This study will discuss the factors leading to the civil war of 655-661 C.E. between Muslim factions, and the course of that war in terms of why one side had the most advantages and power, allowing that side to win the war. The war as depicted by Ibrahim Mahmood in Merchant Capital and Islam was one essentially between the New Segment and the Traditional Segment, and the major differences between those two segments were socioeconomic and political, with the advantage clearly leaning toward the Traditional Segment.
The title of the book is the first clue to Mahmood's analysis. He presents a clear, comprehensive and compelling argument that because of their greater experience with capital accumulation, and with the exercise of the different forms of power which come from that possession of capital (social, political, institutional, bureaucratic), the Traditional Segment now appears to have been destined to win the war.
In theory, as the author points out, the members of the Muslim community had equal access to capital, its accumulation, and the power it allowed those who possessed it. The reality, however, was quite different before the war and before the split between the two segments became serious enough that only war could bring a solution:
[A]s it turned out, distribution [of wealth and the opportunity to accumulate it] favored the merchants, who made up the bulk of the Traditional Segment. Several factors tilted distribution in their favor. Their experience in finance offered them an edge over members of the New Segment, many of whom had had no opportunity to deal with capital before. Experience in dealing with capital helped the traditionally wealthy accumulate more capital than others by virtue of already-accumulated capital. . . . (127).
In other words, those who had were able to use what they had to get more, and those who had less were hampered in their effort to get more because they had less to begin with. Th...