Why is it important for Western institutions, for example GWU, to teach Islamic finance?
Islamic finance is becoming extremely important in various parts of the world. It’s shaping economies. Islamic finance is the most rapidly growing part of the finance industry throughout Southeast Asia, throughout the Arabian Gulf region, throughout the Arab world. Islamic banks are cropping up everywhere, in the UK, France, Germany. In fact, Europe is far ahead of the United States in this respect. There’s been very little action in the United States. It’s a lucrative field in finance, and it’s rapidly growing. And many, many people want to get involved in it. Why would, say, a non-Muslim American or student want to learn about Islamic finance? Well, he would one day, perhaps, be advising an American company interested in developing business or investing abroad, and the foreign party wants to finance it by Sharia-compliant, Islamic-compliant banks, so he needs to have some idea of what Islamic-compliant investment is. Particularly if you’re going to work in the Arabian Gulf, you have
