Islamic banking follows Islamic laws and principles, primarily the tenet that interest must not be paid or collected and that profits and losses are shared. There are two other rules that come to play in Islamic banking. First, banks cannot be involved with businesses that take part in industries that are considered sinful, like gambling and alcohol. Neither can entrepreneurs take part in ventures that deal with sinful activities. Second, excessive risk cannot be taken in ventures.

On loans, borrowers only repay the amount that was originally borrowed. As a gratuity, the borrower can pay choose to pay the lender a small amount of extra money. Such a token should not be promised to the original lender, but paid on a voluntary basis to show appreciation for the loan. Neither should the lender expect such a gift in exchange for loaning money. (more…)

“Interest Free Banking” is a fundamental concept derived from the Islamic form of banking. It operates with the primitive professional and ethical standards that exclude the “Muslims” from paying or receiving any kind of interest. This certainly does not mean that the revenue generating activities or money raving businesses are not encouraged. All of these business forms are greatly appreciated as far as they do not involve interest in any kind. There are a lot of financial tools introduced by the Islamic financial bodies to fulfill these business or profit making requirements. For a clear understanding, they deal with equity financing rather then reflecting on debt financing. In addition, as a replacement of fixed interest rates on the savings account, these interest free banks give a small percentage of return on deposits on an annual basis.

Now looking at the inception of interest free banking, it all started around the later part of the nineteenth century when the Muslim countries were doing well, both politically as well as economically. These banks started establishing their centers in the major cities of Islamic as well as non-Islamic countries to cater their comprehensive business needs. Conversely, the branches of such interest free banks turned out to be scarce and the regions apart from the major cities were totally ignored by such a banking system. But however, a lot of local businesses engaged with these financial entities rather than other commercial banks only due to religious reasons. The only reason behind this is, Islam completely forbids the concept of paying or receiving interest. With increasing time and business, it also became exigent to stay away from commercial banks. The commercial banks evolved with the most convenient user-friendly practices like faster money transfer and effortless current accounts but even then, lending money and starting deposit accounts were outlawed due to the forbidden interest banking. Coming to the present moment, it has been obvious that any financial transaction in the most cases involves a bank and for that reason avoiding the modern banking has become impossible. Thus we find a greater indulgence of banks in our local communities. Looking at this inevitability, interest free banking came into existence to serve all the business needs of Muslims and in turn taking utmost care of the rules of Islam. The interest free banking works on some simple rules in the Quran and those who do not follow these rules or deviates from following them correctly is termed as “non-Islamic”. (more…)