Economic Concepts of Ibn Taimiyah

Abdul Azim Islahi

• Publisher: The Islamic Foundation
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780860376651
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamische Theologie

The economic thoughts of a fourteenth century scholar whose work continues to influence the lives and thoughts of Muslims today.

This valuable work presents Ibn Taimiyah's thoughts on the concept of Islamic economics, the state in the economy, on public finance, money, interest, prices, partnership, and profit-sharing, and offers a comparison of his ideas with those of some medieval scholars in Europe, along with a study of his influence on Islamic thinkers in later periods.

CHAPTER I

The Age of Ibn Taimīyah

A. Political background

The age of Ibn Taimīyah (1263–1328) was characterized by massive social and political upheavals. Barely five years before his birth, the centuries-old Abbasid caliphate at Baghdad had been destroyed by the Mongols. And only three years before his birth, Tatars entered Damascus and Aleppo as conquerors. Tatars attacked and plundered Ḥarrān,¹ the birthplace of Ibn Taimīyah, when he was about seven years old. Many of the inhabitants of that area were forced to migrate to Syria and Egypt. The family and household of Ibn Taimīyah moved to Damascus to seek refuge and, since they were learned people, to continue their academic pursuits.²

Thirteen years before the birth of Ibn Taimīyah, the Mamluk dynasty had established itself in Syria and Egypt. The Arabic word mamlūk means slave, and these Mamluks had originally been settled by their owners, the Ayyubid sultans, on an island in the Nile, whence their other common name, Bahrites (from baḥr meaning river). The rulers in the first Mamluk dynasty (1260–1382 AD) were drawn from this group and so known as the Bahrite Mamluks.³ Since their rule coincides with the life-time of Ibn Taimīyah (1263–1328), spent mostly in Damascus but also partly in Cairo, it seems appropriate to outline here the political, social and economic conditions of Egypt and Syria in this period.

1. The Mamluks capture power

The influence of the Mamluks had been growing steadily during the Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt. In 1250, the Ayyubid Sultan Tūrān (1249–50) was slain by Bahrite Mamluks who seized power. The amir Aibak (1250–57), a slave of Tūrān, became the head of the administration, and later proclaimed himself as the Sultan. Aibak was himself assassinated in 1257 and his minor son was raised to the titular Sultanate, while Qutuz (1259–60) a distinguished Mamluk assumed the post of vicegerent. After two years Qutuz took power directly in his own name. He gave, for the first time, a crushing defeat to the Mongols. Despite the victory however, he was stabbed to death the very next year by another slave, Baibars (1260–77), who became Sultan of Egypt. Baibars, through wise administration, succeeded in securing his power and popularity. He reduced the taxes that had made his predecessors’ rule unpopular, and fostered public works, improved canals, harbours and fortifications.

(a) Re-establishment of the Abbasid caliphate

After capturing the Egyptian throne, Baibars conceived the idea of re-establishing the Abbasid Caliphate which, two or three years previously, had been swept away and the whole Abbasid house destroyed, by Hūlāgū (1256–65) at Baghdad. Having heard that an Abbasid had survived the Mongol massacre, Baibars had him brought from Syria to Cairo, and there installed him as caliph. Baibars and officers of state swore fealty to him, while he in turn conferred on Baibars the sovereign title.⁴ Thus, with this religious approval from the caliph, Baibars strengthened his rule.

During the Mamluk rule, the position of the Abbasid caliph varied little under the different sultans: his office remained but a shadow and a name. He was brought out on important state occasions, such as every fresh succession to the sultanate, as the religious head, to grant his recognition of the title, and then put back again. Nevertheless, largely owing to the presence of the Abbasid caliph in Cairo, Egypt became the focus of the then Islamic world. ‘Ulamā’, jurists and scholars were attracted to Cairo and their residence in it made Egypt the centre of learning in the Islamic world.

(b) Sultan Nāṣir Muḥammad bin Qalāwūn

After Baibars’ death, in a period of thirty-three years (from 1277 to 1309) nine sultans came to the throne, but none was able to survive long except Qalāwūn (1279–90) who proved a wise and strong monarch. During his twelve-year reign, he defeated all his enemies and opponents, and left Egypt politically and economically stronger.

In 1309, Nāṣir Muḥammad bin Qalāwūn (1293–94, 1298–1308, 1309–41) came to power for the third time and ruled for the next thirty-two years, a period considered to be the golden age of the Mamluk dynasty. He introduced a number of political and...