What do you think?
Rate this book
الإسلام والثراء الفاحش: مأزق الاقتصاد الإسلامي
نبذة الناشر:
ساهمت أزمة الرهون العقارية والديون السيادية التي يتخبط فيها العالم، والربيع العربي الذي تعيش على وقعه هذه الأيام دول عربية عدة، في عودة "الإقتصاد الإسلامي" إلى واجهة النقاش، بإعتباره بديلاً إقتصادياً وحلاً وإكسيرا سحرياً - من وجهة نظر البعض - لإنقاذ العالم من ويلات ما يعيشه من أزمات.
لكن مقابل هذه الحماسة المبالغ فيها إتجاه "الإقتصاد الإسلامي"، يفاجئ المتتبع بإفتقار المكتبة العربية إلى أدبيات عقلانية أكاديمية، تحلل وتقيم تداعيات تطبيق هذا النوع من المقاربات على المجال الإقتصادي.
في هذا الإطار يأتي كتاب المفكر الإقتصادي التركي تيمور كوران، فمراسه الإقتصادي وخبرته في أكبر الجامعات والمعاهد الدولية وتمكنه من الأدبيات الإسلامية الأصيلة، يجعل كوران مؤهلاً أكثر من غيره لإماطة اللثام عن الآليات المؤسساتية المفسرة لركود البلدان العربية الإسلامية.
فبعد سنين من الدرس والتحليل والتمحيص، وإطلاع كبير على آخر الكتابات الإقتصادية الرزينة والأكاديمية، أنتج إثرها عشرات من الأبحاث الرصينة، وعدد من الكتب التي تدِّرس في كبرى الجامعات العالمية، يخلص المفكر الإقتصادي التركي بقوة تحليلية وإستدلالية معتمداً على معطيات تاريخية خالية من أحكام قيمية إلى ما مفاده أن بعض المؤسسات الإسلامية، كانت ولا تزال عقبة في طريق التطور الإقتصادي.
ومن أهمها: 1-قانون الوراثة الإسلامي الذي حال دون تراكم رؤوس الأموال، 2-فردانية القانون الإسلامي الصارمة وإفتقاره إلى مفهوم الشركة، مما أعاق التطور المؤسساتي، وأسهم في إبقاء المجتمع المدني ضعيفاً، 3-الوقف، الشكل الإسلامي المميز للوديعة، الذي حبس موارد جسيمة في مؤسسات أصبحت عاطلة أو مختلة وظيفياً مع مرور الزمن.
لم تكن لهذه المؤسسات - في نظر كوران - سلبيات أو أضرار إقتصادية لدى ظهورها، ولم تتسبب في تدهور مطلق للنشاط الإقتصادي، ولكن مكمن الخلل كونها تحولت تدريجياً إلى عقبات من خلال إستمراريتها لفترات زمنية طويلة، وعدم مواكبتها لتطور العصر وإكراهات واقع متغير، في حين لم يتوان الغرب عن الإنتقاد والتطوير والتجويد الدائم لمؤسساته الإقتصادية.
ساهمت أزمة الرهون العقارية والديون السيادية التي يتخبط فيها العالم، والربيع العربي الذي تعيش على وقعه هذه الأيام دول عربية عدة، في عودة "الإقتصاد الإسلامي" إلى واجهة النقاش، بإعتباره بديلاً إقتصادياً وحلاً وإكسيرا سحرياً - من وجهة نظر البعض - لإنقاذ العالم من ويلات ما يعيشه من أزمات.
لكن مقابل هذه الحماسة المبالغ فيها إتجاه "الإقتصاد الإسلامي"، يفاجئ المتتبع بإفتقار المكتبة العربية إلى أدبيات عقلانية أكاديمية، تحلل وتقيم تداعيات تطبيق هذا النوع من المقاربات على المجال الإقتصادي.
في هذا الإطار يأتي كتاب المفكر الإقتصادي التركي تيمور كوران، فمراسه الإقتصادي وخبرته في أكبر الجامعات والمعاهد الدولية وتمكنه من الأدبيات الإسلامية الأصيلة، يجعل كوران مؤهلاً أكثر من غيره لإماطة اللثام عن الآليات المؤسساتية المفسرة لركود البلدان العربية الإسلامية.
فبعد سنين من الدرس والتحليل والتمحيص، وإطلاع كبير على آخر الكتابات الإقتصادية الرزينة والأكاديمية، أنتج إثرها عشرات من الأبحاث الرصينة، وعدد من الكتب التي تدِّرس في كبرى الجامعات العالمية، يخلص المفكر الإقتصادي التركي بقوة تحليلية وإستدلالية معتمداً على معطيات تاريخية خالية من أحكام قيمية إلى ما مفاده أن بعض المؤسسات الإسلامية، كانت ولا تزال عقبة في طريق التطور الإقتصادي.
