Islamic Finance: Principles and Practice

Hans Visser
Paperback, 296 pages
Third edition
9781800888388

This timely book investigates the ideas and concepts that drive and shape Islamic finance. Hans Visser covers recent developments and explores tensions between belief systems and market demands, to consider the future of Islamic finance in the modern marketplace.

Visser reviews the numerous products, institutions and markets offered by Islamic finance, situating them in the competitive contemporary environment. This incisive book questions the conceptual differences that have been established between Islamic finance and conventional finance, drawing attention instead to how the former imitates the latter. Offering a critical assessment of the claims of the ethical superiority of Islamic finance frequently made by its advocates, Visser further discusses the ways in which fiscal and monetary policy can be adapted to Islamic financial institutions.

Concise, yet comprehensive in scope, this book offers new directions for economics and finance students interested in alternatives to conventional finance, as well as students of Islamic finance and Islam studies more broadly. International bankers, financial journalists and politicians will find Visser’s succinct exploration of Islamic finance and financial institutions invaluable. 

Contents
1. Why Islamic finance?
2. Islamic law 
3. The Islamic economy 
4. Forms of Islamic finance 
5. Islamic banks 
6. Special sectors 
7. Public finance, monetary policy and banking supervision 
8. A tentative verdict and a question mark