The rejection of interest and the advocacy of profit-sharing in Islamic economics (M.Sc. Thesis)

This thesis examines the theory and principles of profit-sharing in the Islamic system of finance, and compares it to similar practices within non-Islamic systems. The initial chapters highlight the methodology and objectives of the work, and offer rationales for the existence of profit-sharing, the use of interest rates fixed in advance, and the rejection of riba . The conceptual and practical framework of Islamic banking is explained, focusing on profit-sharing methods such as mudaraba and shirka. There are models provided for these profit-sharing practices, as well as comparisons between Islamic forms of profit-sharing and other contemporary methods. The Islamic notion of fairness, in the context of profit, is also evaluated alongside non-Islamic concepts of profit.