my understanding is that this doesn't work out in practice, much the same way Christian teachings are ignored or "loopholes" are found. but boy is that the exact right attitude, on paper, to have towards money.
my understanding is that this doesn't work out in practice, much the same way Christian teachings are ignored or "loopholes" are found. but boy is that the exact right attitude, on paper, to have towards money.
According to graeber at least, the loopholes were a relatively modern invention, and this was taken pretty seriously during the Islamic golden age. Partly, this was due to an acceptance of merchants in Islam. They didn't have a problem with merchants making money, but then along the back of that was an assumption of mutual aid. Interesting stuff.
The loophole for merchants in the Middle Ages was uneven business partnerships where one person would provide the funding to the person who was actually going to do the work. Then, the person who gave the money would get their money back in full plus a percent of the total profit (if the venture was successful). (from this book https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691139319/under-crescent-and-cross)
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