1 Status of the Global Islamic Finance Industry »
Ibrahim Warde
From: Islamic Finance: Law and Practice
Edited By: Craig R.Nethercott, David M. Eisenberg
1.01 Islamic finance practitioners tend to be primarily concerned with definitions and financial techniques within their area of specialization. Beyond such specifics, their understanding of the bigger picture is often reduced to a few implicit—and faulty—assumptions. One is that there is a fixed, unchanging framework for Islamic finance, applicable everywhere, that has been established once and for all by religious scholars. Another is that Islamic finance has been in existence since the early days of Islam, or that it has appeared fully formed at one point in...
Part I Introduction, 1 Status of the Global Islamic Finance Industry »
Ibrahim Warde
From: Islamic Finance: Law and Practice (2nd Edition)
Edited By: Craig R. Nethercott, David M. Eisenberg
This introductory chapter provides an overview of Islamic finance. Modern Islamic finance did not come out of nowhere. It appeared as the result of specific historical circumstances in the 1970s, and later evolved through a complex process of trial-and-error. It was also shaped by broader competitive and political–economic factors. Although religion was by definition central to Islamic finance, other variables—political, economic, social, cultural, and demographic—also played a significant role. No longer confined to the outer fringes of global finance, Islamic finance has also gone mainstream. Most major financial institutions are now involved in one way or another in Islamic finance, as are global consulting, accounting, and information companies. Within the Islamic world, Islamic financial institutions have become major economic players.
