The Ilham Winter 2010

15THE ILHAM A Journal of Contemporary Digital Policy Kumar identifies the source of the problem. The world of commerce changed from personal connectivity to impersonal, corporate connectivity.Let’s examine more closely the success of IsmailAbuTaqiyya. AbuTaqiyya maintained personal relationships with the“franchise” owners with whom he created mutually-beneficial partnerships.Again,Islamic law provides numerous examples of business “best practices” including honesty,integrity and transparency.AbuTaqiyya employed these principles as he grew his commercial empire spanning a broad geography. In addition,IsmailAbuTaqiyya provides the means to collect capital that can be used to launch and grow other commercial enterprises.So,this innovative merchant from Egypt engages others across boundary lines and provides the financial means for business development and growth. Kuran, in his thesis, makes a compelling case that Islamic law, while encouraging entrepreneurs to “[When the prayers are ended]…disperse and go in quest of Allah’s bounty” according to Quaranic doctrine, Islamic law fails to provide the means to collect the resources required to turn innovation into entrepreneurship that, ultimately, generates a profit and grows a culture. The Prophet Muhammad preached that “On Judgment Day, faithful and trustworthy merchants will sit with prophets and martyrs,” yet the merchant class in the Middle East remains small and the drive and ambition to create and innovate, to turn ideas into businesses that improve the lives of others, runs counter to the Islamic principles of fatalism and bid’a – the rejection of innovations from “outsiders.” Fatalism is a fundamental tenet of Islam. It might be translated as “What will be will be” in Western terms.This belief that a life is pre-destined and “what will be will be” diminishes the value of taking the risks required to innovate. The world of commerce changed from personal connectivity to impersonal, corporate connectivity. Indeed, entrepreneurs do encounter risks throughout the development of concept to business. Tukar also points to the Islamic principle of bid’a – the reflexive rejection of innovation from the non-Muslim world that inhibits the expansion of a commercial class throughout the Middle East. THE SPREAD OF ISLAMIC SECULARISM ANDTHE LACK OF COMMERCIAL GROWTH INTHE MIDDLE EAST Tukar points out one of the problems facing Middle Eastern citizens who carry with them the entrepreneurial spirit.“Re- sistance from secularists of various shades fuels political instability.As the experiences of Sudan,Algeria, and Iraq demonstrate, people with skills and initiative move out of politically volatile areas, carrying with them their entrepreneurial talents. Although relatively pragmatic forms of Is- lamism are associated with upward mobil- ity, its militant forms are manifestly harmful to entrepreneurial performance.” Political volatility is not the sole factor that motivates migration; commercial instability along with hardened cultural norms discourage entrepreneurs. Over the past decade the Middle East has suffered from poorly regulated equity markets and limited transparency with IPO transaction. While the corporate workplace is still maturing with cultural tribalism creeping into office politics not to mention many business ethics and human resource policies taken for granted in the West are only now beginning to materialize. Not only does Tukar’s conclusion make logical sense, we have empirical evidence to demonstrate that, indeed, those po- tential innovators and entrepreneurs are more apt to abandon a region of political and commercial instability for destina- tions that provide an environment more conducive to business and entreprenuerial development. Despite the obvious commercial benefits of engagement within what has become a global economy, the concepts of fatalism and bid’a have contributed to nations in the Near and Middle East in not keeping pace on a commercial level with countries like China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and other nations that have experienced phenomenal commercial growth in just a few decades.