INTRODUCTION

While the 9/11 apocalyptic nightmare and subsequent events have generated an environment in which academic discussions of the “civilizational clash” vis-à-vis the West and the Islamic world have surfaced to the common consciousness, this very phenomenon also suggests the intense need for a dialogue across cultures and nations. That indeed was the spirit behind the 1998 United Nations resolution which declared 2001 as the “Year of Civilizational Dialogue”. While the present volume focuses primarily on economic thought in the writings of several medieval Islamic scholars, it also documents the multi-dimensional linkages and influences, extending over several medieval centuries, between the then vibrant Islamic civilization and the evolving Latin-European culture. In that sense, this book may make some modest contribution toward cultivating the spirit of dialogue and appreciation of inexorable historic connections between the two worlds whose origins lie in the same crucible.