Umar Moghul

I have come to know through failure what you my dear reader know from your iman: that the plan of Allah the Exalted is unlike even the hopes and theories of the created. It is so incredibly unexpected and fantastic in its arrangement across time and space that when we realize just some of what has happened – and how - it takes our breath away.

Islamic finance is no more than a representation of the Muslim condition, in its positives and negatives. Its most significant challenge is a spiritual and ethical one. Islamic spirituality, in its norms as well as its practices, establishes a methodological framework and impetus to establish businesses and markets that support sustainability and social and environmental well-being.

Is relying on donations sustainable? Was it, in fact, ever? After hearing that charity just isn’t enough repeated by more than a few, we wondered how can something so elemental to our faith, namely zakah, and more broadly, sadaqah, and as important in our social and religious history as awqaf, be so emphasized and successful and yet be insufficient?

I am often asked ‘What is Islamic finance? ‘Is it. . .Islamic?’. I nearly always hesitate.