Comments on: PJ O’Rourke on Islamic Economics

By: Andrew Reynolds

Andrew Reynolds — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 08:41:59 +0000

If you want to get the full piece it is republished in his recent book (read essay collection) Peace Kills: America’s Fun New Imperialism.
The more correct version of the Hadith is, I think:
(Partial Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 23, Number 3443)
Narrated AbuHurayrah:
A man came and said: Apostle of Allah, fix prices. He said: (No), but I shall pray. Again the man came and said: Apostle of Allah, fix prices. He said: It is but Allah Who makes the prices low and high. I hope that when I meet Allah, none of you has any claim on me for doing wrong regarding blood or property.
(http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/abudawud/023.sat.html)

By: jimmythespiv

jimmythespiv — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 17:45:04 +0000

Feza

I think the line “only god can fix prices” should be interpreted as “no man (or woman) can fix prices”. Knowing Mr O’Rourke’s work as I do, I think he probably made it up. I’ll bet the inspiration was Lee Trevino’s famous line (often quoted by the late Hunter S Thompson), that “only god can hit a one iron” .

I think Mr O’Rourke’s point is that it is fundamentally against the tenets of any religion based on fairness and doing good works, to have evil small minded businessmen colluding to fix prices, thereby reducing consumer welfare.

By: Amir

Amir — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 01:00:55 +0000

It appears to be the first part of a longer hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad (saw) was reported to have said:

“Allah is the one who fixes price, who withholds, who gives lavishly, and who provides, and I hope that when I meet Him, none of you would have a claim against me for any injustice with regard to blood or property” — Ahmad, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, ad-Dari, and Abu Ya’la.

I think it is also mentioned in Economic Concepts of Ibn Taymiyah by Abdul Azim Islahi. If I can find more info, I’ll post it later insha’Allah.

By: feza

feza — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 22:12:53 +0000

Does anyone know the source of what is mentioned below? is it a hadith? If so what is its authenticity? If someone can get O’rourke’s e-mail address we can ask him where he read this.

And one of the sayings attributed to Muhammad makes him not just the Prophet of Allah but the prophet of Adam Smith: “Only God can fix prices.”

By: Baybers

Baybers — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 06:56:23 +0000

I would draw everyones attention to the superb piece on the the Islamic finance blog regarding current trends in Islamic finance

“How the Banks are Subverting Islam’s Ban on Usury
By Tarek El Diwany
Financial Times July 14 2006″

link: http://iqtisad.blogspot.com/

By: Tariq Nelson

Tariq Nelson — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 12:46:36 +0000

Amir,

Don’t know if you’ve seen this, but this is interesting as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....man_Empire

Here is another article that appeared:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13...../newsweek/

There are so many Muslims that think that big government/regulated economy is part of Islamic economics

By: Amir

Amir — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 06:13:14 +0000

I found a copy online here if anyone is interested in reading the entire piece.

By: Tariq Nelson

Tariq Nelson — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:44:33 +0000

I found this article and meant to comment on it in light of the Communist economic leanings of some Islamic groups