This thread has been on several lists, so I am beginning to lose track of what was said where. In any case, the Prophet Muhammed was the only founder of a major world religion who was a practicing merchant, indeed a reasonably successful one after he married his wealthy widow first wife who would become his first convert.
To shorten a long story, there is certainly reason to think that Jim D. has a point. Barkley Rosser On Wed, 26 Aug 1998 12:45:21 -0700 James Devine <jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu> wrote:
> At 02:51 PM 8/26/98 -0400, Carl Remick wrote:
> >Re Barkley's: A major question regarding Islamic economics is the
> >extent to which it favors socialism or capitalism.
> >
> >Is there any Islamic rationale as to why interest is forbidden but
> >profit and inheritance are OK, or is this simply a matter of revelation?
> >
> I understand that the Prophet Muhhamed and his followers strongly sided
> with merchants against the money-lenders. So there's an element of
> intra-class rivalry there.
>
> Barkley, correct me if I'm wrong.
>
> Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu &
> http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html
>
-- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb at jmu.edu