At the Thistle City Barbican Hotel on 1 November, Christian Concern launched What’s Wrong with Islamic Finance?, a booklet authored by Tim Dieppe. Tim and Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali hosted the evening.
Islamic finance, otherwise known as sharia-compliant finance, is based on the idea that all forms of interest are prohibited (or haram) in Islamic law. Over 20 lenders in the UK offer Islamic financial services. In 2014, Britain made history by becoming the first non-Muslim country to issue a sovereign Islamic bond, as part of the government’s ten-year commitment for the UK to become the Western hub of Islamic finance.
When Prime Minister, David Cameron said he wanted to go further still: ‘I don’t just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world; I want London to stand alongside Dubai as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world.’
