In today’s Muslim world, the social and political arena is rife with endless debates about restrictions on women’s activities outside the home, discrimination, inequality in education and career opportunities and lack of recognition for their work. This conveys the impression that financial and economic rights for women are restricted at the origin by divine law and that Muslim women have been segregated, since the dawn of Islam, into a subordinate role in their financial affairs

Last September, as dust and debris from the tellers’ floors began raining onto the empty vaults below, a note of satisfaction was sounded by bankers in the Arab world. Financial institutions sticking to the tenets of Islam, they announced, were largely immune from the debt crisis. Devout Muslims may lend and borrow under certain conditions; they can even buy and sell debt in the form of ‘Islamic’ bonds, but most other kinds of debt trading are frowned on

È necessario ricordare come, alla fine del xix secolo, i sostenitori dei principi e i cultori della finanza islamica abbiano espresso ripetutamente il malcontento verso la penetrazione del capitalismo nei Paesi musulmani . Parecchie fatwa sono state pubblicate per ribadire come le attività basate sull’interesse della banca dei “colonizzatori” fossero incompatibili con la shar’ia. Tuttavia le sole banche presenti nel mondo musulmano erano l’espressione di istituzioni occidentali e le popolazioni di fede musulmana hanno dovuto utilizzarle nonostante dal loro punto di vista si trattasse di entità non ammissibili e basate su attività proibite dalla legge religiosa vigente, che permea il…

In 1976, in a world much less open, LAFICO the Libyan government’s bank and precursor of the Libyan SWF, became a shareholder of Fiat, at that time in dire straits. Regeb Misellati and Abdullah Saudi were given two seats on the executive board and proved friendly and competent administrators. Ten years after, Fiat was again flourishing – the strategic vision of Giovanni Agnelli was vindicated and Libya cashed in an extraordinary gain …

Demand for finance based on Islamic religious principles has been skyrocketing across the globe for years originally driven by demand from HNWIs and institutions in the Middle East – typically a reallocation of oil-derived wealth into Islamic products . This is hardly surprising considering that approximately one person in four in the world is Muslim. This has also meant that both the need for halal investment opportunities has grown as well as the desire to finance them in accordance with Shariah principles …

In November 2007 a renowned Shariah scholar issued a statement on the illegitimacy of those outstanding Sukuk issues underpinned by repurchase agreements (the so called Purchase Undertaking Deed) and where, as a consequence, risk and reward are not shared according to the actual venture proceeds. He vowed that it was time to review standards …

ISPI Policy Brief – G.Plutino, “La crisi fa riscoprire la banca islamica”, November 2008. Mentre le aziende di credito e le istituzioni finanziarie occidentali attraversano una fase di pesante ristrutturazione e si interrogano sul futuro , le banche islamiche crescono con tassi di sviluppo a doppia cifra. La gravità della crisi finanziaria ed economica mondiale, l’incertezza sulle prospettive, la necessità di modificare i modelli di business e una diversità così marcata nelle condizioni operative rendono urgente la necessità di confrontarsi in modo più approfondito con questo fenomeno …

Analisi della “Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna” che analizza la competitività, la sicurezza, le prospettive internazionali e italiane e che cita le attività di ASSAIF – Analysis of the “Information and Internal Security Agency” that analyzes competitiveness, security, international and Italian perspectives and that mentions the activities of ASSAIF.

Islamic Finance made its entry into the European financial arena through the advent of Shari’a-compliant home finance propositions launched in the UK between the early to mid 90’s of the 20th century . Since then, the industry has become stronger and stronger every day in the UK which now has six authorised fully-fledged Islamic banks and a Takaful company operating in the country with more than a handful of conventional financial institutions offering an ever-increasing range of Islamic products to their clientele. But how does this enviable momentum compare with the rest of the European markets?