Islamic banking, Islamic finance, or Sharia-compliant finance is banking or financing activity that complies with Sharia and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics. Some of the modes of Islamic banking/finance include Mudarabah, Wadiah (safekeeping), Musharaka, Murabahah (cost-plus), and Ijara (leasing).
The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development finance institution that is focused on Islamic finance for infrastructure development and located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are 57 shareholding member states with the largest single shareholder being Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Umer Chapra is a Pakistani-Saudi economist. As of November 1999, he serves as Advisor at the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Prior to this position, he worked at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), Riyadh, for nearly 35 years, as Economic Advisor and then Senior Economic Advisor.
Sheikh Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi is a Saudi Arabian corporate figure and billionaire. As of 2015, his wealth was estimated by Forbes to be $2.1 billion. He received the 2012 King Faisal International Prize for dedicating half his fortune to charity, starting an Islamic bank, supporting charity work and implementing effective national projects.
Riba is an Arabic word that can be roughly translated as "usury", or unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business under Islamic law. Riba is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an. It is also mentioned in many hadith.
Sukuk is the Arabic name for financial certificates, also commonly referred to as "sharia compliant" bonds. Sukuk are defined by the AAOIFI as "securities of equal denomination representing individual ownership interests in a portfolio of eligible existing or future assets." The Fiqh academy of the OIC legitimized the use of sukuk in February 1988.
Bank Albilad is an Islamic Saudi bank established in 2004.
Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport or Medina Airport is a regional airport in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Opened in 1950, it handles domestic flights, while it has scheduled international services to regional destinations such as Cairo, Dubai, Istanbul and Kuwait City. Medina Airport also handles charter international flights during the Hajj and Umrah seasons. The Pilgrims for Hajj and Umrah can enter Saudi Arabia through this airport or through Jeddah Airport only. It is the fourth busiest airport in Saudi Arabia, handling 8,144,790 passengers in 2018.
Sheikh Saleh Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi was a Saudi businessman and philanthropist who founded the Al-Rajhi Bank, the largest Islamic banking institution.
The Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) is an Islamic bank in Dubai, established in 1975 by Saeed Bin Ahmed Lootah. It is the first Islamic bank in the world to have incorporated the principles of Islam in all its practices and is the largest Islamic bank in the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB) is a Riyadh-based Saudi joint stock company in which global banking group HSBC owns a minority stake. The bank traces its origins to the British Bank of the Middle East which was acquired by HSBC in 1959. In response to restrictions on foreign ownership of banks in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arab British Bank (SABB) was created in 1978 to manage HSBC branches and assets in the country.
The Saudi Payments Network or mada is the only and major payment system in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia established by Ministry of Finance under the supervision of Saudi Central Bank. It connects all ATM and Point of Sale (PoS) terminals throughout the country to a central payment switch which in turn re-routes the financial transactions to the card issuer. All banks in Saudi Arabia are required by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to issue ATM cards fully compatible with the network. All services are provided to the customer free of charge, regardless of the ATM used, its operator, or the customer's card issuer.
The Al Rajhi Bank is a Saudi Arabian bank and the world's largest Islamic bank by capital based on 2015 data.
Murabaḥah, murabaḥa, or murâbaḥah was originally a term of fiqh for a sales contract where the buyer and seller agree on the markup (profit) or "cost-plus" price for the item(s) being sold. In recent decades it has become a term for a very common form of Islamic financing, where the price is marked up in exchange for allowing the buyer to pay over time—for example with monthly payments. Murabaha financing is similar to a rent-to-own arrangement in the non-Muslim world, with the intermediary retaining ownership of the item being sold until the loan is paid in full. There are also Islamic investment funds and sukuk that use murabahah contracts.
A Sharia Board certifies Islamic financial products as being Sharia-compliant. Because compliance with Sharia law is the underlying reason for the existence of Islamic finance, Islamic banks should establish a Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) to advise them on whether their products comply, and to ensure that their operations and activities comply with Sharia principles. There are also national Sharia boards in many Muslim majority countries that regulate Islamic financial institutions nationwide.
Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC (IBBPLC) is an Islamic banking company based in Bangladesh. It became incorporated on 13 March 1983 as a public limited company under the Companies Act 1913 and started operation on 30 March, the same year. IBBPLC maintains its own ATM Booths with a country-wide shared ATM network. IBBPLC has been the largest private banking network in Bangladesh. When IBBPLC was established, it was the first bank in Southeast Asia to provide banking service based on Shariah. The bank has been listed with both Dhaka Stock Exchange Ltd. and Chittagong Stock Exchange Ltd.
Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud was a Saudi prince and businessman. He was a son of King Faisal and was one of the pioneers in the establishment of Islamic banking and Islamic insurance.
Profit and Loss Sharing refers to Sharia-compliant forms of equity financing such as mudarabah and musharakah. These mechanisms comply with the religious prohibition on interest on loans that most Muslims subscribe to. Mudarabah (مضاربة) refers to "trustee finance" or passive partnership contract, while Musharakah refers to equity participation contract. Other sources include sukuk and direct equity investment as types of PLS.
Islamic banking and finance — the industry built around avoiding interest and other financial practices found in violation of sharia — has been both praised and criticized by observers.
Sheikh Sulaiman Al-Rajhi Mosque, simply known as Al-Rajhi Mosque, is a congregational mosque and an active place of worship in the al-Jazirah neighborhood of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Inaugurated in 2004, it is the largest mosque in Riyadh and one of the most popular landmarks of the city besides being considered among the largest mosques in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world. It is named after the Saudi businessman and billionaire Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz al-Rajhi, who primarily funded the mosque's construction.
