has arguably always been among the basic tasks of Western philosophy, this theme appears to have been raised explicitly only at the start of the twentieth century and has been the subject of continuous debate. The question of what the world is has by no means been settled.

;Parmenides The traditional interpretation of Parmenides' work is that he argued that the every-day perception of reality of the physical world (as described in doxa) is mistaken, and that the reality of the world is 'One Being' (as described in aletheia): an unchanging, ungenerated, indestructible whole.

;Plato In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato distingues between forms and ideas and imagines two distinct worlds : the sensible world and the intelligible world.

;Hegel In Hegel's philosophy of history, the expression ''Weltgeschichte ist Weltgericht'' (World History is a tribunal that judges the World) is used to assert the view that History is what judges men, their actions and their opinions. Science is born from the desire to transform the World in relation to Man; its final end is technical application.

;Schopenhauer ''The World as Will and Representation'' is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer saw the human will as our one window to the world behind the representation; the Kantian thing-in-itself. He believed, therefore, that we could gain knowledge about the thing-in-itself, something Kant said was impossible, since the rest of the relationship between representation and thing-in-itself could be understood by analogy to the relationship between human will and human body.

;Wittgenstein Two definitions that were both put forward in the 1920s, however, suggest the range of available opinion. "The world is everything that is the case," wrote Ludwig Wittgenstein in his influential ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'', first published in 1922. This definition would serve as the basis of logical positivism, with its assumption that there is exactly one world, consisting of the totality of facts, regardless of the interpretations that individual people may make of them.

;Heidegger Martin Heidegger, meanwhile, argued that "the surrounding world is different for each of us, and notwithstanding that we move about in a common world". The world, for Heidegger, was that into which we are always already "thrown" and with which we, as beings-in-the-world, must come to terms. His conception of "world disclosure" was most notably elaborated in his 1927 work ''Being and Time''.

;Freud In response, Freud proposed that we do not move about in a common world, but a common thought process. He believed that all the actions of a person are motivated by one thing: lust. This led to numerous theories about reactionary consciousness.

;Other Some philosophers, often inspired by David Lewis, argue that metaphysical concepts such as possibility, probability and necessity are best analyzed by comparing ''the'' world to a range of possible worlds; a view commonly known as modal realism.

Religion and mythology

Mythological cosmologies often depict the world as centered around an axis mundi and delimited by a boundary such as a world ocean, a world serpent or similar.

See also

Globe

List of sovereign states

Universe

References

External links

Category:Earth

ar:عالَم arc:ܥܠܡܐ (ܐܪܥܐ) ay:Pacha zh-min-nan:Sè-kài bi:Wol bg:Свят ca:Món ceb:Kalibotan cs:Svět de:Welt dv:ދުނިޔެ es:Mundo eo:Mondo ext:Mundu eu:Mundu fa:جهان fr:Monde (univers) ko:세계 hi:जगत hr:Svijet io:Mondo it:Mondo he:עולם ka:მსოფლიო kk:Дүние жүзі ht:Lemonn ku:Cîhan lv:Pasaule lt:Pasaulis lmo:Mond ml:ലോകം mt:Dinja mr:जग xmf:საგებიო mwl:Mundo mn:Ертөнц nl:Wereld (Aarde) ne:विश्व new:हलिम ja:世界 nap:Munno nn:Verd uz:Dunyo pnb:دنیا ps:نړۍ km:ពិភពលោក tpi:Wol pt:Mundo qu:Kay pacha ru:Мир (Земля) sco:Warld stq:Waareld sq:Bota scn:Munnu simple:World ss:Úmhlâba sk:Svet sh:Svijet sv:Världen tl:Mundo te:ప్రపంచము tg:Ҷаҳон uk:Світ ur:دُنیا vi:Thế giới vo:Vol wo:Àdduna yi:וועלט yo:Àgbáyé bat-smg:Sviets zh:世界

Islamic economics refers to the body of Islamic studies literature that "identifies and promotes an economic order that conforms to Islamic scripture and traditions," and in the economic world an interest-free Islamic banking system, grounded in Sharia's condemnation of interest (''Riba''). The literature originated in "the late 1940s, and especially" after "the mid-1960s." The banking system developed during the 1970s. Islamic economic literatures' central features have been called "behavioral norms" derived from the Quran and Sunna, zakat tax as the basis of Islamic fiscal policy and prohibition of interest.

In Shia Islam, some scholars such as Mahmoud Taleghani, and Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, have developed an "Islamic economics" emphasizing the uplifting of the deprived masses, a major role for the state in matters such as circulation and equitable distribution of wealth, and ensuring participants in the marketplace are rewarded for being exposed to risk and/or liability.

Islamist movements and authors generally describe an Islamic economic system as neither Socialist nor Capitalist, but a "third way" with none of the drawbacks of the other two systems.

History

Traditional Islamic concepts having to do with economics included

''zakat'' - the "taxing of certain goods, such as harvest, with an eye to allocating these taxes to expenditures that are also explicitly defined, such as aid to the needy."

