Islam, Markets and Freedom with Mustafa Akyol

Today, the Muslim world, a large part of the globe stretching from Morocco to Indonesia, is far from being the leading civilization in science and technology, or in political freedom and human rights. But that was exactly what it was a thousand years ago, when the medieval Islamic civilization was the home to the world’s greatest libraries, philosophers, inventors. It also offered more freedom than most of its contemporaries, including Christendom, which is why it attracted persecuted minorities such as Jews.

Mustafa Akyol calls this past era the medieval Islamic Enlightenment, and traces its roots to intellectual and economic openness: Muslims were open to discussing all ideas, including Greek philosophy, and they were open to free trade, the very profession of the Prophet Muhammad. Hence they were able to develop a robust Islamic capitalism, which had little-known impacts on Europe, but fatefully declined later in Islam itself.

It is a history which offers lessons for the future: To revitalize their civilization, what Muslims need is more openness to new ideas, and more openness to free markets.

About the Speaker

Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. Author of acclaimed books, such as “Reopening Muslim Minds,” “Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty,” and “Islam without Extremes,” and a longtime opinion writer for the New York Times, he has been widely recognized as a Muslim thinker who highlights the roots of freedom and tolerance within the Islamic tradition. In July 2021, the Prospect magazine of the UK listed him among “The world’s top 50 thinkers.”