The
Anthology of Islamic Banking, a treasure house of information
about various aspect of Islamic financial sector as it
has evolved over two decades, is the result of Asma Siddiqi's
work, undertaken with great dedication and ability.
Her
knowledge of the concept and operations of Islamic banking,
acquired over the years as former editor of New Horizon,
the official organ of the Institute, and her legal expertise
as Bar-at-Law, enabled her to do justice to this difficult
assignment. The selection of papers and classification
under various headings has been a time-consuming process.
The
Anthology is the first major publication of its kind,
in which writers from all over the world have contributed
to defining the fundamental features of the concept and
operations of Islamic banking and finance.
Topics
covered in this publication focus on Islamic banking -
concepts and values, its developments; Islamic economics
and monetary systems, Islamic financial markets, Islamic
financial products, accounting and taxation; Islamic insurance;
Zakat, the Shariah and supervision, research and development,
reflections, possible problems and future challenges.
The
Anthology will be invaluable to research scholars.
The 670 page Anthology (A4 size) is a treasure house
of information and will be divided in to 16 chapters.
This
is an unprecedented document that brings together at
one place all concepts needed not only to understand
the nature and scope of Islamic banking but also to
give a perspective on its prospective position in the
Market place.
The
Editor, Asma Siddiqui has done an excellent job in selecting
and editing the material to compile this useful Anthology.
I
congratulate the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance
in producing this volume that has both academic and practical
significance and will be helpful to researchers as well
as practitioners in the field.
Dr.
M. Fahim Khan
Chief, Islamic Research & Training Institute
Islamic Development Bank
Saudi Arabia
I
have been asked a number of times whether there is a
comprehensive book on Islamic banking, and have had
to reply that while there were books that dealt with
aspects of the topic, there was no comprehensive book.
Thanks to the efforts of the Institute of Islamic Banking
and Insurance (IIBI) and of Asma Siddiqi, I can now
give a more positive response, and I should like to
congratulate them for their valuable achievement.
As
its title suggests, the book is a set of readings. These
have been assembled mainly from papers published in
the IIBI's journal, New Horizon. In terms of coverage
of the topic, Ms. Siddiqi's Anthology is impressively
comprehensive. The book is organised into twelve sections,
each containing between two and twenty papers, totalling
111 papers in all.
The sections are: Islamic banking - Concepts and Values;
Development of Islamic Banking; Islamic Economics and
Monetary System; Islamic Financial Markets; Islamic
Financial Products; Accounting and Taxation; Islamic
Insurance; Zakat; Sharia and Supervision; Research and
Development; Reflections; and Possible Problems and
Future Challenges. One third of the papers are in Sections
4 and 5, dealing with Islamic financial markets and
financial products.
Which
sections will be seen as most valuable by readers will
depend on their individual interests. For example, Islamic
insurance is just one field in which there is a paucity
of literature, and the three papers on that topic in the
Anthology will be very helpful to those starting to research
the subject. To sum up, the Anthology is truly impressive
in its coverage of topics relating to Islamic banks, and
contains a considerable number of authoritative and informative
papers. These merits far outweigh the book's shortcomings,
and the Editor and Publisher are to be congratulated.
Professor
Simon Archer
University of Surrey
United Kingdom
The
Anthology is a very welcome addition to the growing literature
on Islamic banking, and the Institute of Islamic Banking
and Insurance, and its Chairman, Muazzam Ali are to be
congratulated for putting together such a splendid volume.
Asma Siddiqi has done an excellent job with the editing.
The work will constitute a permanent record of the pioneering
practical contributions made during the last decade in
Islamic finance, both at lectures, seminars and workshops
organised by the Institute and as papers published in
New Horizon. For libraries that have no holdings of material
on Islamic finance the work will be especially useful,
as it provides researchers with a ready made collection
of articles on many aspects of the subject.
The collection will be particularly useful for bankers
and all those involved in the financial services industry,
as most of the articles are practical in nature and provide
a fair insight into what developments have taken place
in the Islamic banking field since its modern emergence
in the 1960s and 1970s. The Anthology will interest both
industry insiders and western bankers with little knowledge
of Islamic finance. The latter will probably be surprised
to see that Islamic banking is now a $200 billion industry
as Muazzam Ali points out in the forward to the work.
Apart from these minor misgivings the work stands out
as a major contribution to the Islamic finance literature.
The book will be an essential purchase for reference purposes
by banks both inside and outside the Muslim world, and
by libraries of universities and research institutes.
Rodney
Wilson,
Professor of Economics,
University of Durham,
Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
|
HB,
2000, pages670
Price £150 |
