The Book of Earning- Book Review

The Book of Earning a Livelihood

“The Book of Earning a Livelihood” is an excellent and much needed book that is more relevant now than ever, since the age of materialism afflicts us with greater force than ever before. It may be the earliest book in economics (and Islamic economics) and when economics is defined according to its original definition of “household management”, this is one of the earliest books on the subject of economics (yes etymology is also discussed in the book).

The book is written by the one of the greatest Muslim scholars, Imam Muhammed ash-Shaybani (born 132 AH so is a very early book), the genius and leading Mujtahid and student of Imam Abu Hanifa, and teacher of Imam Shafi’i. Dr Adi Setia has done an excellent job in translating it, as he has been focusing on translating early Islamic texts related to economics.

 At the same time the book shows the comprehensiveness of Islam to encompass all aspects and relate them to each other so beautifully. That is beautifully expressed when the writer explains the Qur’anic verse “And help each other to kindness and conscience” (Ma’ida, v2)  as including helping and cooperating with other people through working/job (thus earning), which allows a person to then feed himself/herself and get enough energy to worship Allah swt.  This means for example that the person who initially helped the other through work (like giving a job or making clothes), will get the reward of the worship of the employee. Thus we get a new perspective in hiring employees, and in working, and in helping people (even feeding them), and the task of hiring people becomes one connected to Allah swt and reward, if the intention is correct.

The book is divided into 50 chapters and 3 appendixes in 330+ pages. It was supposed to be 1000 chapters, but the author died before he could write more, revealing the widespread knowledge of Imam Shaybani. As the title suggests discusses the various aspects related to earning and spending, often bringing thought provoking insights, and relates them to ethics, Islam and philosophy.

The chapters range from issues of whether gratitude when being rich is better or being patient when poor, whether one who gives money is better or the one who takes, whether marriage is better or worship, what is the limit to spending on oneself, is agriculture better than commerce, is work better than worship, how various trades relate to each other, dealing with wealth and so on, whilst using the Qur’an and Sunnah as evidence. It shows how the early scholars thought and related Islam to the day to day lives of the people.

The book emphasises the need of circulating money from the rich to the poor, instead of just between the rich, and to not do things that would make the poor jealous. This is done by discussions of the virtues of giving, and the obligation to give, and controlling one’s lifestyle.

Related to controlling our food appetites, a very interesting Hadith of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is quoted about one of the signs of the Last Hour, which may refer to the modern idea of buffets where tables circulate round, and the bowls move round, is “large bowls (of food) are circulated around their table spreads, whilst (divine) condemnation descends on them” (pg 92, also similar in TIrmidhi).

In the appendix (which forms about 40% of the book) are a lot of gifts offered by Adi Setia to the readers since he includes excellent discussions on money management in Islam, a new vision of an Islamic gift based economy, and reflections over interfaith dialogue over tackling structural greed in society. One gets the immediate thought that Adi Setia is a new critical genius (he teaches Islamic philosophy of science and the Islamic worldview at IIUM) that the Muslim world should appreciate more. His ideas reflect the way that Muslims who brought the Muslim world to the golden age thought, i.e. by looking at different types of knowledge through an Islamic worldview, and critically and solidly engaging with them masha'Allah.

This is shown by how he gives a framework for the economy by using the Qur’an to show that man’s wants should be limited, that needs take priority, that there is an abundance of resources (contrary to the scarcity view of many people), and that man should turn to Allah swt since He will give more. So the revival of the world from its modern ecological destruction lies in returning to Allah swt.

In conclusion, though I only covered a few points in the review, this book is a welcome addition to both the Muslim and non-Muslim world, and applying its ideas leads to a new and refreshing step forward in solving many of the world’s problems.

The Subtle Blessings in the Saintly Lives of Al-Mursi and Abul-Hassan- Book Review

Many people easily get into the trap of saying “there’s no good men/women out there”, but we should avoid falling into that mode of thinking, because often we attract the type of people that we are ourselves, or think of, like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The “Subtle Blessings” is a book that reminds readers of the blessings that God has bestowed upon humanity by the continued prevalence of excellent people on this Earth, who though rare, nevertheless exist and serve to guide people towards their higher potentials, and in achieving tranquillity in Allah Most High. This is in contrast to most celebrities these days who pull people to their lower selves.

The Prophet described 3 integral parts of Islam, the legal side, the intellectual side, and the spiritual side. The book focuses primarily on the latter (without diminishing the other aspects), since it improves people and makes a person’s Iman (religious conviction) and its sweetness grow. It contains the teachings of two spiritual masters called “Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili” and “Abul Abbas al-Mursi”. Both strove to embody the outward and inward character traits and practices of the Prophet Muhammed (Peace of Allah be upon him), practically reforming the lives of many.  It explains how they went about it in their own lives, and in the lives of others, and how people can adopt such characteristics in their daily lives and make the world a much better place through humility, preference for others, honesty etc.

