Islamdom in its earliest centuries integrated Middle Eastern merchants into “a vast free-trade zone” and established “financial and commercial capitalism.” Muslim scholars developed some economic practices and techniques that soon made their way into Europe. The method of charging interest without going against the religious ban on usury, muhkatara, soon became mohatra in Latin. The Arabic term mudaraba, which referred to a business partnership, is most likely the origin of the Italian commenda, the precursor of the modern “limited company.”
The journey of the Arabic term sakk, which means “written document” and referred to the papers that medieval Muslim merchants used instead of currency, is more clear: It is the origin of the French word checque and the English word check.
These are just a few examples. “Anything in western capitalism of imported origin,” notes Fernand Braudel, the great French historian, “undoubtedly came from Islam.”46 It was no accident that Maimonides, the great Jewish scholar and philosopher of twelfth-century Spain, complained of Jewish traders doing business in an “Islamic manner.”
The extent of “what the West owes to Islam” is debated frequently among historians. There is, for example, an interesting theory on the possible Islamic origins of the British common law, which clearly resembles the Shariah in its “judge-made” nature—different from the state-imposed Roman law tradition of continental Europe. But obvious exports from Islamdom to the West can easily be traced today in English words with Arabic roots. A short list would include algebra, alchemy, alkali, almanac, amalgam, alembic, admiral, alcove, mask, muslin, nadir, zenith, tariff, sugar, syrup, checkmate, lute, and guitar. And, of course, there are the Arabic numerals.
The journey of the Arabic term sakk, which means “written document” and referred to the papers that medieval Muslim merchants used instead of currency, is more clear: It is the origin of the French word checque and the English word check.
These are just a few examples. “Anything in western capitalism of imported origin,” notes Fernand Braudel, the great French historian, “undoubtedly came from Islam.”46 It was no accident that Maimonides, the great Jewish scholar and philosopher of twelfth-century Spain, complained of Jewish traders doing business in an “Islamic manner.”
The extent of “what the West owes to Islam” is debated frequently among historians. There is, for example, an interesting theory on the possible Islamic origins of the British common law, which clearly resembles the Shariah in its “judge-made” nature—different from the state-imposed Roman law tradition of continental Europe. But obvious exports from Islamdom to the West can easily be traced today in English words with Arabic roots. A short list would include algebra, alchemy, alkali, almanac, amalgam, alembic, admiral, alcove, mask, muslin, nadir, zenith, tariff, sugar, syrup, checkmate, lute, and guitar. And, of course, there are the Arabic numerals.
