Islamic Finance

Although in many passages the Old Testament forbids that interest be charged, many instances were this prohibition was disregarded can be found in Jewish history. Many historical explanations can be offered as to why this prohibition was not always followed. Careful attention should be paid to the particular instances when it was, and the laws and transactions developed that offered alternatives to interest, as well as manipulations to avoid the usury law, in order to better understand the consequences of these events.

Muhammad Akram Khan reviews Nijat Ullah Siddiqi's <i>Shirka wa Mudarabat Ke Shar'i Usul</i>.

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This writing examines the burden of being a Muslim in Bradford, England (published in1991). A case-study of IGI Furniture and Al-

Addressed are the challenges that slow any transition from conventional banking to Islamic banking in Pakistan. While Pakistan's Shari`a court has ruled that all operations involving interest are forbidden, the government kept the ban from being implemented by an appeal to the Supreme Court that it was not possible to change the financing methods used by the country.

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While Islamic banking has been practiced for a number of years, only in the past ten years has the sector been a prominent one. At the core of Islamic banking is the idea that interest may not be dealt with. It has been suggested that the funds in the Islamic banking sphere are now over $60 billion. One expectation is that the statistic will be over $100 billion by 1997. The sector's annual growth rate has been stated to be at an average of 15%. The system entails a great deal beyond the ban on interest.

The Islamic banking industry, as a niche market, is a growing field. The pool of funds in Islamic institutions' hands is figured to be between $50 and $100 billion. There is a great deal of geographic diversity amongst these firms. Citibank now has over $1 billion in Islamic funds, and the firm is set to establish an Islamic subsidiary in Bahrain to be called Citi Islamic Investment Bank. ANO-Amro Holding NV, a Dutch firm, is initiating a four-person team to work on Islamic banking. There are a number of problems that stand in the way of worldwide Islamic banking expansion.