The Islamic Finance Handbook: A Practitioner's Guide to the Global Markets

Foreword

Four decades ago, it was a strange thought, but now it has emerged as a wonderful reality. I am referring to Islamic finance.

Indeed, it is a newly born but very fast growing industry in comparison to its counterparts. Islamic banking does not have a history spread over centuries, but its core principles were entrenched in seventh century AD. In fact, its roots are as deep as the roots of humankind itself, because Islamic banking is based on divine values—the values of justice and fairness that the God Almighty has ordained no sooner than he created man.

Islamic finance has become a vital and growing reality and is based on divine guidance, which has no room for injustice, discrimination, nontransparency, and greed among human beings; it is fully in synch with the laws of nature.

The journey of Islamic finance is quite fascinating, and is indeed very beneficial as it is about applying a viable alternative to the conventional banking and finance industry, which is fast losing trust due to successive crises that are forcing people to write off their lending to conventional financial institutions.

Throughout this book, you will see the shining present and promising future of Islamic finance all over the world. Although there are regulatory issues (which were raised by some of the authors), political and economic challenges (as also highlighted by the respected authors), and lack of awareness and misconceptions by the general public, the future is bright and the opportunities ...