Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance The fifth intensive orientation course under the title "Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance" was held in Markfield, U.K., September 25-28, 1997.

Abstract

The course was organized by the Islamic Development U.K., in cooperation
with the Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and
Loughborough University, Loughborough, U.K. More than 100 guest
speakers, organizers, and participants attended.
The participants were very active in panel discussions. The topics
included Islamic banking and fm ance, Islamic economics, economic
development from the Islamic perspective, the creation of money, the
rationale of prohibiting interest and its prohibition in western literature,
debt, equity, Islamic fund management, the role of zakat in the eradication
of poverty, Islamic finance in the West, and the new halal investment
company in Europe. As a starting point, Dr. Umer Chapra presented a paper on the present
state of Islamic economics. He emphasized the importance of economics
in explaining the fall of Muslim power. He also pointed out the effect of
Islamic values and institutions, including zakat and the abolition of interest.
He added that now it is time to solve the practical problems that the
Muslim countries are facing and also to show ways of realizing the
Islamic vision of a society where development is taking place with justice.
Dr. Monawar Iqbal talked about the rationale of Islamic banking and
the services that people are in need of, e.g., investment in the form of
mudarabah, musharakah, and murabah.
Attention was juid to the following features of Islamic banking: risk
sharing, productivity as compared to credit worthiness, moral dimension,
equity, efficiency, stability, and growth.
The experience of Islamic banking in Pakistan, Iran, and Sudan was
discussed. In addition, there was a discussion on multinational entities
(e.g., Islamic Development Bank). Dr. Iqbal emphasized the major problems
facing Islamic banking such as lack of profit sharing on the asset
side, adverse selection, moral hazard, lack of project appraisal machinery,
lack of project monitering, defaulters and the issue of penalties,
illogicality of the Islamic financial market, short-term asset structure,
excess liquidity, short-term placement of funds, lack of a lender of last
resort, difficulties in issuing letters of guarantee, and taxation.
Despite these problems, 192 Islamic banks were operating by the end
of 1996. An analysis of 166 of these banks was made by Dr. Samir
Shaikh, who described their current profile and showed that their net
profit in 1996 was $1,683,648. On the suggestion of Dr. Tarigullah Khan
the principles of Islamic finance were grouped into the following categories:
benevolence, sharing principle, deferred sale-principle, and
sharing-cum-deferred sale ...