About this book

The Islamic way of dealing with business transactions is unique. With the guidance from Syariah principles, Muslims are prohibited to engage in any activity which can cause harm to other traders or consumers. Nowadays, Islamic Finance is accepted and is gaining popularity in the financial market environment due to its success in attracting people, especially investors from the Gulf Countries. It is also due to the rising demand from Non-Muslim investors for ethical financing and investment. This change in the financial landscape led to the idea to write this book, which gives an in-depth insight into the basic idea or concepts used in Islamic finance. Although this book emphasizes on the application of Islamic finance in Malaysia, the underlying application is more or less the same for other countries adopting Islamic finance tools. This book is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 looks at the overview of Islamic finance and banking. A thorough understanding of the function of money, capitalist economy and commonly used modes in Islamic finance and banking, such as Musyarakah, Mudharabah, Murabahah and Ijarah, are essential for understanding the other topics covered in this book. Chapter 2 provides an understanding on interest rates in the context of time value of money, price expectation and business cycles. Chapter 3 is on riba from an Islamic perspective; it looks at the definition of riba, the prohibition of riba, types and classification of riba and the difference between riba and profit. Chapter 4 focusses on the Islamic Capital Market, which includes Islamic Money Market, Islamic Banking and Islamic Insurance. The chapter shows the commonly used Islamic capital market instruments, such as Sukuk, Islamic Syariah Equity and Islamic Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs). Finally, Chapter 5 deals with Islamic Financial Institutions and Market Regulators which lay the foundation for and development of Islamic finance. These international bodies and regulators are the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) and Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOFI). The chapter also discusses regulators in Malaysia, such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Securities Commission (SC) and Labuan Financial Services Authority (FSA). In addition, this final chapter explains some laws in Malaysia which relate to Islamic Finance and Banking.