The Islamic Moral Economy

Abstract

The Islamic Moral Economy is an academic book that analyzes the religious permissibility or lack thereof of the existing repertoire of financial instruments used in Islamic banking and finance. The work is both timely and sound, especially considering the growth of the international Islamic banking and insurance industries, and the Great Recession of 2007-2010.

The Islamic Moral Economy is an excellent introductory book for academics and finance professionals wishing to gain a better understanding of Islamic moral constraints on economic transactions and how most current Islamic banking transactions are structured.

More specifically, the author examines the utopian nature of the Islamic moral economy with a special emphasis on riba (i.e., financial interest and illogical increase), which is inescapable in the global interconnected economy, and therefore insoluble within the framework of the Islamic Moral Economy.

Unlike other books on the subject, The Islamic Moral Economy places a special emphasis on the ubiquity of financial interest and illogical increase in both current Islamic banking and finance as well as conventional economics.

About the Author

Shafiel Karim earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from California State University, Fullerton, an M.A. in Religious Studies from California State University, Long Beach, and holds post-graduate certificates in Islamic banking and insurance from the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance in London, England.