A Mercantile Economy. Since business is as old as civilization, the early Muslims inherited existing economic systems instead of creating a new system. Indeed, the revelation of the Qur'an may be seen on the economic front as mainly concerned with fairness in dealing within the existing system( Qur'an 6:152; 7:85; 11:35, 84-85; 17:35; 26:181-182; 55:7-9; 83:1-3). Thus, in many respects, the medieval Muslim economy resembled the other economic systems of its time. Other systems were also interested in fair business practices. Even in the relatively arid Middle East, wealth was principally derived from land, so most laws dealing with commerce were based on the central and well-understood background assumption that wealth was vested in land. Like several other premodern systems, the medieval Muslim economy was based on a bimetallic currency standard of gold and silver coins, a situation that extended back to the time...