Hisba Literature As A Source Of Islamic Economics And Yahya Ibn Omar Al-Andalusi’s Al-Ahkam As-Suq

Hisba and/or al-Ahkam as-Suq literature take place among the sources that should not be left out of account considering economy studies. The works published in this field directly covers the regulations related with the social and economic life. Hisba sources have a rich content regarding the cultural and social relationships of Islamic cities, economic conditions, market, the management of purchase and sales in the market and the market regulations of the state. The hisba works/books can be analyzed in two groups. The first group of the works is theoretical studies which explain how a market should be organized in an Islamic city. The second groups of hisba studies on the other hand, directly covers the practice, the solutions offered for the problems emerged during practices. Both groups of works reveal how the market should work in an Islamic system and offers theoretical and practical advices. All these suggestions serve to the aim of establishing the general balance (equilibrium) of the social system. As the imbalance in the system stemming from any reason would lead to the chaos of social order, conflicts among groups and disintegration, there is a need for the establishment of an effective structure which takes the political, social and economic needs of all social groups into consideration. And hisba books handles the subjects related to social and economic realms. They overwhelmingly contain rules/findings regulating the relationships between the firms and the consumers, determining the role of state in the market and protecting the order of market. In this study, Yahya b.Omar al-Andalusi’s book Al-Ahkam as-Suq which is known as the first hisba book has been analyzed. The book consists of the fatwas decreed for the questions addressed to the author. In the analysis of the book instead of covering all the details, it is preferred to handle the issues such as market structure, state-market relations and price formation which are considered among the basic concepts of economics.

Keywords

Al-Ahkam as-Suq, Yahya b.Omar al-Andalusi, hisba, Islamic economy, economic history.