ومن أهمها: 1-قانون الوراثة الإسلامي الذي حال دون تراكم رؤوس الأموال، 2-فردانية القانون الإسلامي الصارمة وإفتقاره إلى مفهوم الشركة، مما أعاق التطور المؤسساتي، وأسهم في إبقاء المجتمع المدني ضعيفاً، 3-الوقف، الشكل الإسلامي المميز للوديعة، الذي حبس موارد جسيمة في مؤسسات أصبحت عاطلة أو مختلة وظيفياً مع مرور الزمن.
لم تكن لهذه المؤسسات - في نظر كوران - سلبيات أو أضرار إقتصادية لدى ظهورها، ولم تتسبب في تدهور مطلق للنشاط الإقتصادي، ولكن مكمن الخلل كونها تحولت تدريجياً إلى عقبات من خلال إستمراريتها لفترات زمنية طويلة، وعدم مواكبتها لتطور العصر وإكراهات واقع متغير، في حين لم يتوان الغرب عن الإنتقاد والتطوير والتجويد الدائم لمؤسساته الإقتصادية.
303 pages, Unknown Binding
First published April 12, 2004
7 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Timur Kuran
22 books69 followersBorn in 1954 in New York City, where his parents lived while graduate students at Yale University, Kuran spent his early childhood in Ankara, where his father taught at the Middle East Technical University. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Istanbul. For a decade, he lived just off the campus of Boğaziçi University, where his father was president and professor of Islamic architectural history.
Kuran obtained his secondary education in Turkey, graduating from Robert College in Istanbul in 1973. He then studied economics at Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude in 1977. He went on to Stanford University to obtain a doctorate in economics. His doctoral supervisor was Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate.
Kuran obtained his secondary education in Turkey, graduating from Robert College in Istanbul in 1973. He then studied economics at Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude in 1977. He went on to Stanford University to obtain a doctorate in economics. His doctoral supervisor was Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 18, 2023
الكاتب ابتعد في أجزاء كبيرة من الكتاب عن الاقتصاد وكان اهتمامه الأكبر بتاريخ الأفكار والايديولوجيا الاسلامية فجائت الأفكار سطحية وانتقائية وبها كثير من التعميم. ظهرت أفكار الكاتب مشحونة بانحيازاته الشخصية وهو ما يزعج القارئ الباحث عن التحليل الرصين. الكتاب كذلك به الكثير من التكرار.
January 6, 2018
١- يلقي الكتاب نظرة سريعة على تطورات الاقتصاد الاسلامي منذ منتصف القرن الفائت، ثم يناقش مستقبله، و ما يراه كوران ان هذا الاقتصاد بمصارفه ودورته المالية بين الاعمال الذي تعلن هويه اسلامية رغم فشله في احداث اي تغيير وسط الانظمة الرأسمالية الا انه سيستمر كاقتصاد فرعي موازي نتيجة الفساد وحاجة الحركة الاسلامية له
٢- استعرض كوران النقاش الذي دار خلال العقود الأخيرة حول الاقتصاد الإسلامي بشكل استقصائي معقول
٣- يعطي الكتاب لمحة حول تغلغل الاسلام السياسي في المجتمعات الاسلامية ع المستوى الاقتصادي.. وهذا له طرف علاقة بالنقاش حول مستقبل هذا التيار
٤- الكتاب على اهميته لكل مهتم بالحركات الاسلامية يعيبه التكرار ..لأن كوران كتبه على شكل بحوث اكاديمية سته منفصلة .. على فترات زمنيه متباعده
٥- الفصل الاخير مهم ، يستعرض فيه النظريات حول علاقة الإسلام بالتنمية
٢- استعرض كوران النقاش الذي دار خلال العقود الأخيرة حول الاقتصاد الإسلامي بشكل استقصائي معقول
٣- يعطي الكتاب لمحة حول تغلغل الاسلام السياسي في المجتمعات الاسلامية ع المستوى الاقتصادي.. وهذا له طرف علاقة بالنقاش حول مستقبل هذا التيار
٤- الكتاب على اهميته لكل مهتم بالحركات الاسلامية يعيبه التكرار ..لأن كوران كتبه على شكل بحوث اكاديمية سته منفصلة .. على فترات زمنيه متباعده
٥- الفصل الاخير مهم ، يستعرض فيه النظريات حول علاقة الإسلام بالتنمية
Read
April 3, 2011I definitely had issues with this book. Kuran uses broad brushstrokes to paint Islam in a negative light without using concrete evidence. Furthermore, his analysis focuses on few Islamic countries. His focus when it comes to facts and figures is centered around Turkey with little compare/contrast between other Islamic countries.
