BOOK OF THE DAY: Meccanomics – The March of the New Muslim Middle ClassBy Vali Nasr Oneworld 308pp, £16.99
IN THE pre-Reformation age, usury, or charging interest for loans, was a serious sin that was condemned by the Christian and Muslim religious authorities.
In the struggle and bloodshed that accompanied the Reformation and the wars of religion, the Vatican quietly, in response to the Protestant threat, dropped usury as a sin and allowed the Christian world to vault ahead, using paper money and credit to achieve predominance in the early formation of what is now termed the capitalist economy.
But for the fact that the Muslim world continued to forbid usury, what is sometimes known as the “western world” might now comprise devout Muslim societies.
Vali Nasr highlights the modernising impulse that lies behind the emergence of Islamic funds, or Sharia-compliant banking, in recent years. It has not been without its controversies, but it is a sign of a religion wrestling with an ordinance that is as ancient and inconvenient today as it was at the time of the Reformation.
Despite the inconvenience of usury laws, the author notes that the accumulation of wealth is less frowned upon in Islam than it is in Christianity. He cites the famous inscription from Istanbul’s Blue Mosque: “A merchant is the beloved of God.”
Contrast this inscription with Christ’s injunction that it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to enter the eye of a needle.
Nasr believes the transformative power of markets and commerce will drive the next phase of development in the Islamic world, viewed by so many commentators as hopeless when it comes to the emergence of democratic values, stable affluence and the equitable treatment of women.
He points to the example of Dubai as a strategic crossroads in trading terms, and notes how consumerism, Islamic piety, diversity, nightlife and commerce sit easily amid the towering shopping malls and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
The author is wise enough to point out that the presence of majority populations of non-citizens without rights may turn the ambitions of many of the Gulf states into a collective pipe-dream. That said, the transformation of Dubai demonstrates the resilience of the Arab trading culture and its acceptance of other traditions.
“Trying to reform other people’s religion is a fool’s game,” the book declares, pointing to the naivety of western commentary that seeks to reform Muslim societies or restore the secular dispensation that made Mustafa Kemal Ataturk so beloved in Turkey.
Islamic fundamentalism, according to Nasr, is the polar opposite of Ataturk-style secularism, and a flawed, or heavily politicised, strain of Islam. Both, he contends, have failed and are now being replaced by a resurgent Islam that rejects violence and extremism, while at the same time upholding values of piety as well as modernity.
Meccanomicsis an antidote to the view of Islam unleashed by the "war on terror" and Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilisations". But Nasr warns that we should not fool ourselves into thinking there are much grounds for liberalising reform in the Muslim world of today.
He says the increased demand for Muslim education goes hand in hand with a parental desire for teaching in maths, science and the acquisition of the technology skills that are crucial to participation in the global economy.
Nasr argues that democracy is not alien to the Islamic world; it is just that it has not taken root. The emergent middle class in Muslim countries is as yet far too small, he says, and the heavy-handed approach of Muslim governments leans too far in favour of state control of the economy.
This book affords the reader rare insights into the situation in Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. It does not set out to be an authoritative guide to the world of the Arabs and Islam, but it is a good place to start for a reader interested in getting beyond the toxic rhetoric about Muslims in recent years.
Conor Lenihan is Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation