Regulatory Bodies and Islamic Finance
07/02/2009
"O you who believe! Be upright for Allah, bearers of witness with justice, and let not hatred of a people incite you not to act equitably; act equitably, that is nearer to piety, and he careful of (your duty to) Allah; surely Allah is Aware of what you do"
The Quran. Al Maeda [The Table]; Verse 8
The following article is drawn from the previous Quranic verse
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- There has been much clamour recently with regards to Islamic banking’s deviation from its path and its failure to achieve its goals of [working within the confines of] Islamic Shariaa Law, rather it has moved closer to using the tools of conventional [non-Islamic] banking
Many have strongly criticized the conventional banks which have entered the realm of Islamic finance in pursuit of the wealth that can be [easily] achieved within this industry, and in order to exploit the boom that it is currently witnessing. There are some executives within these banks who do not put into practice the decisions issued by Islamic Shariaa Law officiating bodies, rather they attempt to circumvent [these decisions] by any and all means
There may be some truth in this, but we cannot deny that many of the conventional and Western banks, when offering Islamic financial services, are doing so for the purposes of achieving profit and not [providing services] for the religion itself. However the pursuit of profit is common to both conventional and Islamic banks, as this is permissible within Islamic Shariaa Law so long as said profits are not associated wi