July 2, 2023
I was tempted to give the book a 4 stars. Despite a lot of repetitiveness (due to the format of collection of articles, I’m sure) i actually found this work from Dr Timur Kuran to be worthwhile and indeed very commendable.
There are many valuable and relevant points raised in this text. It is rare - unfortunately - to read Muslim intellectuals being so openly and bravely critical of touchy subjects such as the one at hand. Besides, constructive criticism should always be welcome and the debate of ideas encouraged.
However, i do have a few remarks on how the book sort of let me down a little, at times. Let’s slot that one in a box tagged “some gentle constructive criticism of my own”:
1. The author is way too influenced by the Turkish secular thought of Ataturk &Co. He can’t help having a dig at the Islamic Tradition, sometimes without any value addition.
2. The man is also a bit too much in awe in front the superior West.. there is good and bad and a lot of luck-of-the-draw in everything.. including in the circumstances that led to the rise of the West. Like with everything in history, there were countless critical moments that could very easily have yielded completely different outcomes, triggered different chain of events and opened alternative sliding doors. Same applies to the rise and fall of the anterior Muslim dynasties.. and indeed all major political forces of the past( Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Persians… etc). Hindsight is a beautiful thing!
3. His ref. is almost always Turkey and Ottoman Empire. Fair enough, but we, Muslims, do not all have the same historical trajectory. For example, in my part of the world - Moroccan heritage -
i. Moroccans are not and never have been that impressed nor wowed by the West! True it took them some time to recognise and accept the west’s superiority and that did cost them a lot (still does). An earlier accurate reading of the bitter reality would have saved them a lot of time and effort! Many of the reasons why that was the case have to do indeed with concepts and ideas developed in the book. The sclerosis promoted by the ruling class and even more so the religious leaders (foqaha’a) is definitely among the major factors at the root of the issue. But they never let this sorry state of affairs dent their collective self-confidence or question their abilities. There are of course a number of people who fall in that sort of intellectual servitude. After all, it is only normal to see the dominated admire and seek to copy the dominant. Be that as it may, that servitude has never taken hold at the societal level. Still today, anything branded “beldi” (local) is considered superior to “roumi”!
ii. The Amazigh culture has a highly sophisticated ancestral concept of banking with very old yet very modern notions such as collective safe-keeping and custody, settlement processes, time value, compensation mechanisms.. etc. So the generalisation about No Banking technologies ever emerged in the Muslim world comes a bit short.
iii. The merchants might have been looked at with disdain in the Ottoman World - I didn’t know that - but not in the Moroccan. In the North African kingdom, throughout history, a merchant is a very respectable and high-status occupation. So much so, that in the Moroccan Arabic dialect, Tajer (Merchant) is synonymous with a well-to-do person. Same goes in Arabic Gulf and the peninsula, for example. The Merchant is and has always been a very highly regarded and respected fellow in the historic Hejaz,for instance. It is still the case in modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
4. Finally, our friend Timur would do well to take a quick refresher in statistics, proba theory and the risks and fallacies that come with empirical studies. Basic stuff like correlation vs causality…
Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) was a very successful man. He used to wear very ugly turtleneck sweaters.. let’s examine the impact of wearing such rubbish pieces of garment on successful entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. I suggest we do a Principal Component Analysis. Suggest the following regression factors:
Fes tarbouch (or Shashiya)
Jellaba/Caftan
Turkish Jabador
Expensive hand made tailor suit and high quality leather shoes from Bond Street in London
Nike Sneakers
Funny T-Shirts
I am sure this study will offer ample justification to the 1920s New Turks to ban the traditional Anatolian dress-code. I bet you 100% of people who set up Apple Inc were not dressed that way. Shall we deduce that one needs not wear the Tarbouch El Fassi if one wants to create Apple Inc?
There are many valuable and relevant points raised in this text. It is rare - unfortunately - to read Muslim intellectuals being so openly and bravely critical of touchy subjects such as the one at hand. Besides, constructive criticism should always be welcome and the debate of ideas encouraged.
However, i do have a few remarks on how the book sort of let me down a little, at times. Let’s slot that one in a box tagged “some gentle constructive criticism of my own”:
1. The author is way too influenced by the Turkish secular thought of Ataturk &Co. He can’t help having a dig at the Islamic Tradition, sometimes without any value addition.
