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Alon Bezalel DBQ 2002 AP Essay November, 10, 2013 There were many similarities and differences between the attitudes of Christianity and Islam toward merchants and trade from religions until 1500. Some people from the Christianity say that trade and commerce is always bad if a rich person does it others say in Christianity it depends on how a person does the trading like honestly or dishonestly. In Islam most of the people and the Quran says that it also depends on how a person does the trade which compares to the previous sentence.
Also there ere changes in either societies each religion changed moderately or a lot in terms of religious trading. Although Islam and Christianity are unique religions their attitudes towards trading are both similar and different. Islam and Christianity compare in many ways in terms of their attitudes towards trading. Document one, two, and five compare in many ways including the way they trade and their attitudes religiously. Although document one is the Christian bible it compares with the attitudes of documents two and five who is a Muslim scholar and the Quran itself.
These three compare in that they both think it is always bad to trade. Although document five says it more directly then document one and two all these documents say that trading is bad because it brings out the evil in a man. Document five say the trading is unjust and it is always a dishonest living no matter who the person is. Also document one’s attitude toward commerce is that whoever is rich is going to have a hard time to go to heaven because they will make a dishonest and unjust living.
Another document with the same features as these two documents s document two which say that the merchants will be Judged with the people who go against religion which shows that being a merchant according to the Quran is a negative thing. Another document which show similar qualities are documents three, four and six. Document three is from a Christian monk, document four is from a Christian theologian, and document six is from Italian merchants. One similarity is that all of these attitudes show that money is not in contrast with god and that it is fine according to religion to do trade as long a you do it in the positive way.
Also in ocument three the guy went from a rich guy to a monk which shows that god is fine with a person being a merchant. Another similarity is that they all feel that trade could go in either way. This means that it is a person’s choice to do the right thing. If the guy trades honestly then trading is good but if he is unjust then is it a bad thing so it is not the occupancy itself to be a merchant but who the person chooses to be. The additional document needed in this DBQ is a non- Muslim and Christian who is religious.
The reason why we need the additional document is so we could see what ther religions point of view and to see how much it changed in their society as opposed to Just two religions. Also it is necessary to have an extra document like a Jew to see what their bible says compared to the Christians bible because they originated from the same god. Although there are many similarities in the attitudes toward trade there are also many differences in these attitudes. Two of the documents that contrast are that profit does not bring the bad in someone five says it does and then both profit and trade will always have a negative impact on the person.
Document 7 is in contrast with document five because five says that the Italian merchants admire profit while here the sole motive for profit is condemned. There are many indications of change in the attitudes of both the Islam’s and Christian’s over a 1,500 year time period. The Muslim’s attitude toward commerce changed moderately in 1,500 years. In document two the Quran says that honest and fairness will let people into heaven and that their trade is in their hand basically. Then document five was a Muslim scholar who believed that all man is bad no matter what kind of trade they do.
The final document is document seven which takes place in the Islamic court and shows that profit is disapproved but for support it is approved. On the other hand the Islamic attitude changed a lot in 1,500 years. This is proven through document one which is in the bible which says that commerce is not so good of a Job to be in according to the bible. Then document three which is written by a rich man who became a monk stays almost neutral and also shows that it is kind of in the person’s hand. The final document which showed the change in attitude is document four which also showed that trade is good and it ould be fair and unfair.
So the attitudes toward commerce changed from bad to good. These are some of the differences and similarities between these two religious attitudes. Although there were many differences and similarities each religion is unique in its own way which could help people compare of whose religion is more lenient or strict. Also the attitudes changed a good amount over a long time period in these to religions. There could also be many other additional documents which could support each document even more or less then it is written.