FaithWorld

The Islamic finance industry has grown rapidly as Muslims around the world seek investments that comply with their religious beliefs. A tripling of oil prices over the past five years has flooded the Islamic finance sector with petrodollars, accelerating that expansion. So what are the issues facing the industry now? Of special interest for this blog are questions about how religious principles and business practices interact. For example, is some Islamic banking too Islamic for its own good? Do some types of murabaha contracts actually violate sharia law?

These religious issues and major deals in Islamic finance have been discussed during a Reuters industry summit on Islamic finance this week. There’s a conference website here with text reports plus video interviews with leading players in the world of business by Islamic principles.

For a quick overview, here are some of the top quotes from participants.