Title: Islamic finance, legal, economic and practical aspects
Author: Mahmoud EL-GAMAL

Translation and adaptation by Jacqueline HAVERALS
Preface by Marc DESCHAMPS

Editions de Boeck

Accounting, control & finance collection

The financial crisis has shattered the certainties relating to financial models and has created the need for more ethical finance that is closer to the real economy. Some see in Islamic finance - that is to say, respecting the principles of the Sharia'h - the possibility of restoring a certain balance between investors/savers and financial institutions by proposing a cooperative system where both the gains that the losses are shared.

Without bias and without proselytism, the book deals with the legal, economic, financial and practical aspects of Islamic finance. In ten chapters, the author makes a real progression through the main issues of Islamic finance such as its historical and religious foundations, its aspirations, its principles (sharing of profits and losses, etc.) or its limits (laundering of money, tax evasion,...) and its deviations (religious principles and customs distorted by a marketing drift).

Demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of Islamic finance and financial markets in general, the author identifies and questions the practice of this so-called ethical finance and discusses its paths of development.

This first book available in French and adapted to the European context in the light of the financial crisis is aimed both at specialists and students in finance and at readers curious about this exciting and innovative field.

Mahmoud A. El-Gamal
Mahmoud A. El-Gamal is Professor of Economics and Statistics at Rice University, where he founded the Chair of Islamic Economics, Finance and Management. Before joining Rice University in 1998, he was associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and assistant professor of economics at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester. He also worked in the Middle East Department of the International Monetary Fund (1995-6) as well as the first Resident Specialist in Islamic Finance at the United States Department of the Treasury in 2004. He has published extensively on topics such as econometrics , finance, experimental economics, as well as Islamic law and finance.

Jacqueline Haverals
Jacqueline Haverals holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the Free University of Brussels (Solvay Business School). Engineer, holder of a Master's degree in Tax Management and recognized professional certifications (CFA, FRM...), she has been active in the field of international finance for several years. Author of numerous articles dealing with taxation and finance, she teaches these subjects as well as risk management in various prestigious Swiss, American and Asian university institutions.

SUMMARY

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Jurisprudence and Arbitration
• Chapter 3: the two main prohibitions of riba and gharar
• Chapter 4: Islamic Financial Structures on Wind Contracts
• Chapter 5: derivative sales: salam, istina and urbun
• Chapter 6: Leasing, securitization and sukuk
• Chapter 7: Equity investments and investment
• Chapter 8: Islamic Financial Institutions
• Chapter 9: Regulatory and governance solutions provided by mutualism
• Chapter 10: Beyond Shari'ah Arbitration