Religious texts, moral prescriptions and economy: the case of interest

Abstract

Outlines the attitudes of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to usury, discusses the application of religious principles to economic transactions and argues that Islamic practices with regard to charging interest are not actually inconsistent with Christian Scholastic thinking in the late medieval period. Considers ideas about money and interest from Aristotle onward and uses Scholastic arguments against interest to illuminate the Islamic moral position. Recognizes that in subsistence economies interest causes injustice, but believes that in wealth‐producing economies religious texts should be applied differently to serve “the common good”.