In my latest article on Islamic home financing models in the ISRA Journal, June 2013,I had shown that the Zubair Diminishing Balance Model (ZDBM) does not involve compounding of return and the transfer of ownership to the customer perfectly matches the payments’ rate; the two norms Islamic...

The current financial turmoil has led many writers in the area of Islamic finance to revive an old edict in Islamic finance – no risk, no gain. I have discussed this axiom in my earlier writings and have not come across anything in recent advocacy of its proponents that could make me change my...

The present paper attempts two demonstrations. First, it shows that the Excel formula Islamic banks invariably use to determine the fixed installment payments in home financing amortization has explicit compounding of return. Once the installment is based on that formula, the subsequent claims...

This note demonstrates that the Msharakah Mutanaqisa home financing model is worsethan the conventional interest bearing loan financing; it is not only based oncompounding of return italso passes the ownership to the customer at a slower rate. The purpose is to draw attention of the Shari'ah...

This paper is in a series of writings on Islamic home financing. It spells out certain norms Islamic banks must observe in home financing and demonstrates that the conventional model based on an Excel formula does not meet the stated norms. It may well be emphasized that in Islam the question of...

Some recent writings on Islamic finance have resuscitated the old‘no risk, no gain’ precept from the earlier literature in the wake of current financial crisis. They argue that the basic reason for the recurrence of such crisesis the conventional interest-based financial system that rests...

This paper responds to the criticism of the Zubair Diminishing Balance model for Islamic home financing that Ahmad Kameel Meera published in the ISRA Journal. The response argues that most of the comments of Meera are frivolous and misplaced. It reiterates that the ZDBM is much different from...

This paper is a comment on an article of Abdou Diaw; Obiyathullah Ismath Bacha and Ahsene Lahsusna that appeared in ISRA: International Journal of Islamic Finance,Volume 4, Issue 1, June 2012 under the title 'Incentive-compatible sukukmusharkah for private sector funding' The comment is limited...

Some recent writings on Islamic finance have resuscitated the old ‘no risk, no gain’ precept from the earlier literature in the wake of current financial crisis. They argue that the basic reason for the recurrence of such crises is the conventional interest-based financial system that rests...

This paper clarifies some misinterpretations of three foundational concepts in mainstream economics from Islamic viewpoint. These are scarcity of resources, pursuit of self-interest and maximizing behavior of economic agents. It argues that stocks of resources that God has provided are...