“Islamic law serves as a captivating historical example of a religious structure functioning as a trust mechanism, especially to facilitate trade. The majority of Islamic expansion occurred through the merchant class, particularly into Southeast Asia.

If you’re a Muslim merchant conducting business across continents, you can’t necessarily trust that the king or prince in any of these principalities will share your moral norms or have any sense of your interpretation of how contracts should be enforced.

The Islamic legal tradition comprises multiple legal schools, but you can trust that wherever there’s an Islamic court, your contracts will be enforced because they are using the same decentralized legal framework. These social technologies and institutions become ways through which value is created and maintained over time without relying on a State.”

~ Natalie Smolenski.

@NSmolenski