Book Review: Contributions of Muslim Scholars to Economic Thought and Analysis (11-905 A.H./ 632-1500 A. D.), by: Abdul Azim Islahi, Reviewed by: M. Kabir Hassan مراجعة علمية لكتاب: مساهمات علماء المسلمين إلى الفكر والتحليل الاقتصادي (11-905 هـ / 632-1500 أ. د.) - بقلم: عبد العظيم إصلاحي - مراجعة: محمد كبير حسن

I was delighted to read this book on the history of Islamic economic thought by Professor Abdul Azim Islahi, a distinguished scholar of Islamic economic history. Islamic scholarship in the middle ages, when the European nations were in the vacuum of knowledge, preserved the Greek-Roman writings and transmitted this knowledge from the East to the West. The Schumpeterian “Great Gap” is not realistic. The Islamic scholars during seventh and sixteen century filled this gap by preserving, translating and retranslating Greek thoughts and enriched them with ideas and concepts from Islamic faith. This is not the first work of the author on Islamic economic history. He has written very extensively on the economic thoughts of Imam Ibn Taymiah and Ibn al-Qayyim. Like his previous works in this area, he provides materials and references that can fill the “great gap” in the history of economic thought. His book also provides guidance for those who are willing to search for truth in the history of economic thought and find common grounds in sciences, cultural understanding and inter-civilization dialogue.