This chapter briefly introduces major postulates by classical economists and tries to position their theories in tandem with al-Ghazālī's formulations of the ethical-economic subjectivity. This serves as a building block for the next chapter, which discusses the convergences between, contradictions to, and possible approaches of reading al-Ghazālī's economic philosophy within the context of modern economics.

While scholars such as Benedikt Koehler suggest that early Islam envisioned and developed a rudimentary form of a capitalist society in how markets operated and were devised, and that the early Muslim scholars on economics did not differ from their European counterparts, it seems somewhat far-fetched to believe the economic philosophy of early Islam could accommodate what is nowadays known as a capitalistic mode of operation. Timur Kuran, however, tried to explicate the reasons why Islamic culture did not produce an institution of corporation. In his view, a corporation was never established due to the rigid nature of Sharī‘a, which obstructed the flourishing of such an institution and was not able to devise amendable corporate laws. Both predicaments, however, are somewhat unsubstantiated, since Sharī‘a's moral laws— as major classical Muslim scholars and jurists conceived them— were never meant to empower individual (economic) gains over communal well-being, and as an extension of that, enable exploitation of natural resources as well as position competitive postures in the market above the idea of ethical human development. The exposition of mutual collaboration and the basic division of industries were well known to classical Muslim scholars such as al-Ghazālī, and they were formulated within the parameters of the science of the hereafter and Sharī‘a's moral law in order to stimulate economic activities and diversify economic outputs. Some of these approaches, despite the differences in their methodologies, were also known to pre-Enlightenment economic thinkers in Europe. In order to both comprehend and problematize the synergies and inflection points between al-Ghazālī and key early modern economists, in the following pages I examine classical economic theories, major philosophical trends, and some of their main representatives.

Classical Economic Theories, Positivism, and Utilitarianism

Classical economics as it emerged in early modern Europe is often portrayed as a school of thought in economics that asserts markets function best with limited government interference.