Islamic Finance

There is a huge number of definitions of Islamic Economics available in the literature. The vast majority take existing definitions from the western literature and modify them to incorporate an Islamic angle. This leads to the widespread belief that Islamic Economics is a variant or a branch of conventional economics. We argue that something can be called “Islamic” only if it is based on the Quran and Sunnah. In this paper we propose a new definition based purely and directly on Islamic ideas and sources.

Does inefficient bank assume more risk? Is there any major difference between Islamic and conventional banks in terms of efficiency and risk taking propensity? The paper aims to answer these questions in the context of Bangladesh. Although few studies are available in the existing literature that compare the performance between Islamic and conventional banks, almost no such study that examine the relationship between capital, risk and efficiency of banks in Bangladesh exists. The paper aims to fill this gap.

Critics of the current situation of Islamic finance contend that the newly developed Islamic financial products are not compatible with the ideal of Islamic economics, because these products are approved at patchwork screenings by a Sharia advisory board. After the middle of the first decade of the twenty first century, in order to overcome this situation, several new ideas were proposed by those who aspire the ideal of Islamic economics.

Sukuk market has grown tremendously and has gained attention from many countries.Various innovation has been designed to ensure the marketability of such instruments. However, these innovations have generated various shariah and financial issues and controversies. Among others, is the issue of the

The introduction and development of Islamic banking systems is highly competitive not only in Islamic countries, but among non-Muslim countries as well (Abdul Hamid, 20011).

Islamic economics is challenged whether it can be called a discipline in the sense of having a clear subject-matter, well-organized body of knowledge, methodology to appraise theories and systematic accumulation of knowledge. Islamic economics is still in the formative stage to be a discipline. Many fundamental issues need to be seriously addressed by the scientific community for Islamic economics to be a legitimate discipline.

This paper focuses on the short and long term assets and liabilities gap and the determinants of net interest/profit margins of both conventional banks and Islamic banks in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries over the period from 1997 to 2010. The results show that both conventional and Islamic banks have negative short-term gaps and positive long-term gaps. These indicate that banks use short -term deposits and funding to finance long-term loans, advances and investments, taking into consideration refinancing and reinvestment risks.

The concept of socio-economic justice is of utmost importance in Islamic teachings. Through examining Nahj al-Balagha, a 10th century collection of sermons and letters of Imam Ali Ibn Abutalib, this paper aims to present a comprehensive account of Imam Ali's view on poverty and socio-economic justice in

The current study is exploring the area of Shari’ah compliance disclosures for Islamic banks in Palestine. In particular, the study aims at investigating customers’ and professionals’ opinions about such disclosures and the level of their understanding of Islamic banks using the case of Palestine Islamic bank.

A key issue for the fast growing Islamic debt market is whether sukuk instruments are equivalent to conventional bonds as is practiced today by the market operators. This major research question is explored here using a large traded data set on