''Gharar'' - "the interdiction of chance ... that is, of the presence of any element of uncertainty, in a contract (which excludes not only insurance but also the lending of money without participation in the risks)"

''Riba'' - "referred to as usury (modern Islamic economists have consensus that it does not refer to usury only rather Riba is any kind of interest)"

These concepts, like others in Islamic law, came from the "prescriptions, anecdotes, examples, and words of Muhammad, all gathered together and systematized by commentators according to an inductive, casuistic method."

In addition, Islamic law has developed areas of law that correspond to secular laws of contracts and torts.

Early reforms under Islam

Some argue early Islamic theory and practice formed a "coherent" economic system with "a blueprint for a new order in society, in which all participants would be treated more fairly". Michael Bonner, for example, has written that an "economy of poverty" prevailed in Islam until 13th and 14th century. Under this system God's 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 by encouraging zakat (tax) and discouraging riba (usury/interest) on loans. Bonner maintains Muhammad also helped poor traders by allowing only tents, not permanent buildings in the market of Medina, and not charging fees and rents there.

Classical Muslim economic thought

To some degree, the early Muslims based their economic analyses on the Qur'an (such as opposition to ''riba'', meaning usury/interest), and from sunnah, the sayings and doings of Muhammad.

Amongst the important early Muslim scholars who made valuable contributions to economic theory are Abu Yusuf (d. 798), Al-Mawardi (d. 1058), Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), Al-Sarakhsi (d. 1090), Al-Tusi (d. 1093), Al-Ghazali (d. 1111), Al-Dimashqi (d. after 1175), Ibn Rushd (d. 1187), Ibn Taymiyyah (d.1328), Ibn al-Ukhuwwah (d. 1329), Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350), Al-Shatibi (d. 1388), Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406), Al-Maqrizi (d. 1442), Al-Dawwani (d. 1501), and Shah Waliyullah (d. 1762).

Perhaps the most well known Islamic scholar who wrote about economics was Ibn Khaldun, who is considered a father of modern economics. Ibn Khaldun wrote on economic and political theory in the introduction, or ''Muqaddimah'' (''Prolegomena''), of his ''History of the World'' (''Kitab al-Ibar''). In the book, he discussed what he called ''asabiyya'' (social cohesion), which he sourced as the cause of some civilizations becoming great and others not. Ibn Khaldun felt that many social forces are cyclic, although there can be sudden sharp turns that break the pattern.

His idea about the benefits of the division of labor also relate to ''asabiyya'', the greater the social cohesion, the more complex the successful division may be, the greater the economic growth. He noted that growth and development positively stimulates both supply and demand, and that the forces of supply and demand are what determines the prices of goods. He also noted macroeconomic forces of population growth, human capital development, and technological developments effects on development. In fact, Ibn Khaldun thought that population growth was directly a function of wealth.

Economy in the Caliphate

During the Arab Agricultural Revolution, a social transformation took place as a result of changing land ownership giving individuals of any gender, ethnic or religious background the right to buy, sell, mortgage and inherit land. Based on the Quran, signatures were required on contracts for major financial transactions concerning agriculture, industry, commerce, and employment. Copies of the contract were usually kept by both parties involved.

There are similarities between Islamic economics and leftist or socialist economic policies. Islamic jurists have argued that privatization of the origin of oil, gas, and other fire-producing fuels, agricultural land, and water is forbidden. The principle of public or joint ownership has been drawn by Muslim jurists from the following hadith of the Prophet of Islam:

Ibn Abbas reported that Muhammad said: ''"All Muslims are partners in three things- in water, herbage and fire."'' (Narrated in Abu Daud, & Ibn Majah) Anas added to the above hadith, ''"Its price is Haram (forbidden)"'' Jurists have argued by qiyas that the above restriction on privatization can be extended to all essential resources that benefit the community as a whole.

Aside from similarities to socialism, early forms of proto-capitalism and free markets were present in the Caliphate. An early market economy and early form of merchant capitalism developed between the 8th and 12th centuries. A vigorous monetary economy developed based on the wide circulation of a common currency (the dinar) and the integration of previously independent monetary areas. Business techniques and forms of business organization employed during this time included early contracts, bills of exchange, long-distance international trade, early forms of partnership (''mufawada'') such as limited partnerships (''mudaraba''), and early forms of credit, debt, profit, loss, capital (''al-mal''), capital accumulation (''nama al-mal''), circulating capital, capital expenditure, revenue, cheques, promissory notes, trusts (''waqf''), savings accounts, transactional accounts, pawning, loaning, exchange rates, bankers, money changers, ledgers, deposits, assignments, the double-entry bookkeeping system, and lawsuits. Organizational enterprises similar to corporations independent from the state also existed in the medieval Islamic world. Many of these concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.

The concepts of welfare and pension were present in early Islamic law as forms of ''Zakat'' one of the Five Pillars of Islam, since the time of the Rashidun caliph Umar in the 7th century. The taxes (including ''Zakat'' and ''Jizya'') collected in the treasury (''Bayt al-mal'') of an Islamic government were used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, the elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058–1111), the government was also expected to stockpile food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurred. The Caliphate was thus one of the earliest welfare states.

