Mohammed: prophet, trader . . . and capitalist?

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

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Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Producer: Laurence Knight

Executive producer: Manuela Saragosa

With additional help from: Saffeya Ahmed

Original music and sound design: Breen Turner

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FT global head of audio: Flo Phillips

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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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