Religion, Finance and Ethics: Islamic and conventional perspectives on shared principles, practices, and financial institutions and instruments

This project explores common ground in the practices and ethical principles underpinning Islamic and conventional Western financial systems. The Islamic prohibition on interest (riba) needs to be related to the traditional hostility of Christianity and other religions towards usury and predatory lending. We shall study the history, evolution and performance of Islamic and conventional Western finance in order to develop compatible products, services and institutional regulatory structures within both Australian and global financial industries. We investigate how risk sharing enables both lender and borrower to gain rewards, and the potential for adapting principles, practices and instruments across both Islamic and conventional finance.