Post-colonial era

During the modern post-colonial era, as Western ideas, including Western economics, began to influence the Muslim world, some Muslim writers sought to produce an Islamic discipline of economics. Because some Islamic scholars consider Islam more than a spiritual formula to a complete system of life in all its walks, these writers believed that it should logically follow that Islam also had its own economic system unique from and superior to non-Islamic systems. To date, however, there have been no agreement as to the methodological definition and scope of Islamic Economics.

In the 1960s and 70s Shia Islamic thinkers worked to develop a unique Islamic economic philosophy with "its own answers to contemporary economic problems." Several works were particularly influential,

''Eslam va Malekiyyat'' (Islam and Property) by Mahmud Taleqani (1951),

''Nidham ul-Iqtisad fil Islam'' (The Economic System of Islam) by Taqiuddin Nabhani (1953),

''Iqtisaduna'' (Our Economics) by Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr (1961) and

''Eqtesad-e Towhidi'' (The Economics of Divine Harmony) by Abolhassan Banisadr (1978)

''Some Interpretations of Property Rights, Capital and Labor from Islamic Perspective'' by Habibullah Peyman (1979).

Al-Sadr in particular has been described as having "almost single-handedly developed the notion of Islamic economics"

In their writings Sadr and the other authors "sought to depict Islam as a religion committed to social justice, the equitable distribution of wealth, and the cause of the deprived classes," with doctrines "acceptable to Islamic jurists", while refuting existing non-Islamic theories of capitalism and Marxism. This version of Islamic economics, which influenced the Iranian Revolution, called for public ownership of land and of large "industrial enterprises," while private economic activity continued "within reasonable limits." These ideas helped shape the large public sector and public subsidy policies of the Iranian Revolution.

In the 1980s and 1990s, as the Islamic revolution failed to reach the per capita income level achieved by the regime it overthrew, and Communist states and socialist parties in the non-Muslim world turned away from socialism, Muslim interest shifted away from government ownership and regulation. In Iran, it is reported that "''eqtesad-e Eslami'' (meaning both Islamic economics and economy) ... once a revolutionary shibboleth, is indubitably absent in all official documents and the media. It disapperared from Iranian political discourse about 15 years ago [1990]."

But in other parts of the Muslim world the term lived on, shifting form to the less ambitious goal of interest-free banking. Some Muslim bankers and religious leaders suggested ways to integrate Islamic law on usage of money with modern concepts of ethical investing. In banking this was done through the use of sales transactions (focusing on the fixed rate return modes) to achieve similar results to interest. This has been heavily criticized by many modern writers as a means of covering conventional banking with an Islamic facade.

Traditional approach

While many Muslims believe Islamic law is perfect by virtue of its being revealed by God, Islamic law on economic issues was/is not "economics" in the sense of a systematic study of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. An example of the traditionalist ulama approach to economic issues is Imam Khomeini's work ''Tawzih al-masa'il'' where the term `economy` does not appear and where the chapter on selling and buying (Kharid o forush) comes after the one on pilgrimage. As Olivier Roy puts it, the work "presents economic questions as individual acts open to moral analysis: `To lend [without interest, on a note from the lender] is among the good works that are particularly recommended in the verses of the Quran and the in the Traditions.`"

Property

The Qur'an states that God is the sole owner of all matter in the heavens and the earth. Man, however, is God's viceregent on earth and holds God's possessions in trust (''amanat''). Islamic jurists have divided properties into three categories:

Public property

State property

Private property

Public property

Public property in Islam refers to natural resources (forests, pastures, uncultivated land, water, mines, oceanic resources etc.) over which all humans have equal right. Such resources are considered the common property of the community. Such property is placed under the guardianship and control of the Islamic state, and can be utilized by any citizen, as long as it does not undermine the right of other citizens over it.

Some types of public property can not be privatized under Islamic law. Muhammad's saying that "people are partners in three things: water, fire and pastures", has led some scholars to believe that the privatization of water, energy and agricultural land is not permissible. Other types of public property, such as gold mines, were allowed by Muhammad to be privatized, in return for taxes to the Islamic state. The owner of the previously public property that was privatized has to pay zakat and, according Shiite scholars, khums as well. In general the privatization and nationalization of public property is subject to debate amongst Islamic scholars. Public property thus, eventually, becomes state or private property.

State property

State property includes certain natural resources, as well as other property that can't immediately be privatized. Islamic state property can be movable, or immovable, can be acquired through conquest, or peaceful means. Unclaimed, unoccupied and heir less properties, including uncultivated land (''mawat''), can be considered state property.

During the life of Muhammad, one fifth of military equipment captured from the enemy in the battlefield was considered state property. During his reign, Umar (on the recommendation of Ali) considered conquered land to be state property, instead of private property (as was usual practice). The reason for this was that privatizing this property would concentrate resources in the hands of a few, and prevent this property from being used for the general good of the community. The property remained under the occupation of the cultivators, but the taxes collected on it went to the state treasury.

