200 chapter five
behavior from an Islamic perspective (see Chapter 9). One would
point out, however, that these levels of consumption are bound to
vary from time to time and from one society to another. While the
necessity level might not be as changeable, this is the level that keeps
body and soul together, the moderation level and the line between
that and the level of extravagance would be more changeable depend-
ing on time and societies. Al-Shaibànì, perhaps, would not have been
in disagreement with that modification to his analysis. We find him
clarifying that there might be situations where one would exceed the
level of consumption beyond the expected moderate level, such as
in festival seasons and religious occasions, which is still acceptable
providing that it does not lead to vanity and self-admiration.
Furthermore, the question of utility was examined by al-Shaibànì
throughout his analysis of the above levels of consumption, confirming
that utility diminishes with extra goods consumed—the law of dimin-
ishing utility as we know it today.
Production and Earnings
On the sources of earnings, hence the categories of productive activ-
ities, al-Shaibànìclassified them into these four: hiring-out, industry,
agriculture and trade.
Hiring-out
It is interesting to see al-Shaibànìspecifying hiring-out as a separate
category of production activity. Normally, this is included in other
sectors: agriculture, trade and industry. The justification for identi-
fying this sector separately by al-Shaibànì could be related to the
issue of the ownership of means of production. In that, he is more
precise in relating the activities, and their rewards, to the ownership
of these means. Looking at the classification of activities as an infor-
mative device, his classification helps provide more detailed information
than the classical classification, and his arrangement is more in line
with the need for information, as has been increasingly emphasised
in recent time. More precisely, hiring-out has an effect on each of
two particular issues: the financial performance of business and value-
added statement. In modern financial analysis of accounting state-
ments, it is emphasised that in addition to looking into the relationship
between sources of funds on the one hand, and the income gener-