Perceptions on Islamic banking in the UK—Potentialities for empowerment, challenges and the role of scholars

This study examines the issue of minority empowerment and scholarly input in the context of Islamic banking in the UK. The nation has a large Muslim population that has often been characterised as marginalised, and so the study employs a critical lens to explore views regarding the extent to which the Islamic banking sector meets community needs. The paper investigates and compares the views of everyday Muslims, bank employees and Islamic scholars, finding widespread discontent with the current state of Islamic banking in the UK. Particular concerns were evident regarding the employment of the same (small) group of Shariah experts and scholars' inability (or unwillingness) to provide advice that is properly contextualised for contemporary Western societies. Whilst bankers' views differed from those of both scholars and everyday Muslims in some key respects, the study suggests a strong need for industrial and religious leaders to work together − including the need for deepened Ijtihad (independent reasoning) − to ensure that the sector develops services and products that are of real value to British Muslims. The evidence is shown to be consistent with the postmodern thinking underpinning Mandaville's notions of “transnational space” and “politics of identity” in Islamic diaspora, as well as Kuran's conceptualisation of “fixity” in the faith's teaching

Perceptions on the accessibility of Islamic banking in the UK—Challenges, opportunities and divergence in opinion

This study examines the views of UK-based Muslims, Islamic Scholars and Islamic banking employees on the current state of the latter industry, both in practical terms and as regards engagement with the nation’s large, but often marginalised Islamic community. The British Government has recently championed the Islamic banking sector and committed to supporting it as a means of addressing financial services needs and consolidating London’s position as the global centre for Islamic investment. The analysis adds to the substantive literature in two principal ways: (i) by contextualising the evidence via the notions of empowerment, engagement and social justice that underpin both the state’s attempts to foster growth and the central tenets of Islam; and (ii) by placing comparison of the opinions of key groups at the heart of the investigation. The findings reveal that while progress has been made, UK-based Muslims see several substantive impediments to access, including the complex terminology of Islamic banking products, the lack of internet banking facilities and branch networks as well as a generalised lack of interest in marketing on the part of the institutions. Whilst some coincidence of perception is evident, the views of bankers are shown to be out of line with those of the other parties in a number of key areas. For example, bankers appear to see less potential in the role of the internet as a medium for spreading awareness than do either potential customers or religious scholars. The paper therefore concludes with a call for multi-party Ijtihad and Qiyas (deductive analogy) that will encourage industrial outreach and, in so doing, support long-term growth