Dbq Christianity And Islam Essay

Christianity’s and Islam’s outlook on trade significantly varied from the 1st century until the 15th century. Trade in the two religions differed greatly at first, since one believed that it was sinful, while the other embraced it. However, by the end of the Post Classical era, the religions' view on trade and merchants were almost as if they were switched. Christian teachings warn about the consequences from the effects of trade, whereas the Muslims practice trade as an accepted way of life (Docs 1,2,3,6). Even with these differences ideas on the topic, they still preached the importance of fair trade (Docs 2,4,5,7). By the 15th and 16th centuries, Muslims and Christians both changed when Muslims started to demand fairer trade and Christians

Document 2 shows that Muslims only support equal trade because unfair commerce is not endorsed by the Qur’an. In Document 4, it shows that Christians will not pardon the practice of double dealing. Ibn Khaldun writes that commerce, by definition, is a deceitful practice, full of lies and tricks, but that at the same time, it’s a natural way of life that still requires Muslims to practice the fair exchange of goods (Doc 5). This shows that Muslims also knew the nature of the job they endorsed, and warned against becoming a sinful merchant. The Islamic court of Ankara judged a case where the Turkish weavers’ guild brought up charges against a merchant for unfair purchase and hoarding of materials (Doc 7). This shows the animosity that Muslims hold for unjust commerce. They found it unfair for one person to monopolize on an industry and leave every other merchant of the same trade with nothing. This source is reliable because of its state importance. As a government document, there is little chance of bias being in it. All of these documents show that both Christianity and Islam are shown to oppose deceptive trading