On the Empire of Money: The Representation of Money in Arab-Islamic Culture

Abstract

This paper is premised on the assumption that scholarly studies on al-Māl (money) and its role in human-lives have largely been seen to be the exclusive preserve of social science scholars. This has consequently led to the elision of other perspectives, particularly the cultural, on the category. This paper therefore attempts to fill that gap. It begins with a review of the literal meanings ofal-Māl in Muslim and non-Muslim cultures, the jurisprudential construction of the concept and insightful perspectives from, among others, C. Turner, W. Muhammad and M. Plessner. Using works of Abī Tayyib al-Mutannabī and Aḥmad Shawqī as cultural sites, the paper subsequently anchors its discussion of humanity’s notions of money on three axes: money as a necessity, money as a sociological referent and money
as the essence of existence.