Islamic banking: the need for uniform regulation

The author, a consultant at International Legal Consultants in London and an advocate in a Pakistani firm, undertakes a number of goals in the article. First, he seeks to generally analyze the regulatory system of Islamic banks in this developing stage of the system. The analysis he offers is a critical one. Second, he hopes to point out the ideas and the legal principles behind the Islamic banking system. Third, he offers a recommendation regarding the formation of a legal body to compose a set of laws for Islamic banking that would be in conformity with the dictates of Islamic law. These laws would be applied to all Islamic financial institutions around the world. As the author sees it, there are three levels at which laws are made for Islamic banks: the private, self-made level, the national level of specific laws, and the national level of broader laws. The author feels that a lack of uniformity in laws has led to the current situation of little public knowledge regarding