"In the days of the caliphate," Stephen Glain reminds us in a Newsweek op-ed titled "Islam in Office", "Islam developed the most sophisticated monetary system the world had yet known." Mr. Glain also refers to the pro-market ideas of Ibn Khaldun, the renown Medieval Muslim scholar, who advocated less taxes and more individual enterprise:

Anticipating supply-side economics, Khaldun argued that cutting taxes raises production and tax revenues, and that state control should be limited to providing water, fire and free grazing land, the utilities of the ancient world. The World Bank has called Ibn Khaldun the first advocate of privatization. His founding influence is a sign of moderation.

It is notewhorty that the first advocate of privatization was a Muslim scholar. Here is yet another indication of the fact that Islam is very open to individualism - but not collectivism.