Surah Quraysh

Abstract

For the civilizing (taming) of the Quraysh For their civilizing We have caused the caravans to move forth In Winter and in Summer So let them worship the Lord of this House who has fed them against hunger And has made them safe from fear The Glorious Quran (Surah 106) (translated by M. Pickthall) The nature and scope of an Islamic economic system has been the subject of considerable discussion in recent years. While there is something of a consensus on the point that Islamic economics is neither Capitalism nor Socialism, there is considerably more debate on the prevalence and extent of state intervention in an Islamic economy. Perhaps a closer look at Surah Quraysh may be helpful in this context. The surah is one of the earliest surahs to be revealed and it belongs to a period when Islam was laying forth its general ideological outlines to the idolators of Makkah. It extracts a message from commercial life of Quraysh and it adumbrates a world view which can be helpful in guiding us to fmt principles. The translation I am using is that of Pickthall and it is important that he tries to provide as literal an interpretation of the Holy Qur’an as is feasible. The word “i-la-f,” which Pickthall translates as ’’taming” civilizing” has been variously translated by other authors as “gathering,” “security,” and ”union.” Without claiming any expertise in Arabic etymology, it may be pointed out that neither “gathering” nor “union” is quite consistent with the subsequent text, which focuses on the commercial success of Quraysh due to the location of the Ka'bah at Makkah. It is not Quraysh who were “gathered” or ”united”, at the religious fairs, if one may so term the occasions. “Security,” on the other hand, is not in direct opposition to the meaning of the next siimh but the connotation, as relating to armed warfare, is inappropriate in this context ...