2. The man is also a bit too much in awe in front the superior West.. there is good and bad and a lot of luck-of-the-draw in everything.. including in the circumstances that led to the rise of the West. Like with everything in history, there were countless critical moments that could very easily have yielded completely different outcomes, triggered different chain of events and opened alternative sliding doors. Same applies to the rise and fall of the anterior Muslim dynasties.. and indeed all major political forces of the past( Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Persians… etc). Hindsight is a beautiful thing!
3. His ref. is almost always Turkey and Ottoman Empire. Fair enough, but we, Muslims, do not all have the same historical trajectory. For example, in my part of the world - Moroccan heritage -
i. Moroccans are not and never have been that impressed nor wowed by the West! True it took them some time to recognise and accept the west’s superiority and that did cost them a lot (still does). An earlier accurate reading of the bitter reality would have saved them a lot of time and effort! Many of the reasons why that was the case have to do indeed with concepts and ideas developed in the book. The sclerosis promoted by the ruling class and even more so the religious leaders (foqaha’a) is definitely among the major factors at the root of the issue. But they never let this sorry state of affairs dent their collective self-confidence or question their abilities. There are of course a number of people who fall in that sort of intellectual servitude. After all, it is only normal to see the dominated admire and seek to copy the dominant. Be that as it may, that servitude has never taken hold at the societal level. Still today, anything branded “beldi” (local) is considered superior to “roumi”!
ii. The Amazigh culture has a highly sophisticated ancestral concept of banking with very old yet very modern notions such as collective safe-keeping and custody, settlement processes, time value, compensation mechanisms.. etc. So the generalisation about No Banking technologies ever emerged in the Muslim world comes a bit short.
iii. The merchants might have been looked at with disdain in the Ottoman World - I didn’t know that - but not in the Moroccan. In the North African kingdom, throughout history, a merchant is a very respectable and high-status occupation. So much so, that in the Moroccan Arabic dialect, Tajer (Merchant) is synonymous with a well-to-do person. Same goes in Arabic Gulf and the peninsula, for example. The Merchant is and has always been a very highly regarded and respected fellow in the historic Hejaz,for instance. It is still the case in modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
4. Finally, our friend Timur would do well to take a quick refresher in statistics, proba theory and the risks and fallacies that come with empirical studies. Basic stuff like correlation vs causality…
Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace) was a very successful man. He used to wear very ugly turtleneck sweaters.. let’s examine the impact of wearing such rubbish pieces of garment on successful entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. I suggest we do a Principal Component Analysis. Suggest the following regression factors:
Fes tarbouch (or Shashiya)
Jellaba/Caftan
Turkish Jabador
Expensive hand made tailor suit and high quality leather shoes from Bond Street in London
Nike Sneakers
Funny T-Shirts
I am sure this study will offer ample justification to the 1920s New Turks to ban the traditional Anatolian dress-code. I bet you 100% of people who set up Apple Inc were not dressed that way. Shall we deduce that one needs not wear the Tarbouch El Fassi if one wants to create Apple Inc?
June 11, 2010
Why is it that despite the tremendous amount of wealth that has been created over the centuries, Muslim nations still remain economically backward? Could it be due to the fact that Muslims have stayed away from conventional investments for fear of interest? Or is it a general failure of Muslims in general to truly embrace capitalism in favour of more “Islamic” economic systems?
Timur Kuran discusses these issues in a series of well-researched essays compiled in this timely book. In them, he explores the notion of Islamic Banking, the Muslim charity system and their various pitfalls which he believes has a part to play in the current state of Muslims today.
Some topics may be highly controversial, especially with regards to the discussions on “Islamic” banking and interest in Islam. Nonetheless the work successfully questions conventional wisdom and I would recommend it to everyone wishing to embark on Islamic banking or any other Islamic financial product that is widely sold in the retail markets today.
Timur Kuran discusses these issues in a series of well-researched essays compiled in this timely book. In them, he explores the notion of Islamic Banking, the Muslim charity system and their various pitfalls which he believes has a part to play in the current state of Muslims today.
Some topics may be highly controversial, especially with regards to the discussions on “Islamic” banking and interest in Islam. Nonetheless the work successfully questions conventional wisdom and I would recommend it to everyone wishing to embark on Islamic banking or any other Islamic financial product that is widely sold in the retail markets today.
May 13, 2016
Mammon is a character and concept from the christian bible. But this volume is about islam. Than I discover a mess of terms that can or can not be equivalent: islam, islamism and muslim. And gosh! 200 pages to cover many countries with dramatically different backgrounds? Talking about simple minded. Only whom? The third of the global population or just Timur Kuran?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews