Mathurin Duckworth history essay 1

Submitted By mathurinduck
Words: 581
Pages: 3

Mathurin Duckworth
October 23, 2014
Knox
7th

Both Christians and Muslims thought that that merchants and traders were cheaters, but only Christians thought of traders as sinful, while Muslims accepted it and thought it was better thing to do than stealing. But then, Christians began to think that God granted them with the ability to obtain riches, but Muslims began to think traders were uncaring for people. The Bible states that rich men should never be accepted into heaven. Christians thought most rich people were not caring for others, selfish, and neither were traders because they cheated people for their money. During the early years of Christianity, trade was not viewed in a positive way, but it was more considered like an obstacle that would stand and block the bridge linking a person to heaven. The Qur’an states that no one should never take others property, meaning that we should not steal but actually trade instead. A way people understand why merchants were not liked how one merchant writes letters to another merchant. A letter from one merchant to another shows us what their motives were and if they did cheat people out of their money. Around the fourteenth century there was a change in how Muslims view trading and merchants. Muslims began to think that traders do not care about the people but, that merchants want to make money even if it meant cheating people. In one document it tells about a Muslim scholar who wrote about how he knew that trading was a way of making money but the ways traders and merchants used were wrong and cheated their way to richness. At first Christians were against merchants and trade because of the unfairness of it and the Muslim's were fairer towards them, attitudes changed when trading became widespread and merchants gained peoples respect. In the Bible, the Lord states in the New Testament "A rich man will never enter the kingdom of God. And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. The early Christian beliefs on merchants and trade were that they were condemned. Jesus is telling us that riches, money, and wealth is not everything. There are greater things in life