Economics - Research Publications
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ItemIndonesian Islamic banking in historical and legal context(The Federation Press, 1999)Since its emergence in the 1960s, Islamic banking has emerged as a new trend in the field of international finance. Despite its popularity throughout the Muslim world, many are still unsure as to what exactly Islamic banking involves. This article from the book Law and Society in Indonesia explores critical questions such as who the Muslim thinkers and movements are that have influenced the development of Islamic banking as we know it today, with its strong emphasis on interest-free banking; when Islamic banks first started to appear in the modern era; and how it was that the Islamic concept of riba (usury) came to be understood as interest, thus providing the raison d’être for much of today’s Islamic banking industry. It also explores the theory of profit and loss sharing as the basis of Islamic banking, and the aspects of this theory which are put into practice in the day-to-day reality of Islamic commercial banking. Using the case study of Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), Indonesia's first major Islamic bank, this article also examines the rise of Islamic banking in Indonesia. In particular, it discusses BMI’s rise and establishment as a competitive player in Indonesia's commercial sector. The case of BMI is explored in the light of earlier discussions of the broader historical and legal context of Islamic thinking and the rise of modern theories of ‘Islamic banking’.
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ItemThe need to rethink apostasy laws(Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004)Recent high-profile cases and a number of Muslim scholars affirming the death penalty for apostasy have brought the issue of the pre-modern Islamic law of apostasy (riddah) back to the fore. Once largely ignored, apostasy is today vigorously debated among Muslims. The Qur’anic concept of non-coercion in religion was interpreted narrowly by pre-modern Islamic scholars, and excluded the right to convert away from Islam. In this chapter from the book Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, Saeed observes that this was a reasonable conclusion in the pre-modern context, when religious identity was enmeshed with political affiliation, and a person’s rights flowed from their membership of the religio-political entity. In the modern world, however, the author argues that there is ample reason to re-think these conclusions. Today, most Muslim nation-states recognize equal citizenship regardless of religion and are highly diverse. Large numbers of Muslims live as minorities in non-Muslim countries. Further, the death penalty for apostasy has weak textual support in the classical sources. The reaffirmation of pre-modern laws developed for different circumstances is unhelpful in the modern period. Pre-modern formulations of apostasy are particularly open to abuse in states which are authoritarian in nature, a feature of many Muslim states today. Moreover, the phenomenon of globalisation will mean more intensive linkages and mixes of people from different backgrounds. There is a need for an idea of religious freedom in Islam that accords with modern realities. Saeed argues that the weak textual basis of the law of apostasy and the greatly differing religio-political context of modern period are strong justifications for embarking on the task of reforming this law.