The Middle East had market economies thousands of years before Europe was discovered. Literally.
Up until the 16th century when Portugal and Spain started hopping on ships to sail abroad to trade, the hub of world trade was the Middle East extending all the way to East Asia. Other than Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula, Europe was a place of illiterates living in mud huts. They didn't call it the Dark Ages because people went to tanning salons a lot.
A lot of people think that the reason why there were walls built around Jewish settlements in Europe was to prevent them from mixing with Europeans. But it was actually to protect them for getting extirpated by the local populace, as basically the only people who understood market economy for ages in Europe were Jews, having originated from such culture in the Middle East.
That's why Jews were never totally wiped out in Europe, because kings protected them since they were good for the economy. Or rather, they were the economy. I mean, economy past simple barter. There's only so much economic development can be accomplished with a side of beef exchanged for a barrel of wheat, which is what Europe would still be doing today if it wasn't for the East.
Even Berbers, who at first glance may seem pretty basic nomads wandering the desert, have made a living off of extensive trade routes extending from North Africa southwards for as long as history can remember and beyond.
