Book Review: Muslim Economic Thinking and Institutions in the 10th AH/16th Century, by: Abdul Azim Islahi, Reviewed by: Mohd Saeed Khan مراجعة علمية لكتاب: التفكير الاقتصادي والمؤسسات الإسلامية في القرن العاشر الهجري / السادس عشر - بقلم: عبدالعظيم إصلاحي - مراجعة: محمد سعيد خان

The study of ‘History of Economic Thought’ yields its readers an opportunity to have insight into the origin and growth of economic ideas which eventually culminate in economic theories capable of explaining the economic realities scientifically. The frequently asked question in this context is when we have at our disposal the sophisticated tools of theoretical tools why should we go into the past to find as to how have they been evolved? The answer lies in the fact that such knowledge offers us a window to look into the contemporary dialogue that goes on in different time periods in any society. Further, since economic ideas and the economic realities hold a dialectical relationship between them the insight into the contemporary realities become prerequisite for the study of History of Economic Thought in the right context. So we acquire knowledge about how a phenomenon was viewed by contemporary thinkers. The economic realities consist of, (one); the way man’s means of livelihood expands and (two); how various institutions emerge and grow to facilitate the former.