Islamic Finance as a Strategic Mechanism for Bolstering Food Security in the Middle East

Middle Eastern states have an opportunity to promote sustainable food security, further Millennium Development Goals, and advance the objectives of Shari‘ah (maqāṣid al-Shari‘ah) by adopting strategies employing Islamic financing and investment structures to build regional food production capacity. The global food supply is fragile, owing to increasing demand, unbalanced stock-to-use ratios, poor stock management, and other factors. Middle Eastern states have attempted to secure food supplies through overseas land acquisitions fraught with legal and political uncertainty, and by other means. But these states have yet to employ the full complement of mechanisms available to address food insecurity. Islamic Finance is a mechanism through which Muslim-majority countries generally, and Middle Eastern states specifically, can bolster food security through Shari’ah-derived domestic and cross-border strategies that facilitate investment and regional production capacity building. This paper di