TAWARRUQ: A Methodological Issue in Sharia Compliant Finance: A Short Report

Tawarruq is a debt instrument that many shari‘a scholars have approved and that the Islamic finance industry has since used extensively. Yet, as its popularity has increased, so has criticism of it. In response to these developments, the Islamic Finance Project of the Harvard Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies Program organized a one-day workshop on tawarruq. The Islamic Finance Project is proud that the London School of Economics (LSE) agreed to act as joint sponsor for this workshop on tawarruq, and to host the workshop at the LSE campus in London. The workshop thus has opened up the prospect of a formidable partnership between the two academic institutions in the area of Islamic finance and economics. While seeking to advance understanding of tawarruq, the workshop was framed also to carry on methodological debates opened up at an earlier workshop, “Select Ethical and Methodological Issues in Shari‘a-Compliant Finance,” held April 21, 2006 at Harvard.