Eran Vaknin
The religious views of Muslims and Christians towards merchants and trade until about 1500 differed. The Islamic religion believed merchants as dishonest and trade as unmanly, whereas the religion of Christianity viewed merchants and trade positively.
As stated in Document 2, Muslims only viewed trade as positive if both sides were benefiting, that a fair amount of any product should be traded fairly and between both sides. Merchants were untruthful and unholy according to the Qu’ran. Even in a
17th court document shown in Document 7, that when purchasing goods for trade, all supply must be distributed evenly, and one person cannot buy all one product.
According to a well-educated Muslim Scholar in Document 5, merchants and traders made a living from an “unholy” way, which took away much of their manliness, which was compared to the “poorest of the poor” being manlier than merchants and traders.
Although, Christians did not have the same unlawful and unmanly view point on merchants and traders from the beginning of Christianity. Stated in Document 1, an excerpt from the bible, that it will be harder for a rich man to enter heaven than a man that has worked hard in his lifetime. Document 3 is told by a Christian monk about a merchant named St. Godric, a good man who worked his way to the top, as well as gave what he had left of his earnings to poor people. In Document 6, it is shown that
Christian merchants believed that trade is good, as long as it is intended