The Economic Background and the Secular Occupations of Muslim Jurisprudents and Traditionists in the Classical Period of Islam (Until the Middle of the Eleventh Century

This study ascertains the economic background and secular occupations of muslim scholars who lived in the first five centuries of Islam and reveals how the economic origins and occupational structure of these scholars vary in different parts of the Muslim world and in about five centuries long period. In this study, which is based on the information regarding the economic background or the occupations of 4200 scholars among over 14.000 muslim scholars who are mentioned in the biographical books of the classical period of Islam, 410 professions or occupations that these scholars engaged in are grouped under various sectors and profession categories. Then the distribution of scholars by occupations based on century-long periods and changes in occupational structures in different places during the first five centuries of Islam are examined in detail. One of the significant conclusions of the study is that considerable proportion of the scholars within the first five centuries of Islam earned their livings by themselves from commerce and handicrafts or they came from the families who were engaged in these occupations.