Reginald, monk of Durham(source 3) wrote in 1170 about the life of a merchant, indirectly though, he pointed out an exception in Christianity, in addition to this Ibn Khaldun(source 5) wrote in the 14th century about commerce and exception in trade, both exceptions however go against their faith, and why is that? Because of change over time. Godric, the merchant in Reginald’s piece spent a part of his life bargaining and cheating others, in the end he gave his money and himself to God therefore coveting his prior ways of life and starting off with a clean slate. The exception being that if you give yourself to God and repent, you will be forgiven. These exceptions in both religions show that time changes many things, from something that was so against all standards to being accepted later on.
Thomas Aquinas (source 4) regarding Christianity states that it is altogether sinful to deceit in order to sell a thing, and in the Islamic court decision (source 7), members of the weaver’s guild complain that a fellow weaver by the name of Sakaoglu Nasuh is being unfair and buying all the yarn from the merchants for an extra price, leaving the other weavers without yarn. Both sources focus on morals, honor and equality. Thomas Aquinas uses a line written by Matthew to get the point across that one should treat others as one would like to be treated, and with that there will be “equality of justice”. According to writing of Thomas, Nasuh is acting dishonorable, which is what the fellow weavers summoned him to court for. The time frame that the court hearing is occurring in and the year Tomas has written his piece shows that time has passed from the origin of the religion yet the morals stay the same.
Christianity and Islam like every other religion have been through years of change and have acquired over time exceptions and at the same time attained the same morals as in the beginning of the religion. To further assess the consequences of the merchant’s wrong doings you could look at the courts final decision and punishment of Sakaoglu Nasuh.
