Fundamentals of Islamic Banking and Finance

Islamic finance, also called Shariah compliant finance, represents a specific type of finance based on Islamic law - Shariah. The basis of Islamic finance is the prohibition of Riba (interest), Gharar (uncertainty) and Maysir (gambling). Based on these prohibitions, Muslim scholars have developed specific financial products, which became the drivers of growth of Islamic finance. Although specific and mostly used in countries where Islam is the predominant religion, Islamic banks and financial products have received a lot of attention in the last few years, especially during the global financial crisis, and have been expanding ever since.