Includes bibliographical references and index.

The puzzle of the Middle East's economic retardation -- Analyzing the economic role of Islam -- Commercial life under Islamic rule -- Stagnation of Islamic commercial organization -- Constraining features of the Islamic inheritance system -- The absence of the corporation in Islamic law -- Barriers to the emergence of a Middle Eastern business corporation -- Credit markets without banks -- The Islamization of non-Muslim economic life -- The ascent of the Middle East's religious minorities -- Origins and fiscal impact of the capitulations -- Foreign privileges as facilitators of impersonal exchange -- The absence of Middle Eastern consuls -- Did Islam inhibit economic development?