MANAMA, Bahrain - Chicago native Mariam Khan never considered
Islamic banking until her husband moved the family to Dubai in 2007. But
the 36-year-old housewife is a believer now as the Western debt crisis
deepens. Her husband opened a family account with HSBC Amanah, the
Islamic arm of international bank HSBC.
"When I look at the damage that an interest-based system has done to the U.S. and Europe, I can see why God forbids riba (interest) in Islam," she said. "I'm not particularly conservative as a Muslim but I definitely feel safer within Islamic banking."
It is a sentiment that proponents of Islamic finance, which is based on religious principles including bans on interest and pure monetary speculation, hope will spur unprecedented growth of their industry as a safer, more stable alternative to conventional finance.
Bahrain's central bank governor Rasheed Mohammed al-Maraj said last week that Islamic finance had an opportunity to attract not only customers in its traditional areas, the Gulf and Muslim parts of Asia, but also investors around the world who had been hurt by the turmoil in mainstream capital markets.
"It should provide the industry with a sustained period of growth for the next decade," he said.
Ashar Nazim, Islamic financial services leader at consultants Ernst & Young, said the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States showed mounting public anger about inequality in the capitalist system.
This could help Islamic institutions gain market share by emphasising Islam's preference for an equitable distribution of wealth and dislike of excessive financial leverage, he said.
It is still unclear, however, how much of the recent growth of Islamic finance is due to its merits -- and how much is simply due to a temporary flight from conventional finance which could reverse when global markets eventually stabilize. — Reuters
"When I look at the damage that an interest-based system has done to the U.S. and Europe, I can see why God forbids riba (interest) in Islam," she said. "I'm not particularly conservative as a Muslim but I definitely feel safer within Islamic banking."
It is a sentiment that proponents of Islamic finance, which is based on religious principles including bans on interest and pure monetary speculation, hope will spur unprecedented growth of their industry as a safer, more stable alternative to conventional finance.
Bahrain's central bank governor Rasheed Mohammed al-Maraj said last week that Islamic finance had an opportunity to attract not only customers in its traditional areas, the Gulf and Muslim parts of Asia, but also investors around the world who had been hurt by the turmoil in mainstream capital markets.
"It should provide the industry with a sustained period of growth for the next decade," he said.
Ashar Nazim, Islamic financial services leader at consultants Ernst & Young, said the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States showed mounting public anger about inequality in the capitalist system.
This could help Islamic institutions gain market share by emphasising Islam's preference for an equitable distribution of wealth and dislike of excessive financial leverage, he said.
It is still unclear, however, how much of the recent growth of Islamic finance is due to its merits -- and how much is simply due to a temporary flight from conventional finance which could reverse when global markets eventually stabilize. — Reuters
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