BACKGROUND

Islam is an Abrahamic-monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Prophet Muhammad ibn
Abdullah (l. 570-632 CE, after whose name Muslims traditionally add “peace be upon him” or, in writing, PBUH).
Alongside Christianity and Judaism, it is a continuation of the teachings of Abraham (featured in both Jewish and
Christian scriptures, considered a prophet in Islam, after whose name Muslims say, “peace be upon him” as well),
although it does differ in some respects from both of these. The adherents of Islam are referred to as Muslims, of
which there are around two billion in the world today, second only to Christians in number. It is a unique religion
that has both Cristian and Judaist values incorporated. It was also being recognized as one of the youngest
religions in the world that has a lot of controversy – war and immigration.

As a monotheistic religion they believe in only one God or whom they call Allah, the creator of everything
in the universe. Muslims are encouraged to develop a direct and personal relationship with Allah without any
intermediaries. The religion was also a culmination of the universal message taught by the prophets. However,
after the prophets has conveyed the message of Allah, it was easily forgotten, abandoned and was changed over
time. That is why they believe, to restore the original call of the prophets, God sent Muhammad to be the last
prophets in the world.

Taking roots from humble beginnings in the Arabian Peninsula, the followers of Muhammad managed to
conquer the superpowers of the time: the Sassanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire. At its peak (750 CE), the
Islamic empire stretched all the way between what modern-day Pakistan in is the east and to Morocco and the
Iberian Peninsula in the west. Although initially spread by conquest, Islam would later flourish through trade to
expand beyond its initial borders and around the world. In the present day, it is the world’s fastest-growing
religion.

Muslim world played an important role in the continuity and growth of mainstream economics. During
the Middle Ages, the Muslims ruled the greater part of the known world, established powerful empires, developed
economies and contributed to the promotion of culture and science including economics.

Between the 9th and 14th centuries, the Muslim world developed many advanced concepts, techniques
and use in production, investment, finance, economic development, taxation, property use such as Hawala, an
early informal value transfer system, Islamic trusts known as waqf, systems of contract relied upon by merchants,
a widely circulated common currency, cheques, promissory notes, early contracts, bills of exchange, and
mufawada. One economic policy of Muhammad was a ban on charging fees and rents and a ban on permanent
buildings in the market of Medina - only tents were allowed there. This is said to have helped poor traders.

To start with, Muslim scholars had deep insight in their analysis of market forces. The question of
administrative fixation of price arose during the life of the Islam Prophet who refused to fix it. By prohibition of
hoarding and forestalling and with his remark “...let Allah provide them with living – some of them with other”,
he approved determination of price by free play of market forces – demand and supply. Muslim scholars were
aware of this mechanism.

Perhaps the earliest explicit statement on the role of demand and supply in determination of the price came
from the leading jurist imam Shafi‛i. Al-Kasani quotes him to have said that “the value of a commodity changes
each time there is change in the price, due to increase or decrease of people’s willingness to acquire the commodity
(demand) and depending whether it is available in small quantity or large quantity (supply)”.
 Another early expression of the role of demand and supply came from al- Jahiz in his work ‘al-Tabassur
bi’l-Tijarah’ (the Insight in Commerce): “Everything becomes cheaper if its amount increases except knowledge
as its value is enhanced if it increases". Al-Ghazali, the great scholar of Islam, provides a rather detailed discussion
of the role and significance of voluntary trading activities and the emergence of markets based on demand and
supply forces in determining prices and profits.

Ibn Taymiyyah’s statement partly reflects a commonly held view at the time that rising price is the result
of manipulation of the market. He argues that there could be market pressures behind the rise and fall of prices
i.e. shifts in demand and supply functions. Thus, at a given price demand increases and supply decreases, leading
to a price rise or, conversely, at a given price, supply increases and demand decreases, leading to an ultimate
decline of the price. Muslim scholars had the idea of price of the equivalent’ (qimat al-mithl) or ‘just price’ (qimat
al-`adl). Their concept of ‘just price’ originated in Islamic tradition.

Muslim scholars also gave a high value to engagement in production activities. Al-Shaybani classified
productive activities into four categories- services, agriculture, trade and industry.

