Christian And Muslim Views Of Trade Dbq Essay

Christian and Muslim views of trade were similar in the range of years from 70 CE until about the sixteenth century. While they were similar, Christian views of trade and commerce were a bit more passionately negative while the Muslim views were more neutral. Both religions saw commerce as a negative practice because it questioned honesty and opposed their values. If tradesmen were honest, the ancient Christians and Muslims would have been more open to the idea of trade. There were many who were strongly against the practice of merchants. Generally, the Muslims who opposed commerce lived later, ranging from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Specifically, Ibn Khaldun, a scholar in document five and the common guild of weavers involved in a court audience in document seven were passionate Muslims about trade. Ibn Khaldun could have felt the way he did about trade due to his study of the Muslim religious texts. As a scholar, he would be familiar with the Qur’an and the Hadiths and would be able to judge the way of the tradesman according to the religion. Sah Mehmed …show more content…
In the first document, Matthew of the New Testament said “That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Another christian in document four, Thomas Aquinas, discussed the importance of honesty to the Christians, and the prospect of honest trade. Honesty is the key theme in this document, and Thomas opposes trade due to its lack of honesty at the time. Lastly, a monk of the twelfth century discussed the wandering path of St. Godric, a colleague of his, and respectfully disapproved of his past while glorifying his ascent into priesthood. These documents all illustrate the contempt the Christians had for trade. They show their disapproval of the dishonesty of the merchants and condescension of the rich