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The House Building Finance Corporation underwent some changes and saw results. The Pakistani firm began in 1952 primarily to aid the masses of refugees that came to Pakistan after its independence. The corporation's focus was first Karachi and then spread to other regions of the country. Both the federal and provincial governments appoint the directors of the firm, while the managing director is federally appointed. Although the firm had previously depended on interest-bearing loans from the State Bank and had itself made loans at interest, it now operates on an income-sharing scheme.

The creation of the Muslim Business Development Centre in Manchester, U.K., was supported by the

Insurance has a central place in the modern economic system. The chambers of commerce of various Islamic countries have, in conference meetings, discussed cooperating on insurance and reinsurance. Uncertainty is an element of life. With increasing complications in the economic system, more risks exist and need to be handled with advanced methods. Insurance gives financial assurance. It does not aim to keep disasters from happening; it seeks to protect individuals from the consequences of these disasters. Islamic scholars contend that

While insurance per se is not contrary to

Islamic jurists are averse to profit sharing and risk. Insurance appeared in Arabia in the 18th century. Ibn Abidin, a Hanafi scholar, first investigated the nature and legality of insurance that thought it impermissible. The concept of abstract legal acts is not really a part of Islamic legal thought.

A debate exists on the Islamic permissibility of various forms of insurance. Mutual insurance in

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Islamic banks, though their collective assets are currently only $25 to $100 billion, are growing quickly. The potential market for these firms is as vast as the Muslim population -- about one billion.

Shari'a permits the sale of goods with deferred payment. As several examples show, the principle of amortization should be applied when calculating the price of goods sold using murabaha or the size of installments in