The Book of Revenue By Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam, trans. Imran A. K. Nyazee (Reading, UK: Garnet Pub. Ltd. and Doha, Qatar: The Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization, 2003. 608 pages.)

Abstract

With the revival of Islamic finance, the translation of this seminal work
on fiscal matters is a significant landmark. While such Islamic thinkers as
Baqir al-Sadr, Abu’l A`la al-Mawdudi, and others were formulating the
thinking that eventually engendered Islamic banks and finance houses,
most of the classical reference works in Arabic remained obscure and
unpublished. Over the past 50 years, however, much has changed.
Of course, the Qur’an and Sunnah provide a wealth of material on
transactions (mu`amalat). However, during the first few centuries, Muslim
jurists expended great energy on the subject, especially as Muslims
encountered business practices and legal customs that differed from those
found in seventh-century Arabia. That this body of law was ignored for
several centuries, however, is part of the legacy of colonialism and, in part,
a very natural phenomenon. After the colonial and other powers marginalized
Islam’s social and cultural institutions, it is not surprising that fiqh
was relegated to academic settings. Moreover, in order for it to become
vibrant once again, it required practitioners who were conversant with the
classical discipline as well as cognizant and appreciative of the world’s
new realities.
Beginning with the theoretical musings of such thinkers as Baqir al-
Sadr, Mawdudi, and Qutb, the growth of Islamic banks and investment
houses in the decades of the seventies and eighties provided the incentive
for more practical studies; and a new generation of Muslim jurists began
work in earnest on modern finance. What began as a handful of small
banks in the Gulf in the 1970s, developed in the 1980s into over 100 such ...