Muslim scholars talked more about rental than rent and mostly of juridical nature. They enumerate the
concept of money and interest in Islamic economic thought. Most of the Muslim scholars discussed nature and
functions of money, merits of bimetallic standard and consequences of bad money and debasement of currency.
Problems of barter exchange and function of money as medium of exchange, unit of account and store of value,
have also been discussed both by al-Ghazali and al-Dimashqi. Ibn Rushd introduced Aristotle’s definition of
nomisma (the Greek word for money) and his concept of money as a common measure ‘between separate things,
so that equality prevails in business between things where it is difficult to measure equality in existence.’

Muslim scholars also reiterated that money is needed because of the difficulty of transacting business in
a barter economy. Interest is strictly prohibited in Islamic Shari`ah. So, the reason why interest arises and how its
rates are determined became irrelevant to Muslim scholars.

A unique contribution of Islam to economics is that it envisaged occurrence of interest in certain cases of
barter that involve unequal exchanges — by way of quantity or time of delivery.
HOW ISLAM STARTED?

Tracing back on 7th century at Saudi Arabia, Muhammad ibn Abdullah founded the Islam religion.
Muhammad was believed to be the final sent-prophet of God to restore the faith of human after the previous
messengers of God, Adam, Noah, Abraham and others, failed to instill the divine message to their people as it
was forgotten and changed over the time.

Prophet Muhammad introduced the Islam in 610 A. D. after he witnessed the angelic visitation, as he
claimed. He recited the Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims, which they believe the perfect words of Allah.
According to the holy book, it testifies that Qur’an was passed by angel Gabriel to prophet Muhammad. It was
happened at the cave of Hira, located at mount Jabal an-Nour near Mecca. While on a retreat, Gabriel commands
him to read but Muhammad answered that he cannot read. The angel embraced him and was told the first line of
Chapter 96 of the Qur’an (Book 65, Sahih Bukhari Hadith 4953).

“Read! In the name of your Lord who created Man from a clinging substance. Read: Your Lord is most
generous – He who taught by the pen – taught man that which he knew not.” (Qur’an 96:1-5)

At first, it was not easy for Muhammad to accept the revelations, the voices he heard and visions he saw.
It is only with his wife who encouraged him to embrace the responsibility. According to history.com, Muhammad
started preaching the principle and thoughts about Monotheistic God in Mecca at 613 A.D.

Along his will to preach about the monotheistic God in a polytheistic society, Muhammad was challenged
and attacked by ostracism. He decided to immigrate in Medina for him and his followers to survived. In his new
town, Muhammad continued to receive divine revelation and built a large community of Muslims. Eventually,
they decided to go back in Mecca to destroy the pagan idols and spread the belied of one God. In the end, the
prophets and his follower won over the Quraish through a combination of lasting warfare and diplomacy
(metmuseum.org). Having gained control of Mecca, Muhammad continued to spread the principles of Islam and
to dictate divine commandments.

Not so long after the last revelation of Angel Gabriel, where he was led to a journey and mounted to Buraq,
the “Fartherst Mosque,” which was belived by the Muslim to be Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Muhammad
together with Moses, Abraham and Jesus prayed and ascended to the skies to see the Heaven and Hell, and finally
came to face to face with God. Muhammad died at 632.

After the prophet’s death, the Muslims was divided into two factions: the Shi’a and Sunni. Shia belived
that only individuals who had direct lineage with Muhammad could guide the Muslim community righteously
while in contrast, Sunni believed that the successor of the prophet should be determined by consensus and
successively elected three of his most trusted companions.

Today, as the second largest religion in the world, the Islamic community remains divided and the
disparity between these factions has resulted to differences in worship, religion and political views. Despite of
criticism against their religion, the war in their homeland, and the bad image perceived by Non-Muslims, the
followers of Muhammad still stand on their faith and has continued conquering the world, as its community is
expanding even more.
EFFECTS OF ISLAM TO CULTURE AND THE WAY OF LIVING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Being the oldest recorded monotheistic religion, it is undeniable that Islam had been influential to the
culture of the Philippines. Up until now, these effects are still being felt by Filipinos.

Islam has been significant in shaping the way Filipino’s sense of community, Majul explained this in his
study Muslims in the Philippines (1976). The concept of monotheism does not only enlighten them on the absolute
oneness of God, but emphasizes to them the quality of an Ummah (Islamic Nation) described by the Holy Qur'an,
as a single nation (21:92) characterized by a fraternal bond binding all its members together. It accentuates the
brotherhood of man and the kinship of Muslim. Their adherence to the Islamic faith changed the destiny of their
fragmented society to a Bangsa Tungga (Single Nation), the Islamic Ummah. He further explain, "It becomes
clearly demonstrated that what gave the Muslims in the Philippines their cohesion and sense of community was
Islam. It was Islam that institutionalized their loyalty to their Sultans, gave them a system of writing, sanctioned
their attempts to resist alien rule, and gave a religious character to their patriotism."

