Things changed when the "rocket scientists of Deutsche Bank", Goldman Sachs, HSBC and other big boys arrived on the scene. They saw Islamic finance as an opportunity for quick profit. Muftis and Mullahs were hired at footballers' salaries to make some of their product "Sharia compliant", and bankers such as Irfan to sell them to an unsuspected Muslim public. Soon we had products such as sukuk (the equivalent of interest on bonds), hilah contracts (which substituted bank charges for interest) and Islamic finance became embroiled in hedge funds, derivatives and other dubious instruments justified in the name of Islam. read more ...Updated August 7, 2014:
The Islamic finance industry is at risk of diluting its principles as it nears $2trn writes @harris_irfan in new book http://t.co/pQEzu88jKI
— Gregor Stuart Hunter (@gregorhunter) August 7, 2014