ABSTRACT
Capitalism is a universal phenomenon and has existed within all the various large cultural spheres, including the Occident and Asia, as well as within the various historical periods: Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the colonial period and the age of globalisation. Weber denies the existence of the communal association as a legal corporation in Asia or within Islam. The rapid spread of so-called Islamic economics or Islamic banking raises again the question of the impact of religion upon economic life. Economic expansion has taken place in several Arab countries as well as in non-Arab Muslim countries such as Malaysia. The Occident has improved and revolutionised certain Arab economic methods, such as calculating techniques coming from the Islamic world. The employment of modern concepts such as the firm, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is dangerous in economic history. Economically, Islam has not seen a unified class – a bourgeoisie – appearing on its territory.
