Bastiat on Credit

In 1850 Bastiat penned a classic that might enlighten Moslems and Christians alike.  In part,

It is absolutely necessary in this question to forget money, coin, bills, and the other instruments by means of which productions pass from hand to hand; our business is with the productions themselves, which are the real objects of the loan; for when a farmer borrows fifty francs to buy a plough, it is not, in reality, the fifty francs which are lent to him, but the plough: and when a merchant borrows 20,000 francs to purchase a house, it is not the 20,000 francs which he owes, but the house. Money only appears for the sake of facilitating the arrangements between the parties.

His ideas were radical at the time.  Such essays would make for good common basis for Islam And Christianity to discuss economics.  He runs down economic ideas in sequence, I recommend this essay.

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