| Feature |
The International Conference on Islamic Banking &
Finance
The conference was held at the Islamic Foundation, in
co-operation with the department of Economics, Loughborough
University of Technology. A number of top bankers from
the Muslim world, as well as the West, took part in
the deliberations and discussed the issue of Islamic
banking and finance in theory and practice.
|
|
Conference
|
New
Horizon reprints the talks given at the International
Conference
Mr Eddie George, the Governor of the Bank of England,
said: 'We welcome competitive innovation in financial
market and banking practice to enhance the services that
London can provide for the users of those services - both
domestically and internationally. And that is the context
within which we, at the Bank of England certainly, seek
to understand Islamic banking.' However he explains that
there is a need for better understanding of Islamic banking,
and that : 'we have to work together with the Islamic
banking community to identify and solve any problems that
may exist.'
Dr
Abbas Mirakhor, an Executive Director of the IMF,
Washington, poses the question: 'The 80's and early
90's were full of marketing innovations in financial
instruments and many of these are easily adaptable to
the Islamic way of doing things. Why aren't Islamic
banks doing anything about it? No one else will do it
for them.'
Professor
Khurshid Ahmed, Chairman of the Islamic Foundation
in Leceister, Member of the Senate of Pakistan, and
Chairman of the IPS (Institute of Policy Studies) in
Pakistan, pleads that: 'While there is an urgent need
for a better understanding of the Muslim mind and Muslim
efforts to restructure their economies on new foundations,
this should not be looked upon as an aberration, as
a perversion, as a deviation, as something that is inimical
or a threat.'
|
| Takaful |
Is
Life Insurance Haraam?
Adil Salahi, religious editor of Arab News, Saudi
Arabia's leading English-language daily, warns: "that
when a Muslim takes out an insurance policy he should
make sure that the method of operation the insurance
company follows, does not involve any forbidden investments
and does not contravene the teachings of Islam in any
way."
|
