Articles

Bay' al-salam is a sale in which the seller receives an advance payment for a deferred supply of goods.

How currency existed at the time of the Prophet and how it exists today have changed profoundly. Certain matters in Islamic economics might be affected by the transformation in currency practices. Around the time of the Prophet, all coins were made of precious metal. Early Islamic jurists made their decisions in strict adherence to the social context of the Prophet's time. They most likely were unaware of the behavior of highly volatile inflation because the value of metals relative to real goods changed little in that era.

Islamic banking is a new and emerging field. While forces stemming from the dominant West historically have suppressed the principles of Islamic economics, today those principles are being revived. Colonialism has ended and oil money exists in the

The talk about adopting an Islamic economic system has been unsophisticated, as has the talk about adopting an Islamic political system. The problem with such shallow understanding is that politics provides a framework for economic practices. One should not speak of transforming the system instantaneously. Rather, expert economists ought investigate the issues involved in a switch.

The

The modern Islamic banking movement is a movement against a system inconsistent with the shari'a. Historically, Muslims had a heavy influence on the development of Europe. The idea of checks and the concept of pay slips came from

Interest is a key element in modern banking. Typically, the longer one forsakes one's liquidity -- the longer one commits one's money -- the greater the interest returned. The Qur'an prohibits interest with clarity.