The Prophet Mohammed’s surprising life as a businessman | The Story of Money

Did you know that the Prophet Mohammed was a caravan trader? He helped arrange convoys of thousands of camels carrying valuable goods across the Arabian desert. And he put his commercial nous to good use. Not only did he found one of the world’s great religions, but also a model of free-market capitalism that Friedrich Hayek would have approved of. That is the claim of this week’s guest, the libertarian economist and author Benedikt Koehler. He tells hosts Robin Wigglesworth and Gillian Tett how Islamic commercial practices were, in his view, eventually copied by medieval Europeans to great effect. Further reading: Early Islam and the Birth of Capitalism (2014), by Benedikt Koehler The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East (2010), by Timur Kuran Muhammad: Man and Prophet (1995), by Adil Salahi Credits: Getty Images Love listening to The Story of Money? Join Robin and Gillian on Saturday September 5 at Kenwood House Gardens in London, or online as the FT Weekend paper comes to life. Register now at ft.com/festival and enjoy 10% off with code FTPodcast. To enjoy future episodes, be sure to subscribe to The Story of Money wherever you get your podcasts, also on the show's dedicated YouTube channel here:    / @ftthestoryofmoney   Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth Producer: Laurence Knight Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa With additional help from: Saffeya Ahmed and Lulu Smyth Original music and sound design: Breen Turner Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Gioumpasis Podcast development: Laura Clarke FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips Video editors: Josh Divney and Kristen Kenyon at Podcast Discovery Learn more at www.ft.com/tsom or get in touch at thestoryofmoney@ft.com. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 2:30 - Dr. Benedict Koehler on Islam, banking, and capitalism 4:30 - Mohammed’s early life and caravan trading in Mecca 7:18 - How Meccan trade networks reduced risk and built prosperity 8:01 - Sixth-century Arabia: religion, trade, and political independence 9:28 - Khadija: wealthy merchant, investor, and Mohammed’s wife 12:09 - How caravan ventures were financed without banks 13:22 - Islam’s ban on interest and emphasis on risk-sharing 14:18 - Mohammed’s prophetic calling and the economic backlash in Mecca 17:01 - Exile to Medina and the creation of a tax-free market 18:00 - Price deregulation, famine, and Mohammed’s free-market approach 19:07 - Zakat, welfare, and balancing markets with social responsibility 20:27 - Islamic business ethics, regulation, and fair trading rules 23:25 - The Ummah, trust, and the growth of a wider commercial community 24:44 - Islam’s expansion, warfare, taxation, and Mohammed’s growing wealth 27:51 - How Islamic commercial ideas may have influenced European capitalism 30:16 - Venetian trade, risk-sharing, and parallels with caravan finance 31:26 - Arabic roots of European commercial and financial vocabulary 34:04 - Fibonacci, trusts, and the transfer of ideas from the Islamic world 35:36 - Debate over how directly Islam influenced Western capitalism 37:51 - Why the Islamic commercial golden age declined after 1500 40:01 - Reassessing Islam’s influence on finance and capitalism 42:34 - Islamic finance, equity investing, and lessons for modern markets 43:20 - How the “Mohammed as capitalist” thesis was received in the Muslim world 45:17 - Mohammed’s wealth, frugality, and final years