DBQ

During the Post-Classical Period, religion and trade interacted frequently. Sometimes religion and trade went together, working harmoniously. Other times the two were at odds with each other. Christians and Muslims both could sometimes find issue with trade, or find it fitting with their religion. Overall, religion conflicted with trade, condemning traders for forgetting religion, being sinful, and sometimes having cheating, dishonest transactions.

Oftentimes, trade conflicted with religion, and religion conflicted with trade, each having their own consequences. In documents 4 and 5, religion took the offensive against trade, condemning it. In document 4, Pope Innocent orders that Venice not trade with the Muslims, his reason being the Crusades have started and the Muslims must not be assisted in their war efforts, evn though Christians will benefit as well. Document 5 shows dislike for commerce and traders in general, proclaiming fairs and markets as great places of evil. According to it, yearly fairs and frequent markets are places where religion was forgotten, people swore, and drinking was rampant. Ibn Khaldun (doc. 2) said himself that the qualities of merchants such as evasiveness and disputation also lead to degradation of virtue.

On the other hand, sometimes religion and the economy could tolerate each other or compromise. In documents 3 and 1, the religions of Christianity and Islam found a way to coexist without much issue with trade. However, this was not true all of the time because oftentimes religion would condemn traders if they (the traders) did actions that they would view as sinly or bad morally.
In document 1, the Hadith says that Allah permits trade, as long as the transaction goes honestly. If someone lied or cheated another out of money, Allah condemns the action. In the Christian view in the third document, Reginald of Durham says that his biography subject did nothing bad by trading and profiting well.

Coming from a completely different view, Chinese thinker Zhang Han in document 6 showed absolute hate for traders, calling them stupid, and saying that they lead decadent, and insignificant lifestyles. To him, because they are so opinionated and selfish, he thinks they are greedy and stupid. Although not from a religious standpoint, trade still was seen as evil.

Overall, the patterns most visible are Change over time and Cause and Effect. These documents cover from the 700s to the 1500s and cover several points of view. Overall, as time went on, religion seemed to find trade more and more lucrative and sinly. Because the traders were making so much money and gaining so much power, religion for the Muslims and Christians took an increasingly anti trade position.

For additional documents, the view from an actual Muslim, Christian, Chinese or Indian trader would be fitting, seeing as all of the points of view come from people more indirectly affected. Their documents could explain their behavior and business tactics, and their position on religion.