Muhammad said "Old and fallow lands are for God and His Messenger (i.e. state property), then they are for you". Jurists draw from this the conclusion that, ultimately, private ownership takes over state property.

Private property

There is consensus amongst Islamic jurists and social scientists that Islam recognizes and upholds the individual's right to private ownership. The Qur'an extensively discusses taxation, inheritance, prohibition against stealing, legality of ownership, recommendation to give charity and other topics related to private property. Islam also guarantees the protection of private property by imposing stringent punishments on thieves. Muhammad said that he who dies defending his property was like a martyr.

Islamic economists have classified the acquisition of private property into three categories: involuntary, contractual and non-contractual. Involuntary means are inheritance, bequests, and gifts. Non-contractual is acquisition involves the collection and exploitation of natural resources that have not previously been claimed as private property. Contractual acquisition includes activities such as trading, buying, renting, hiring labor etc.

A tradition attributed to Muhammad, with which both Sunni and Shi'ite jurists agree, in cases where the right to private ownership causes harm to others, then Islam is in favor of curtailing the right in those cases. Maliki and Hanbali jurists argue that if private ownership endangers public interest, then the state can limit the amount an individual is allowed to own. This view, however, is debated by others.

Market

Islam accepts markets as the basic co-ordinating mechanism of the economic system. Islamic teaching holds that the market, through perfect competition, allows consumers to obtain desired goods, producers to sell their goods, at a mutually acceptable price.

The three necessary conditions for an operational market are said to be upheld in Islamic primary sources: Freedom of exchange: the Qur'an calls on believers to engage in trade, and rejects the contention that trade is forbidden.

Private ownership (see above).

Security of contract: the Qur'an calls for the fulfillment and observation of contracts. The longest verse of the Qur'an deals with commercial contracts involving immediate and future payments.

Interference

Islam promotes a market free from interferences such as price fixing and hoarding. Government intervention, however, is tolerated under specific circumstances.

Islam prohibits the fixation of a price by a handful of buyers or sellers who have become dominant in the market. During the days of Muhammad, a small group of merchants used to meet agricultural producers outside the city and bought the entire crop, thereby gaining monopoly over the market. The produce was later sold at a higher price within the city. Muhammad condemned this practice since it caused injury both to the producers (who in the absence of numerous customers were forced to sell goods at a lower price) and the inhabitants of Medina.

The above mentioned reports are also used to justify the argument that the Islamic market is characterized by free information. Producers and consumers should not be denied information on demand and supply conditions. Producers are expected to inform consumers of the quality and quantity of goods they claim to sell. Some scholars hold that if an inexperienced buyer is swayed by the seller, the consumer may nullify the transaction upon realizing the seller's unfair treatment. The Qur'an also forbids discriminatory means of transaction.

Government interference in the market is justified in exceptional circumstances, such as the protection of public interest. Under normal circumstances, government non-interference should be upheld. When Muhammad was asked to set the price of goods in a market he responded, "I will not set such a precedent, let the people carry on on with their activities and benefit mutually."

Monetary & Fiscal Policy

Monetary and fiscal policy can include developments both for a state in transition to an Islamic model as well as when it reaches equilibrium.

In Equilibrium

Monetary policy emphasizes keeping inflation towards a theoretical zero percent. The value of the currency being maintained according to a basket of goods and services that is reflective of the economy as well as the value of a basket of currencies that would be represented by their level of trade with the Islamic state. The proportion of the two being weighted to the proportion of foreign trade to domestic consumption. This parallels classical and neo-classical ideals.

Money Supply expansion is indexed directly to the population rather than through banking, to avoid an unfair benefit to banking at the cost of the populace. Regulatory creep, conflict of interest and political interference is avoided by a proposed independence of banking and the statistical authority.

In Transition

Gradual transition is preferred over drastic change, calling for a transitional state similar to Communism's transitional state of Socialism. Impairment of banking, staggered increases in reserve ratios and a gradual approach in the general regulatory framework is considered preferable.

A Keynesian fiscal policy is called for to counteract the fall in the money supply caused by the transitionary policies. Timing and proportion is seen as critical to the success of such a transition.

Banking

Interest

The Quran (3: 130) clearly condemns what it calls by the Arabic term "riba," usually translated "interest": "O, you who believe! Devour not riba, doubled and redoubled, and be careful of Allah; haply so you will prosper."

Debt arrangements

Most Islamic economic institutions advise participatory arrangements between capital and labor. The latter rule reflects the Islamic norm that the borrower must not bear all the cost of a failure, as "it is God who determines that failure, and intends that it fall on all those involved."

Conventional debt arrangements are thus usually unacceptable - but conventional venture investment structures are applied even on very small scales. However, not every debt arrangement can be seen in terms of venture investment structures. For example, when a family buys a home it is not investing in a business venture - a person's shelter is not a business venture. Similarly, purchasing other commodities for personal use, such as cars, furniture, and so on, cannot realistically be considered as a venture investment in which the Islamic bank shares risks and profits for the profits of the venture.

