“The people of the book are divided into many groups. As for the barahimah [Hindus] they claim that they belong to the religion of Abraham and that they are of his progeny and possess special acts of worship… The barahimah worship God absolutely without [recourse to] prophet or messenger. In fact, they say there is nothing in the world of existence except that it be created of God. They testify to His Oneness of Being, but deny the prophets and messengers completely. Their worship of the Truth is like that of the prophets before their prophetic mission. They claim to be the children of Abraham – upon whom be peace – and say that they possess a book written for them by Abraham – upon whom be peace – himself, except that they say it came from His Lord. In it the truth of things is mentioned and it has five parts. As for the four parts they permit their reading to everyone. But as for the fifth part they do not allow its reading except to a few among them, because of its depth and unfathomableness. It is well known among them that whoever reads the fifth part of their book will of necessity come into the fold of Islam and enter into the religion of Muhammad – upon whom be peace.”
When we say that the market should be restrained by ethical norms we don’t by default mean that the state should carry that responsibility. Critics typically take as axiomatic that the market is the root of all evil that any instance of irregularity, deficiency or oppressive practices that occur in commercial contexts is taken to warrant immediate outside intervention; and by that is often meant the state. Such an assumption about the market seriously underestimates the possibility of the market itself in restraining its own excesses. The misplaced emphasis on developing measures external to the market to rectify the latter’s shortcomings has only the result of treating the symptom rather than the real disease.
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