political fragmentation and cultural diversity 243whose work, Earnings, was examined earlier (Chapter 5), did not put
agriculture above all types of economic activities. In his views all
activities, agricultural and industrial, are of equal importance with
no specific priority given to any. He differentiated between economic
activities, however, on three grounds: (a) the nature of toil and effort
needed for the activity and whether that of purely physical, intel-
lectual, or a mixture of both, in parallel perhaps to the need for
innovation, (b) the nature of the return from the economic activity
and whether that is of use to a particular group of individuals, or
to society, as a whole, the wider the beneficial base the better the
activity’s, and, (c) the recognition of society to the work needed in
the activity and whether the skill required is regarded as a distinc-
tive attribute or not.
Al-A›fahànì’s recognition of all economic activities, agricultural,
trading and industrial, of being of equal importance could have been
shaped by the effect of his surrounding economic environment. The
city of A›fahan, where he lived, was a centre for many types of eco-
nomic activities. Asfahan was one of the great cities in the Islamic
world (Lambton, 1981). It was surrounded by an intensely cultivated
area, had rich pasture in the neighbouring districts, served as a dis-
tributing center for the villages in the neighborhood and many of
the smaller towns, and was favourably situated with regards to com-
munications. It not only had an important long-distance trade, but
was also a center of many local industries, especially textiles, which,
together with luxury articles, were carried to all parts of the world
(Bahar, 1939). Having been brought up and living in such a city, it
is not surprising therefore to see al-A›fahànìrecognising the importance
of all economic activities and putting them on an equal footing.
Man and Psychology: Motivation for work
In an indirect recognition of the relationship between demand for
goods and their constrained availability, al-A›fahànì suggested that
the drive for work and production is the fear of the lack of goods
despite the need for them. The concept of economic goods could
perhaps be detected from this reference. “Poverty and the fear from
it is the drive for striving hard to generate what is beneficial to
others, either voluntarily or compulsory” (Al-A›fahànì).