Savings-Investment

An alternative Islamic savings-investment model can be built around: 1. Venture capital firms; 2. Investment banks; 3. Restructured corporations; and 4. Restructured stock market. This model looks at removing the interest-based banking and in replacing market inefficiencies such as subsidization of loans over profit-sharing investments due to double taxation and restrictions on investment in private equity.

Money changers

Due to religious sanctions against odious debt, Tamil Muslims have historically been money changers (not money lenders) throughout South and South East Asia.

Natural capital

Perhaps due to resource scarcity in most Islamic nations, this form of economics also emphasizes limited (and some claim also sustainable) use of natural capital, i.e. producing land. These latter revive traditions of haram and hima that were prevalent in early Muslim civilization.

Welfare

Social welfare, unemployment, public debt and globalization have been re-examined from the perspective of Islamic norms and values. Islamic banks have grown recently in the Muslim world but are a very small share of the global economy compared to the Western debt banking paradigm. It remains to be seen if they will find niches - although hybrid approaches, e.g. Grameen Bank which applies classical Islamic values but uses conventional lending practices, are much lauded by some proponents of modern human development theory.

Islamic stocks

In June 2005 Dow Jones Indexes, New York, and RHB Securities, Kuala Lumpur, teamed up to launch a new "Islamic Malaysia Index" —a collection of 45 stocks representing Malaysian companies that comply with a variety of Sharia-based criteria. Three variables (the total debt of an indexed company, its total cash plus interest-bearing securities and its accounts receivables) must each be less than 33% of the trailing 12-month average capitalization, for example. Islamic bonds, or sukuk, use asset returns to pay investors to comply with the religion’s ban on interest and are currently traded privately on the over-the-counter market. In late December 2009 Bursa Malaysia announced it was considering enabling individuals to trade Shariah- compliant debt on its exchange as part of a plan to attract new investors to the securities.

Economic Modeling & a New Science of Muslim Economics

Economic modeling in an Islamic context looks to find alternative variables and parameters. For instance, many of the key models in modern economic theory have interest (riba) as a key element. According to one author, Tobin's q could be a replacement for interest. Islamic economics still needs pioneers to create the building blocks of Islamic econometrics.

Popularity and availability

Today there are many financial institutions, even in the Western world, offering financial services and products in accordance with the rules of the Islamic finance. For example, legal changes introduced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2003, have enabled British banks and building societies to offer so-called Muslim mortgages for house purchase.

In 2004 the UK's first stand alone Sharia'a compliant bank was launched, the Islamic Bank of Britain. Several banks offer products and services to its UK customers that utilise the Islamic financial principles; such as Mudaraba, Murabaha, Musharaka and Qard.

The Islamic finance sector was worth between 300 and 500 billion dollars (237 and 394 billion euros) as of September 2006, compared with 200 billion dollars in 2004. The number of Islamic retail banks and investment funds number in their hundreds and many Western financial institutions offer products that comply with Sharia law, including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and UBS. In 2008, at least $500 billion in assets around the world were managed in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law, and the sector was growing at more than 10% per year. Islamic finance seeks to promote social justice by banning exploitative practices. In reality, this boils down to a set of prohibitions—on paying interest, on gambling with derivatives and options, and on investing in firms that make pornography or pork.

Business Method Patents

With the recent ability to patent new methods of doing business in the United States, a small number of patent applications have been filed on methods for providing Sharia compliant financial services. These pending patent applications include:

Declining balance co-ownership financing arrangement. This discloses an allegedly Sharia compliant financing arrangement for home purchases and refinances that does not involve the payment of interest.

Views

Sohrab Behada's study argued that the economic system proposed by Islam is essentially a capitalist one.

Criticism

Its popularity notwithstanding, critics of Islamic economics have not been sparing. It has been attacked for its alleged "incoherence, incompleteness, impracticality, and irrelevance;" driven by "cultural identity" rather than problem solving. Others have dismissed it as "a hodgepodge of populist and socialist ideas," in theory and "nothing more than inefficient state control of the economy and some almost equally ineffective redistribution policies," in practice.

In a political and regional context where Islamist and ulema claim to have an opinion about everything, it is striking how little they have to say about this most central of human activities, beyond repetitious pieties about how their model is neither capitalist nor socialist.

Interest-bearing (Riba) and speculation-involving (Gharar) trading are clearly prohibited by explicit canonical texts. Based on this prohibition, presumably financial structures of all the Islamic products should be interest and speculation free. Nevertheless, some new empirical studies hypothesize that “Islamic finance products’ structure is based on the Islamic prohibitions; however, these products’ risk management is still based on revoking the underlying prohibitions”. The most prominent case here is Islamic financial market products such as, inter alia, Salam and Istisna’ these products are used are hedging methods for the Islamic bonds known as Sukuk. If Sukuk’s originator or investors wish to hedge against interest rate or exchange rate risks, then they have to use one of the former methods. These methods as they originally mimic the conventional risk management practice, should involve either interest-bearing or speculation-bearing trading or even both. There have been some innovations that try to avoid falling in interest-based and/or speculation based transactions. Parallel Salam and synthetics are some of the more recent.

