a systematic analysis of Islam. It is necessary to note that while certain aspects
of Islam were highly conducive to building extensive caravan-based trade
and a vast theocratically based Empire, there were a number of structural
and cultural barriers to a Reformation, and later, resistance to an Enlightenment-
based secular modernity, if not morality.^10 More specifically, the ruling elites
used Shariah-based laws to secure the hegemony of their rule and stability of
their community (Umma), just as the merchants depended on fair, ethical
trade.
More recent scholars inspired by Weber, from Turner (1974) to Schluchter
(1999), have attempted to more fully develop his perspective. Notwithstanding,
the value neutrality of this tradition has had certain important consequences
in framing certain questions. More specifically, Weber, emphasizing the uni-
versality of domination, eschewed an emancipatory vision of society and/or
a telos of freedom and democracy. Therefore, his critiques of the social order
were quite subtle. Islam, as a salvation religion, like Christianity, believed in
an after life and an activist God that intervened in human affairs. While Islam,
as “warrior religion,” in Weber ’s view may have encouraged “territorial
expansion”, or conquest, to save the souls of “infidels”, Islam, did not foster
either “salvation anxiety” or sacralize a “this worldly”, vocational asceticism
among its merchant classes. Husain (N.d.) argues that, while like Protestantism,
Islam encouraged hard work:
Weber shows that rational law, autonomous cities, an independent burgher
class and political stability were totally absent in Islam. But, as it is, he does
not seem to link the absence of capitalism in Islam to the nonexistence of
the prerequisites identified by him. On the contrary, he lists at least two fac-
tors responsible for preventing Islam from evolving naturally. The monothe-
istic Islam of Makkah failed to develop into an ascetic this-worldly religion
because its main carrier was a warrior group. The content of the religious
message was transformed into a set of values compatible with the mun-
dane needs of this warrior group. The spiritual element of Islam as a belief
system with emphasis on salvation was transformed into the secular quest
for mundane gains. The result was that Islam became a religion of accom-
modation rather than of transformation. Second, the original message of298 • Lauren Langman
(^10) While this is not the place to develop the argument, given Italian humanism, fol-
lowing Kant we can find a basis for morality that is not dependent on a God or reli-
gious legitimation.