There are also certain Islamic practices that influenced the Philippine’s culture. In the Philippines, the
cultural definition of being a grown man means going through the process of circumcision. According to the
article of www.muslimpopulation.com, circumcision (pagtutuli or tuli in Filipino) was an Islamic practice that
was adopted by Filipinos. Although it is not mentioned in the Qu’ran, it is mentioned in Hadith and considered
an important Sunnah. Nowadays, being uncircumcised is stigmatized in Philippine society. Even to non-Muslim
Filipinos, it is considered unmanly to be uncircumcised (supot in Filipino).

Filipinos are, by culture and traditions, widely known to be loyal and faithful to their husbands and wives.
However, with the legality of polygyny among Filipino Muslims, it brings negative notion to the former statement.
Even though it is legal only to Muslims, it may cause negative effects, such as infidelity, among non-Muslim
Filipinos.

According to Dina Mohamed Basiony (2019), “Islam is a state of being and a way of life for all mankind.
It comes from the same root words as submission and peace.” Thus, a deep sense of peaceful spirituality manifests
as human being humbly submits to his/her creator leading to an eternal afterlife.

In the pillars of Islam since the beginning of time, The Creator wanted His created beings to connect with
Him deeply and actualize their purpose in life. So, messengers were sent to teach people and theses messengers
are the Muslims. The impacts of Islam on Muslims’ everyday lives can be divided into three: Spiritually,
Physically and Socially.

In terms of Spiritual impacts, as individuals (Muslims) with different perspective and outlook in life,
asking deep questions about the purpose of existing is a phase where they all experience on a continuous basis.
The consciousness they possess is expanding for where their mind transcends, horizons strives. For Islam religion,
if these questions left unanswered, regardless of any matters, they will go through depression entailing outrageous
outcomes. With these questions that questing every Muslims in their lives, their religion (Islam) provides answers
towards enlightenment and encounter with abundant peace and order. The theology of Islam is clear and
straightforward with no conundrum or unpredictability. Islam provides logical answers that satisfy the mind to
questions like “Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am I going after death? How do I deal with evil,
tribulations and difficulties?” Therefore, Islam gives answers, meaning, purpose and direction through its pillars
that are as strong as the age of time. The concept of worship is also manifested in the Islamic Theology, the
connection of the people enables them to learn and teach each other for their creator. In addition, we can also
observe in the way they live how eating, commuting and sleeping becomes worship. These actions are part of
who they are and give sensual connection that gives peace into greater depths.

On the other hand, Islam’s impact on the way people live physically focuses on the rules or etiquettes of
purifying oneself which is also known as “tahara”. Islam also teaches its people how to be physically healthy,
including foods to eat and not to eat, words to seek cure and healing from physical sickness. For example, here in
the Philippines, Muslims are prohibited to eat pork meat in their everyday living and that is being respected and
of paramount consideration. Also, Islamic Theology teaches people how to respect and treat the bodies they were
entrusted to because as for all religions, body is sacred as it represents a lot of areas were natural and spiritual
existence collides.

Moving forward to Social impacts, Islamic theology provides comprehensive guidance and teachings
regarding on how people should socially interact with others in order to build strong relationship towards to a
fruitful society. As emphasized by Mohammed Basiony, “Islam teaches how the leader should deal with his
people, and vice versa; How parents and children should interact with one another; How the husband and wife
should deal with one another; How families should deal with one another; How neighbors should deal with one
another; How the seller and buyer should deal with one another; How Muslims should deal with other Muslims;
How Muslims should deal with non-Muslims; How to deal with nature; animals, plants and objects even.” Islam
expounds the rights and obligations of the human being towards all members of the society around him/her.

All in all, the impacts of Islamic Theology truly drive its people towards broader understanding and
limitless boundaries in envisioning wider possibilities that life has to store for. We all live in one world but divided
through ethnicity, and of course religion. As human beings may we be mindful and respectful in dealing with
differences. We cannot control the existence of something just as we wish to be one. We are bound to be different
and respect is the primary key to uphold peace and order. We can observe in our country how Muslims live as
manifested by the “impacts” of their religion and how committed are they in worshipping and doing other
activities. That leads to a system of their own and we should respect that, the way they live is their own “WAY”
and let us address our differences with love and respect.
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