See also

Fiqh

Law and economics

Ibn Khaldun

Muhammad Taqi Usmani

Umar Chapra

Islamic philosophy

*Early Islamic philosophy

*Modern Islamic philosophy

Islamization of knowledge

Islamic democracy

Green economics

Economy of the OIC

Islamic banking

Monzer Kahf

Aly Khorshid

Waleed Ahmad J. Addas

Global Islamic Finance magazine

Further reading

Al-Amine, Muhammad al-Bashir Muhammad, "Risk Management in Islamic Finance: An Analysis of Derivatives Instruments in Commodity Markets", Leiden: Brill, 2008. (ISBN 9789004152465)

Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqui, ''Muslim Economic Thinking'', (Islamic Foundation, Leicester, UK)

Syed Nawab Haider Naqi, ''Ethics and Economics: An Islamic Synthesis'', (Islamic Foundation, Leicester, UK)

M. Umar Chapra, ''Islam and the Economic Challenge'', (Islamic Foundation, Leicester, UK)

Aly Khorshid, Islamic finance Scholar and Shari'ah Consultant, ( Elite Horizon Economic Consultancy, UK)

Angelo M. Venardos, ''Islamic Banking & Finance in South-East Asia: Its Development & Future'', (World Scientific Publishing, Singapore)

Abbas Mirakhor, ''Theoretical Studies in Islamic Banking and Finance'', (Islamic Publications International)

Bakhash, Shaul, ''The Reign of the Ayatollahs'', Basic Books, c1984

Behdad, Sohrab and Farhad Nomani, eds., ''Islam and the Everyday World: Public Policy Dilemmas'', Routledge, 2006, ISBN 0-415-36823-5

Addas, Waleed. ''Methodology of Economics: Secular versus Islamic'', IIUM, 2008, ISBN 978-983-3855-28-5

Halliday, Fred, ''100 Myths about the Middle East'', Saqi Books, 2005

Roy, Olivier, ''The Failure of Political Islam'' Harvard University Press, 1994

Torts

A. Basir Bin Mohamad. "The Islamic Law of Tort: A Study of the Owner and Possessor of Animals with Special Reference to the Civil Codes of the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan and Iraq" in ''Arab Law Quarterly'' V.16, N.4 2001

__________. "Vicarious Liability: A Study of the Liability of the Guardian and his Ward in the Islamic Law of Tort" ''Arab Law Quarterly'' V. 17, N.1 2002

Immanuel Naveh. "The Tort of Injury and Dissolution of Marriage at the Wife's Initiative in Egyptian Mahkamat al-Naqd Rulings" in ''Islamic Law and Society'' Volume 9, Number 1, 2002

''Islamic law of tort'' Liaquat Ali Khan Niazi, 1988

''An outline of Islamic law of tort'' Abdul-Qadir Zubair, 1990

References

External links

World Database for Islamic Banking and Finance

Putting Faith into Finance article on Islamic finance from HSBC perspective

"Understanding Islamic Finance: Local Innovation and Global Integration," by Shamshad Akhtar et al (''Asia Policy'', July 2008)

Riba, Interest and Six Hadiths: Do We Have a Definition or a Conundrum? by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq

Mahmoud el-Gamal, Rice University, Houston, Texas, "An Economic Explanation of the Prohibition of Riba in Classical Islamic Jurisprudence."

Methodology of Economics: Secular versus Islamic

Islamic Banking, Finance & Economics by Maryam Ayaz

Islamic Economics book list

Category:Economies Category:Economic ideologies Category:Islamic economical jurisprudence Category:Heterodox economics Category:History of economic thought, methodology, and heterodox approaches Category:Economic law

ar:اقتصاد إسلامي ca:Economia a l'islam de:Islamisches Finanzwesen fa:اقتصاد اسلامی fr:Doctrine économique islamique id:Ekonomi syariah it:Finanza islamica ms:Sistem ekonomi Islam ja:イスラム経済 sq:Ekonomia islame tr:İslam ekonomisi ur:اسلامی معاشیات zh:伊斯兰金融

name	Musa Hitam
order	5th Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
term start	1981
term end	1986
predecessor	Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad
successor	Tun Ghafar Baba
birth date	April 18, 1934
birth place	Johor Bahru, Johor, British Malaya
party	Barisan Nasional, UMNO
religion	Islam

Tun Musa bin Hitam (born 18 April 1934), is a Malaysian politician and a former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, serving under Mahathir bin Mohamad. He was born in Johor Bahru, Johor in 1934. He is currently the chairman of Sime Darby Berhad.

Education and Honorifics

He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Malaya and his Master's degree from the University of Sussex. He has since been awarded with various honours, including an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sussex and an Honorary Doctorate from Ohio University (in 1980). Tun Musa has held various posts at the international level at various times. These included being Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Member of the Board of UNESCO, Leader of the Commonwealth Observer Delegation to the Malawi general elections and Member of the Commonwealth Ministers Delegations to Nigeria, Pakistan, Fiji and Gambia.

