Sustainability - Sustainable / Circular Economy

This study aims to evaluate risk and return characteristics of Islamic funds in comparison with SRI and investigate the possible synergies between the two in the light of the SDGs. The study also compares the financial performance of Islamic funds with conventional funds and Islamic market benchmarks. The analysis was carried out using the absolute and risk-adjusted-performance evaluation techniques based on data collected from 11 countries distributed in four geographical regions.

Islamic finance is considered as an alternative moral and ethical based finance. Its principles, known as the “Islamic finance pillars” offer an alternative for investors seeking more ethical use of their funds. Since its early inception in 1970s, the industry developed significantly with an annual two-digit growth of 15 to 20% and an expansion beyond traditional markets. However, this growth has not benefited much to the social and environmental developments.

The climate change challenge and the growth of the Islamic finance industry, together with the increase in socially responsible investing, could position green sukuk as a key instrument for financing clean energy and resilient infrastructure projects as well as shorter-term energy efficiency projects.

This paper studies the local perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship in the resource-based state of Qatar. The effective utilization of abundant natural resources (oil and gas) have propelled the country’s rapid economic development over the last four decades. However, accelerating decarbonization efforts of the global energy system due to climate change put the future value of these hydrocarbon resources into doubt and hence the country’s revenue streams from international trade.

The paradigm of Islamic economics and finance is guided by the motivation of comprehensive human development (CHD) and its preservation as manifested in the objectives of Sharīʿah (maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah). However, the real world free-market economies are driven by the linear economy paradigm under the influence of Hotelling’s 1931 famous work concerning the economics of exploiting natural resources, in which, the ecological environment is not recognized as a resource. The global financial architecture is designed to protect and preserve the linear economic paradigm.

The regeneration of urban open spaces of traditional markets in the GCC is driven by socio-cultural intents to reconcile between tradition and modernity. This paper investigates the qualities of urban open spaces of two traditional markets in Qatar through behavioural mapping and impressionistic assessments. The paper aims to demonstrate the variations of urban open spaces in historic markets of Doha and Al Wakra cities and to investigate efficiency of use. The study utilizes both quantitative data and qualitative observations during the peak hours.

This paper examines different dimensions of invaluable judicial support to Islamic financial services and products, and identifies specific areas where the judiciary has helped to shape the industry in line with the original value proposition of Islamic financial intermediation. While relying on qualitative legal methods with comparative case analysis from different jurisdictions, this study conducts cross-jurisdiction case analyses and identifies the role of the judiciary in introducing sustainable practices.

Featuring high-level analysis of Islamic law, this book examines fintech in Islamic finance from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. Whilst building on existing approaches, it also discusses the current application of fintech in promoting financial inclusion through innovative solutions in

This study centers on the premise that entrepreneurship is an embedded process. Although “the entrepreneur” is inherently an “individual,” entrepreneurship can never be fully disembedded from the more general social settings within which any business venture is situated. An Islamic-based economic discursive framework should be cognizant of the different forms of sociality, spatiality, and community as well as the various norms, codes, and symbols that define society more generally. The work of Karl Polanyi on embeddedness is engaged and juxtaposed with

It is a well-established rule in the Shariah (Islamic law) that a loan contract is of a charitable nature and as such the lender may not stipulate any excess or benefit from the borrower. However, it is also known in the Shariah that if the benefit from a loan comes to the lender voluntarily and it is not stipulated in the loan contract then it is permissible. This exception derives from some reports that the Prophet used to repay his debt with some increment, and to this effect he said: "The best amongst you are those who benevolently repay their debts”.