Are Islamic banks in Malaysia Islamic?
April 16th, 2007A few days ago, RICOI held a forum and invited two speakers to talk on the topic “Are Islamic banks in Malaysia Islamic?” It was interesting to hear the two speakers (one is a director of Kuwait Financial House and the other is an academician with IIU) airing their views on the issue. While the first speaker was adamant that Islamic banks in Malaysia are no doubt conducting their business via Islamic principles, the second speaker from IIU pointed out several weaknesses in the implementation of Islamic principles in these banks, arguing that the banks still retain practices which are found in conventional banks and are not shariah-based, even though they may be shariah-compliant. The forum was beginning to sound more like a debate but the moderator (Dr. Amir Farid) handled the forum quite well.
At the end of the day, I came out of the room with more understanding of the issue. While there is no doubt certain that there are problems with the way Islamic banks conduct their business, they should always work towards adhering to shariah and resolve the issues as pointed out by the IIU academician. There will come a day when Islamic banks in Malaysia will not only be shariah-compliant, but shariah-based as well.