Political career

In the 1960s, Musa was briefly Acting Secretary-General of UMNO. He was later expelled from the party in the wake of the May 13 racial rioting for insubordination to then Prime Minister and UMNO President Tunku Abdul Rahman. During his political exile, he obtained his Master's from the University of Sussex.

In 1971, he was readmitted to UMNO under the Tunku's successor, Tun Abdul Razak. He rose quickly, becoming Deputy Whip of the Alliance coalition in Parliament, and was elected as a member of the UMNO Supreme Council. He was elected as a UMNO Vice-President in 1978.

When Mahathir bin Mohamad succeeded Hussein Onn as Prime Minister of Malaysia, he declared the election for the Deputy Presidency of UMNO open; and thus by extension the Deputy Prime Ministership — was open; he would not support any candidate. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah joined the fray, and his main opposition was Musa Hitam. Eventually, Musa won the election with 722 votes to Razaleigh's 517 votes, becoming the new Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister. Razaleigh blamed himself for taking "a rather passive stance" and not having a campaign strategy.

Government positions

Before becoming Malaysia's fifth Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs in 1981-1986, Tun Musa held a number of key government posts, including

Chairman of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA)

Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry

Minister of Primary Industries (1974-1978); and

Minister of Education (1978-1981).

Musa was replaced by Tun Ghafar Baba as Deputy Prime Minister in 1987.

Controversy

In 1987, Tengku Razaleigh challenged Mahathir for the presidentship of UMNO. Musa Hitam, who was then having a growing rift with Mahathir, resigned as Deputy Prime Minister, citing irreconcilable differences with Mahathir. He then joined Razaleigh's Team B as UMNO deputy president candidate. In the election, Dr. Mahathir and his Team A managed to retain his position and power over the party. However, UMNO was split into two separate entities as Tengku Razaleigh was left unsatisfied with the result.

The split forced the Malaysian court to declare UMNO as illegal. Shortly after the court ruling, Dr. Mahathir reestablished UMNO as UMNO Baru (New UMNO), though the new UMNO was badly weakened. Tengku Razaleigh at the same time went on his own path and found a new political party called Semangat 46 in 1989. The number 46 refers to the year UMNO was originally founded.

Musa, however, decided to retire from politics and has not joined the fray since.

Post-political activities

Between 1990 and 1991, he was Malaysia's Special Envoy to the United Nations, and since 1995 he has been the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). Tan Sri Musa also led the Malaysian delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights from 1993 to 1998 and was elected Chairman of the 52nd Session of the Commission in 1995. As a member of UMNO, Musa has held various positions within the party up to Deputy President until 1987.Memali(1985)

He also served as the Chairman of Suhakam, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, from 1999 till 2002. In 2007, Musa became the chairman of Synergy Drive Berhad, the entity which arose out of the newly formed merger between Sime Darby, Guthrie, and Golden hope Plantations. He also serves on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Doha Center. Tun Musa is currently the Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Foundation.

Awards and recognition

On June 3, 2006, he was conferred with the Seri Setia Mahkota , which carries the title of Tun by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong ke-12 Malaysia.

Personal life

Tun Musa was born to a Malay father and a mother of Chinese descent, who was adopted by and grew up in a Malay household at the age of five. Tun Musa was married to Datin Ines Maria Reyna, a Peruvian of Spanish descent, whom he first met at Lima, Peru in 1959 as an international student. They had 3 children: Mariana, Carlos Abdul Rashid and Rosana. Carlos was killed together with his wife Rozita Datuk abu Bakar during the collapse of the Highland Towers in December 1993.

Tun Musa is now married to Zulaikha Sheardin, with whom he has one son, Hanif. Tun Musa has three grandchildren: Marisa, Lara and Kaelen.

Notes and references

External links

FELDA Official site

Category:1934 births Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex Category:Deputy Prime Ministers of Malaysia Category:Government ministers of Malaysia Category:Living people Category:Malaysian politicians Category:People from Johor Bahru Category:Malaysian Muslims Category:Malaysian Malay people Category:United Malays National Organisation politicians

id:Musa Hitam ms:Musa Hitam

Name	Round Table
Source	Arthurian legend
First	Roman de Brut
Creator	Wace
Type	Fictional table
Genre	Fantasy
Owner	King Arthur

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table.

History

The Round Table first appears in Wace's ''Roman de Brut'', a Norman language adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' finished in 1155. Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others. Layamon added to the story when he adapted Wace's work into the Middle English ''Brut'' in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's vassals led to violence at a Yuletide feast. In response a Cornish carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to prevent further dispute. Wace claims he was not the source of the Round Table; both he and Layamon credit it instead to the Bretons. Some scholars have doubted this claim, while others believe it may be true. There is some similarity between the chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warriors sit in a circle around the king or lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon. There is a possibility that Wace, contrary to his own claims, derived Arthur's round table not from any Breton source, but rather from medieval biographies of Charlemagne - notably Einhard's ''Vita Caroli'' and Notker the Stammerer's ''De Carolo Magno'' - in which the king is said to have possessed a round table decorated with a map of Rome.

