This is the first book-length study of Islamic financial services in the United Kingdom. It describes the ways in which British examples of Islamic financial provision illustrate both the main characteristics of Islamic financial teaching and some key issues in the situation of British Muslims. Coverage of the subject is comprehensive: there are chapters on the history of Islamic finance in the UK and on personal accounts, home purchase finance, the equivalents of personal loans and insurance, investment, commercial funding and the relatively new bond-like instruments of sukuk. The author's approach is broadly sympathetic to the general spirit and aims of the Islamic financial tradition but critical of some of its manifestations in practice. The book is especially topical at present, following the crisis in the UK banking industry and the unprecedented level of public debate about the appropriate aims and techniques of the financial markets. Some commentators have recently expressed disappointment that Islamic finance in the UK has failed to live up to the high expectations surrounding it. This book attempts to give a balanced account of the sector's strengths and weaknesses.

About the Author
Elaine Housby completed a PhD on the subject of Islamic finance in Britain at the Open University, after previously obtaining degrees involving varying combinations of politics, history, religion and Arabic. She likes to think that this gives her an unusually wide perspective, and hopes to continue research and writing on aspects of these subjects as well as maintaining her interest in the development of alternative forms of finance.


Book Information
ISBN 9780748639984
Author Elaine Housby
Format Paperback
Page Count 216
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press