the abbasìd’s golden age 173doubt, but that did not stop Abù-Yùsuf from referring to himself as
being asked. A credit to a jurist who returns credit to a caliph. Also,
that could perhaps be the managerial style of al-Rashìd, a great
caliph in whose reign the state reached, as history books assert, its
golden age in science and politics, towards his highly appreciated
judge. Or it could be that caliphs treated their judges in general and
chief justice in particular with due affection. Jurists were the men of
Islamic precepts and law. It emphasises this point further to know,
as mentioned earlier, that caliphs during the Umayyad and Abbasìd
caliphate were more of political leaders than exalted jurists.
Second, Abù-Yùsuf seemed to have assumed the role of advisor,
counsel, and almost preacher to the caliph in his book. We see that
throughout the introductory chapter of the book where he is con-
stantly reminding the caliph of his responsibility, duties and obliga-
tions towards his subjects, God’s commands and the commands of
his Prophet with regard to “the shepherd, the folk, and the owner
of the folk”, and God’s reward and punishment in all matters related.
In 17 pages out of 217 (the edition on hand), the warning tone of
preaching does not stop. Even more interestingly, Abù-Yùsuf in these
compelling pages seemed to have had the courage to quote the
Umayyad caliph Umar ibn-Abdel-Azìz, Umar II (717–720), as a role
model of piety. An Umayyad caliph quoted for an Abbasìd Caliph
as an example to follow could be a recipe for a disaster! But Umar
II was special, so was Abù-Yùsuf, and must also have been Harùn
al-Rashìd the caliph. This helps demonstrate Abù-Yùsuf ’s writing as
politically impartial and academically objective.
The Book
The General Approach
The book was a commissioned work, to an audience of, initially,
one. This is shown in the second paragraph of its introductory chap-
ter, “The Commander of the Faithful, May Allah strengthens him,
has asked me to write for him(italics ours)”. It was, therefore, as a
result of Abù-Yùsuf being commissioned by the caliph Harùn al-
Rashìd (786–809); to prepare an extensive report, that the book on
Islamic economics was born. In parallel to the practice of government
of today, the subject must have been of state concern, as the caliph
was interested in getting the issue examined, and the commissioned
writer must have been capable of carrying out the task.