Though the Round Table itself is not mentioned until Wace the concept of Arthur having a marvelous court made up of many prominent warriors is much older. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that after establishing peace throughout Britain Arthur "increased his personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it." The code of chivalry so important in later romance figures in as well, as Geoffrey says Arthur established "such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him." Long before Geoffrey, Arthur's court was well known to Welsh storytellers; in the romance ''Culhwch and Olwen'', written around 1100, the protagonist Culhwch invokes the names of 225 individuals affiliated with Arthur. In fact, the fame of Arthur's entourage became so prominent in Welsh tradition that in the later additions to the Welsh Triads, the formula "Arthur's Court" in the titles of the triads began to supersede the older "Island of Britain" formula. Though the code of chivalry crucial to later continental romances dealing with the Round Table is mostly absent from the earlier Welsh material, some passages of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' seem to prefigure it, for instance when Arthur explains the ethos of his court, saying "[w]e are nobles as long as we are sought out: the greater the bounty we may give, the greater our nobility, fame and honour."

Though no Round Table appears in the early Welsh texts, Arthur is associated with various items of household furniture. The earliest of these is Saint Carannog's mystical floating altar in that saint's 12th century ''Vita''; in the story Arthur has found the altar and attempts unsuccessfully to use it for a table, and returns it to Carannog in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a meddlesome dragon. Arthur's household furniture figures into local topographical folklore throughout Britain as early as the early 12th century, with various landmarks being named "Arthur's Seat", "Arthur's Oven," and "Arthur's Bed-chamber." A henge at Eamont Bridge near Penrith, Cumbria is known as "King Arthur's Round Table". The still-visible Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon has been associated with the Round Table and has been suggested as a possible source for the legend.

In 2010, following archaeological discoveries at the Roman ruins in Chester, some writers suggested that the Chester Roman Amphitheatre was the true prototype of the Round Table but English Heritage, acting as consultants to a History Channel documentary in which the claim was made, declared that there was no archaeological basis to the story.

Later development

The Round Table takes on new dimensions in the romances of the late 12th and early 13th century, where it becomes a symbol of the famed order of chivalry which flourishes under Arthur. In Robert de Boron's ''Merlin'', written around the 1190s, the wizard Merlin creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the Last Supper and of Joseph of Arimathea's Holy Grail table. This table, here made for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon rather than Arthur himself, has twelve seats and one empty place to mark the betrayal of Judas. This seat must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail. The Didot ''Perceval'', a prose continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story, and the knight Percival sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest.

The prose cycles of the 13th century, the Lancelot-Grail cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, further adapt the chivalric attributes of the Round Table. Here it is the perfect knight Galahad, rather than Percival, who assumes the empty seat, now called the Siege Perilous. Galahad's arrival marks the start of the Grail quest as well as the end of the Arthurian era. In these works the Round Table is kept by King Leodegrance of Cameliard after Uther's death; Arthur inherits it when he marries Leodegrance's daughter Guinevere. Other versions treat the Round Table differently, for instance Italian Arthurian works often distinguish between the "Old Table" of Uther's time and Arthur's "New Table."

Round Table tournaments

During the Middle Ages festivals called Round Tables were celebrated throughout Europe in imitation of Arthur's court. These events featured jousting, dancing, and feasting, and in some cases attending knights assumed the identities of Arthur's knights. The earliest of these was held in Cyprus in 1223 to celebrate a knighting. Round Tables were popular in various European countries through the rest of the Middle Ages and were at times very elaborate; René of Anjou even erected an Arthurian castle for his 1446 Round Table.

The artifact known as the "Winchester Round Table," a large tabletop hanging in Winchester Castle bearing the names of various knights of Arthur's court, was probably created for a Round Table tournament. The current paintwork is late; it was done by order of Henry VIII of England for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's 1522 state visit, and depicts Henry himself sitting in Arthur's seat above a Tudor rose. The table itself is considerably older; dendrochronology calculates the date of construction to 1250–1280—during the reign of Edward I—using timber from store felled over a period of years. Edward was an Arthurian enthusiast who attended at least five Round Tables and hosted one himself in 1299, which may have been the occasion for the creation of the Winchester Round Table. Martin Biddle, from an examination of Edward's financial accounts, links it instead with a tournament Edward held near Winchester on April 20, 1290, to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.

Notes

References

Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain''. University Of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.

Geoffrey of Monmouth; Thorpe, Lewis (1988). ''The History of the Kings of Britain''. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044170-0.

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.

Loomis, Roger S. (1959). "Arthurian Influence on Sport and Spectacle."

''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages''. Oxford.

Padel, O. J. (2000). ''Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature''. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-7689-1.

Rouse, Robert; and Cory Rushton (2005). ''The Medieval Quest for Arthur''. Tempus, Stroud. ISBN 0-7524-3343-1.

External links

Timeless Myths - Knights of the Round Table

The 14th Century Round Table in Winchester, Hampshire. UK

Category:Arthurian legend Category:Tables (furniture)

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