And Jesus went into the temple of God , and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them who sold doves, “And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” – Matthew 21:12-13 …

Past: When Mr Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world, called some financial instruments like the Derivates and Credit Default Swaps (CDS) ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’ over three years back, few of us took notice . The world economy was on the roll. European realty and financial markets were booming. US was ‘winning the war on terror’. And rest of the world was blindly aping this mirage called ‘American Dream’ …

Ci sono fondi che non investono in alcol, tabacco o carne di maiale . Sono i fondi “islamici”, e rispettano rigorosamente i precetti indicati dal Corano. Per questo, non investiranno mai nemmeno in armi, gioco d’azzardo o pornografia. Strumenti finanziari nati nei Paesi arabi che, ogni anno, raccolgono miliardi di dollari in tutto il mondo, Europa compresa. Solo in Italia, i fondi islamici restano alla porta: ce n’è solo uno -Bnp Paribas Islamic Fund-, e viene gestito dal Lussemburgo …

As mentioned in our article on Islamic financial services in Italy published in the Islamic Finance news 2008 Guide at the beginning of the year , the ‘Bel Paese’ (‘Beautiful Country’) was home in 2007 to around 1.4 million Muslims. They represented 32% of the 3.7 million foreigners residing in Italy or 2.3% of Italy’s population and evenly distributed, with 55% living in the north, 25% in the central region and 20% in the southern part of the country …

The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them Changes both the maker and the destination.

Alberto Brugnoni, ex direttore di Merrill Lynch Bank Italia, presidente di Assaif, come si concilia il guadagno con la shariah? «La shariah non dice che non deve esserci guadagno,ma impone che debba essere frutto di un’attività reale e di una condivisione del rischio d’impresa. Non deve essere generato dal tasso d’interesse e dalla cartolarizzazione infinita» …

Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived? Since young, I have obstinately pursued my interests in two fields that are seemingly at odds with each other:: first, Arabic and Islamic studies, and second, finance. After undergoing training in Tunis, Cairo and Damascus, I regularly contributed articles and provided translations on different topics related to the Muslim world. Then, following a degree in international relations in Geneva, I rose quickly in Merrill Lynch to become head for the Italian region before going into private practice …

Contrordine: l’Islam non fa più paura all’Occidente; specie se visto dallo sportello di una banca. Dopo l’11 settembre il mondo politico occidentale si è schierato compatto, dagli Stati Uniti alla Russia, nel condannare la violenza del radicalismo e gli eccessi religiosi ispirati alla legge islamica, la sharia; la cosa sorprendente però è che, negli stessi anni, il mondo finanziario occidentale ha scoperto nella sharia una speranza di guadagno…

Although the Islamic financial services industry has experienced impressive growth in the last decade, it has failed to make financial services accessible to the poor. This is in spite of poverty in both urban and rural parts of the 1.2 billion strong Muslim world being high and that five predominantly Muslim countries – Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria and Egypt – account for more than 500 million of the world’s poor, with incomes below the national poverty line …