Classical Economic Theories of Rent, Paradigms, and Land Tenure: A Near East Perspective

This chapter focuses on theory of scarcity of land as expressed in the Ricardian rent and the Malthusian population theories which led to the massive settlement in Canada, Australia and in other colonies. Not only that, but also summarizes postwar theories of development, which is provided the theoretical framework for the rural exodus that resulted in unplanned urban shantytowns in the Third World. In all these western theories, land is private land, immovable property, registered in a land registry office, an agency of the government, giving the owner a title that has an exchange value in a market. The western concept is in sharp contrast to the Muslim concept of land, as God’s gift, held in trust for the good of humanity. Waqf, endowed land, was the most practical institution translating God’s gift into reality. Mulk, private land, registered with a title bearing the owner’s name, had to wait for the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, by which time the Ottoman Empire was in decline, and European penetration into Muslim lands included forcible privatization. Readers of this chapter will have a broad understanding of land disputes and sustainable development goals to be followed as also suggested by the UN.