Book Review: Islamic Banking and Finance: Theory and Practice, by: MUHAMMAD AYUB, Reviewed by مراجعة علمية لكتاب: الصيرفة و التمويل الإسلامي: النظرية و التطبيق

This book is written in the backdrop of a much debated process of Islamization and transformation of the banking and financial sector in Pakistan. The purpose of the book becomes quite clear in the beginning – it is intended to serve as a training manual for Pakistani bankers who need to learn new rules of the game. As such, the fact that Pakistan-specific issues abound in many pages of the text, does not come as a surprise to the reader. The focus of the entire text however, remains firmly on riba and riba alone. In the words of the author, the controversy over the connotation of riba has persisted all along, notwithstanding the fact that “the inaugural speech by the Father of the Nation, quaid-e-azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the State Bank of Pakistan Karachi, the three Constitutions adopted so far in Pakistan, reports of the Council of Islamic Ideology, and findings of various Commissions/ Committees constituted on the subject of Islamization of economy/ financial system, have unanimously called for eliminating riba.” (p xii, para 1). It needs to be understood and underscored at the outset that the actual process of Islamization of the financial sector and elimination of riba from the Pakistani economy is largely an outcome of a political debate and decision-making and is likely to be surrounded by controversy. The definition or connotation of riba, on the other hand, is no longer a debatable issue. There is a “general consensus” among scholars on what riba is and on the Shari'ah requirement of its prohibition. A “general consensus” of course, does not rule out a few lone and largely irrelevant voices of dissent.