The book is split to an introduction to the spiritual and intellectual side of Islam, and then the teachings of the shaykhs based upon the Qur’an, Hadiths, sayings, poetry, and explanations of spiritual and religious matters, thus catering to all types of Muslims.

The author, Ibn Ata, a leading legal scholar of his age, at the start had a strongly negative view of them, but when he actually met them, he was blown away, and started keeping their company.  Abbas was instrumental in removing the doubts of Ibn Ata, and helped to increase his certainty in the Divine. With wisdom in relation to solving peoples’ problems, giving sincere advice, giving profound commentaries on the Qur’an, Hadiths (Prophetic sayings) and poetry, the two shaykhs gained large followings amongst both the higher and lower echelons of society.  It goes to show that if one sincerely searches for great people, he will find them to exceed expectations.

Their influence was also extended by the numerous miracles that the author witnessed through those scholars, such as the ability to see into the hearts of people and cure them. These show the benefits of achieving closeness to Allah Most High, the paltriness of attaching ourselves to the lower world, and the need to avoid modern ideologies of scientism and materialism.

 Abbas’ teachings are summarised by his saying: “When I was a young boy, there was a shadow play being put on beside our house, so I went to see it. When I went the next morning to see the teacher at the Qur’anic school, who was a friend of Allah, he uttered the following lines of poetry when he saw me:

“You who behold shadow images in wonderment,
You yourself are the shadow if only you could perceive it!”

If you put that story in modern terms, where people watch movies and theatres, it gives us the lesson "why are you watching all that, when what is more amazing is the real movie that you are in, where Allah swt is controlling and directing everything, and everything, including you are "actors" and are playing the intended script. Look around and learn from the movie you are in, and change things, don't just waste away in front of the tv."

At the end of the day, it is to Allah that we turn; so do aim to be of the best people. If we have sincere intentions and take the proper procedures, the experiences and wisdom discussed in this book are not beyond our reach. 

Review: The Indicator to the Virtues of Commerce

The Indicator to the Virtues of Commerce

Book review

The recent translation by Dr Adi Setia of one of the earliest books in economics, “The Indicator to the Virtues of Commerce”, written by Abu al-Fadl Ja’far al-Dimashqi (a merchant and Islamic scholar from the 6^th century) is a welcome addition to the modern world, where too often credit is given to Adam Smith for the founding of economics.

This book shows that economic thought was prevalent at quite a sophisticated level even within the early history of the Islamic world, but this aspect perhaps was ignored by modern historical economists because the book is actually about commerce, but has economic aspects spread throughout the book. Or it can be because the Western world wants to claim credit for invention of such fields (though sound papers have been written on the economics of Imam Ghazali etc, they are not generally given credit by historical economists).

The book is divided into twenty-four chapters, ranging from descriptions of wealth, different types of merchandise and trades, measurements of items, to how people should act with their income.

The starting discussion gives a refreshing insight on the different types of wealth, how they are achieved, their different virtues, money and the different types of money (including the suitability of different types, such as gold and silver). It shows that the current paper currency, that is the bane of modern society through inflation, can be countered through a different type of money.

Even the description of merchandise is fascinating since it shows the different items sold in historical Asia, how to assess their quality and how to deal with them (such as how to preserve meat) and how life must have been like in such an era.  It does away with the notions that life in the middle ages must have been backward and unsophisticated. Yet it indicates that there were some counterfeiters then too.

But the more relevant ideas come through the discussion of how businesses/merchants should behave towards customers, and this includes not just not cheating them, but also to be generous, not to deceive, to offer a fair price, and so on. It emphasises the need for knowledge and good character/morals amongst businessmen, how to detect and avoid deceptive people, and how to ensure that the person you are dealing with is reliable. All this is needed in current times when many people go to extremes in deceiving people.

Furthermore there is theoretical and practical discussion of economics, through how the forces of market demand and supply work, how prices are set and change, how arbitrage is made, the causes of price changes, what is needed to reach the “correct” price (like an equilibrium price) and so on. This means that one can understand to some extent the thought processes of businesses at the author’s time, and that their knowledge was very practical.

The book’s final chapters discuss the approaches to the preservation of wealth, how to plan expenditure and revenue, both at the governmental level and the individual level. It emphasises prudence like modern accounting, tries to curb greed, and balances between profit making and risk taking.

The book is not large, about 172 pages, so it can be read through quickly. But some areas need to be reflected over, since some theory comes into play, and one should try to understand it and ponder over the life at the time. It is a welcome addition to the history of Islamic civilisation. and in cultivating an authentic appreciation for it.