political fragmentation and cultural diversity 255Third, estate properties which are divided into two main types,
the first was what he called roofed, such as houses, hotels, shops,
public baths, mills, bakeries, and the second is the cultivated, such
as orchards, vineyards, pastures, woods, and the right to the use of
rivers, and
Fourth, which he seemed to have viewed as living beings, such as
animals and, in accordance with the practice at the time, slaves.
His classification of wealth seemed to have been a managerial type
of classification, that focused on the role of the possessions, or assets,
and their functions in generating extra wealth, rather on their uses
otherwise. Al-Dìmashqì’s classification could be arranged as mobile,
current or short-term, items, which are used mainly in trading, and
fixed, or long-term items, which are kept basically for the purpose
of generating trade. Either in accounting terms or economic termi-
nology, al-Dìmashqì’s classification pre-empted, to a considerable
extent, our modern accounting and economic classification that has
emerged centuries after him. Coming from as early as the twelfth
century, this can but reflect how far sighted his views were in per-
ceiving the interrelationships in the process of wealth creation and
how aware he was of the importance of a proper understanding of
the structure of business assets to the entrepreneur. It is a notewor-
thy classification of wealth, or assets if we use modern terms, that
is of a paramount importance to managers in the process of deci-
sion making.
Sources of Wealth
In an interesting presentation, al-Dìmashqì explained the various
sources of acquiring wealth, with some sources more acceptable than
others. These are two main sources, with the second further subdi-
vided into three subsources. The first source is accidental, which is
mainly related to reasons of inheritance and the like, while the sec-
ond source is particularly articulate in that it requires an endeavour
and intent to work towards it. The second source is divided into
three further types, the first is authoritative, the second is entrepre-
neurial, and the third is a mixture of both. The authoritative source
is divided further into governmental, Sùltàniyyah, and non-govern-
mental. The Sùltàniyyah source could be either through the power of
the government of raising funds, such as taxes, and/or the government