Dar es Salaam, Aug. 25 -- AS Muslims across Tanzania celebrate Maulid-the annual commemoration of the birth of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the occasion offers an unexpected entry point into one of the continents most persistent economic problems: How to make wealth productive once it has been accumulated.

The Prophet lived in a commercial society in which trade, risk-bearing and honest exchange were central to economic life.

The Quran, revealed in that tradition, does not romanticise poverty nor worship wealth. It warns against hoarding and praises circulation.

“So that it may not merely circulate among the rich among you” (Quran 59:7).

And again: “Whatever you give for interest to increase within the wealt...