A large literature contends that legal systems that adapt efficiently to meet the contracting needs of the economy foster financial sector development. The paper discusses the adaptability features of Islamic law related to commercial transactions (Islamic commercial law) in light of contemporary financial system. After discussing the nature and way the common and civil law traditions can evolv...

The Emergence of `Islamic Education Movement` is a response to the `secularization of education` faced by the ummah (muslim people) all over the world; in the sense that the `traditional Islamic Sciences` which are rooted in Islamic sources i.e. al-Qur’an (the Holy Book) and as-Sunnah (Tradition of the prophet) have been marginalized. Subsequently, Muslim scholars have made serious endeavors to...

Madagascar is located at the crossroads of the Asian and African worlds and is therefore of particular interest for studies on human population migration. Within the large human diversity of the Great Island, we focused our study on a particular ethnic group, the Antemoro. Their culture presents an important Arab-Islamic influence, but the question of an Arab biological inheritance remains unre...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether brief intervention and contact is effective in reducing subsequent suicide mortality among suicide attempters in low and middle-income countries. METHODS Suicide attempters (n = 1867) identified by medical staff in the emergency units of eight collaborating hospitals in five culturally different sites (Campinas, Brazil; Chennai, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Karaj,...

There is a serious lack of empirical studies on Islamic banking. This paper attempts to fill that gap to some extent. Using data for the 1990-98 period, several hypotheses and common perceptions about the practice of Islamic banking have been tested. The performance of Islamic banks has been evaluated using both trend and ratio analyses. For this purpose, some objective “benchmarks” for various...

A vast economic history literature suggests that medieval institutions supporting contract enforcement were necessary for impersonal exchange to emerge. Yet this literature cannot account for the bill of exchange, an important financial instrument that had positive legal standing in both the medieval Islamic and Christian worlds but remained relegated to personal networks only in the former. Th...

Eduard Soler i Lecha opens the issue with an article discussing the outcome and shortcomings of the recent Euro-Mediterranean partnership summit meeting in November 2005. Michelle Pace uses the concept of normative power to examine critically the EU’s role in border conflicts in Cyprus and the Middle East, and between Greece and Turkey. The EU’s policy of promoting democracy in Palestine and it...

Islamic art is unique because its form and function permeate both distance and time. Since the birth of Islam, Muslim artists around the world have created pieces of art that share an uncanny resemblance to pieces created by other Muslim artists through common themes, appearances, and applications. These similarities include calligraphic elements, exaggerated depictions of plants and animals, a...

This study investigates the banking behavior of Islamic bank customers in Bangladesh. By collecting data from a sample of 100 customers of Islamic banks, researchers conducted a comprehensive profile analysis, a number of chi-square tests, and t tests and found a number of key findings as to the behavior of Islamic bank customers in Bangladesh. First, most of the customers of Islamic banks fall...

This paper exposes the “roadmap” of how modern Islamist terrorism is financed, through both legitimate and illegitimate means: the networks and linkages between financing obtained on the one hand through sympathetic Islamic governments, Islamic charities and banks, seemingly legitimate businesses operating as fronts, and on the other hand through criminal activities running the full gamut from ...