The Basics Of Islamic Finance With Applications In Malaysia Uum Press

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.

Islam postulates a unique link of contracts among the creator, man and society on the basis of Syariah law that directly affects the workings of the various social, political, economic, and financial systems. Therefore, to understand the way in which economic affairs and financial institutions are organized in an Islamic system, it is first necessary to comprehend the nature of this relationship. Consequently, one cannot study a particular aspect or part of an Islamic system, economics, for example, in isolation, without having understanding of the basic knowledge of Islamic finance. Islamic finance products are contract-based. This book explains Islamic finance, which refers to the provision of financial services in accordance with Syariah law in chapter one. The Syariah law is the foundation for the establishment of an Islamic banking system. Chapter two illustrates the differences between the principles of Syariah and Tabii’. Chapter three explains the Islamic theory of profit. Chapter four is about risk and uncertainty, which is known as gharar in Islamic finance. Chapter five discusses interest/riba, which is the most significance principle of Islamic banking. Chapter six explains some of the financial issues related to Islamic banking.

Islamic Banking Operations: Products and Services aims to give insights on Islamic banking operations as well as assists readers to understand certain aspects of its products and services. This book provides an overview about the balance sheets for both conventional and Islamic banks, the deposits and financing activities as well as the Islamic trade finance products and instruments.

Partnership-based was widely practised in the pre-Islamic period. The practice was so commonly prevalent among the muslim and non-muslim. This book is hoped to be of assistance to those who wish to discover the shariah contracts for partnership and the methods of structuring the current Islamic financial products and instruments through adopting either an existing Islamic contract or by combining two or more thereof. As for students and lecturers, this book is sought to be a reference for Islamic banking and finance related courses. It can also be a reference to the general members of the public who are interested to learn about the basic principles in the paramaterizing the shariah rulings for Islamic partnership contracts and to obtain issues about the Islamic banking and financial products. All readers may realize, that the first two chapters have briefly discussed the introduction to fiqh and shariah and the rule-making process of the areas in Islamic law. The main purpose of the book is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the principles and basis of adopting the shariah contracts for Islamic financial products, as well as enabling the harmonization of the Islamic financial practices into shariah parameters of each contract. Nevertheless, the basic and important discussion on fiqh, shariah and the procedure of law-making process is believed to be sufficiently covered in this book.

Many students find it difficult to understand financial market concepts. Most of the recommended textbooks are written by foreign authors. This book explains the concepts and provides local examples for readers to explore and understand the subject matter better. The topics are related to financial markets, financial institutions and financial instruments. Examples are presented so that the students and anyone interested in learning about financial markets can easily understand the concepts. The main objective of this book is to enable key concepts and issues that underlie financial markets to be accessible to all. Each chapter comes with review questions to assist students and readers in checking their understanding of the subject matter.

The recent turbulence in the global financial markets has drawn attention to an alternative system of financial intermediation: Islamic banking and finance, which has so far remained on the sidelines of the unrest. Islamic Finance in a Nutshell is a quick and easy guide to understanding the fundamentals of Islamic Finance and how the Islamic Financial markets work. Designed as a quick read for practitioners needing to pick up the basics of the industry, it will enable readers to understand the differences Islamic and Western finance. Starting with the rise of Islamic finance, the book highlights the key areas which practitioners need to grasp to understand the marketplace including financial statement analysis, Sharia’a law, making money in the absence of interest and regulation. The book also provides readers with a basic guide to Arab terminology and a guide to the top financial institutions within the Islamic markets. This is an ideal guide for anyone with an interest in how these financial markets work, but who do not want to be bogged down in complex and unnecessary terminology.

This book, Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance: An Economic Analysis, covers the basic principles of Islamic economics and finance. It discusses both the theory of Islamic economics and finance as well as the applications in the design of instruments of finance as well as Islamic financial institutions. The book enables its readers to gain an understanding of the structures and operations of Islamic banking, Islamic capital market investments, risk management, and taxation for Islamic banking contracts.The book sets forth the following objectives:

As the collective voice of the Muslim world and as the second largest inter-governmental organisation after the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is, without doubt, the best platform for the Muslim community, or the Ummah to address issues which have afflicted them in so many ways, be it politically, economically, or socially. Since September 11, 2001, Islam and the Islamic community worldwide has been attacked into so many unjust accusations, which is now known as Islamophobia. The basic premise of this book is that one of the main factors which caused this unnecessary prejudice, hate, and fear against Islam and the Muslim world is the fact that the Muslim community has failed to optimally harness its economic potentials to build a greater and stable political and social community which they have all the capacities to become. This book argues that one of the solutions to overcome this state of affair is for a few like-minded countries in the OIC, like Malaysia, to initiate policies and programmes of economic empowerment for the Muslim world. This can be done by enhancing Malaysia-OIC trade and investment linkages and promoting crucial sectors, such as Islamic finance and Islamic social finance. This book is not merely to provide detailed discussions on these issues based on the empirical results, but also highlighted some policy implications and provides future directions for Malaysia to play a crucial role in unlocking the economic potentials of the Ummah so that it can be strengthened further for the betterment of the Muslim world at large.