Revelatory Ethics

Revelatory Ethics

The Ethical Imperatives of Pricing in the Capitalist and Islamic Economic Systems (Case Study: The Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohammad Bahmanabadi 1
Hadi Yasaghi 2
1 Master's degree in Economics from the University of Tehran and fourth-level student at the Qom Seminary (Corresponding author).
2 PhD in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/re.2026.580844.2169
Abstract
Capitalism and the ethics of production and consumption orientation are important topics in the history of early Islam. Some researchers, especially orientalists, have considered this issue in the life of the Messenger of God (PBUH). Benedict Kohler, a German banker and historian, has conducted a study on this subject entitled “Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism.” This book is a study on the economic mechanism of the governments of the early Islamic period and its impact on the capitalist economy and the free market. The alignment of Islamic economics and capitalism on the issue of government non-intervention in pricing is based on the statement “Prices are in the hands of God.” Kohler's perspective is the focal point of this book. What is important in this research is the ethical examination of the processes by which prices are formed in the capitalist system; monopoly in capital, production and consumption orientation through advertising are among the important principles that are controversial from the point of view of Islamic ethics. This article shows, using the method of critical analysis, that Kohler, by neglecting the structural and ethical differences in the concepts of profit, ownership and distributive justice, has limited himself to an apparent similarity between the two schools. In capitalism, marginal profit is the main driver of resource allocation and factors such as monopoly, directional advertising and concentration of capital are considered to be inherent components of the price formation mechanism; while in the Islamic economic school, pricing is within the framework of the jurisprudential and ethical concept of "mutual consent" and "prohibition of exploitation" and the logic of wealth distribution is based on the "right of succession of man on earth" and not simply on profit-making.
Keywords
capitalism
pricing
free market
profit
wealth ethics
Islamic ethics
Subjects
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Revelatory Ethics
Volume 16, Issue 2
Summer 2026
Pages 115-140