The formation of Medieval Islamic economic thought within the scope of East-West interaction

This study, which analyzes the economic thought and practices in the Mediterranean geography in the Middle Ages, uses the historical research method. In the first part of the study, which is analyzed in four main sections, the origins of the medieval understanding of economics, the culture of enterprise in the ancient Middle East and the first entrepreneurs, the general economic thought prevailing in the Middle East, the transfer of the concept of enterprise imported from the Middle East to Greece and Rome, and thus the economic thought structure in ancient Greece and Rome are discussed. In the second part of the study, the formation of Islamic economic thought, economic development in the Middle Ages, and the contributions of Muslim thinkers to economic analysis are discussed. The next section explains economic practices in medieval Muslim societies and concepts such as market economy, limited state regulation, private property, low tax rates, monetary policy, and banking systems. Finally, the transfer of the medieval understanding of economics, which emerged as a result of the interaction of ancient Middle Eastern, Greek, Roman, and Islamic civilizations, to the West, the transfer of Muslim economic theses to Spanish scholastics through Andalusia, and the contributions of Salamanca thinkers to economic thought with the example of the Salamanca School, a school of Spanish scholasticism. The study aims to emphasize that the Western models that have achieved success today with their economic models of free market economy and economic freedom have their origins in the Middle East and that the Muslim influence in modern economic theories cannot be denied. In addition, it is aimed to develop an antithesis to Schumpeter's "great gap" thesis by emphasizing the fallacy of the Schumpeterian proposition, the details of which will be included in the study. Keywords: Economic Thought in the Mediterranean, Greek-Roman Economic Philosophy, Islamic Economic Tradition, School of Salamanca, Medieval Scholasticism, Spanish Scholasticism.