Islamic Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Islamic Finance - Essay Example The paper tells that despite the upheavals and mayhem that exists between the Islamic world and the United Kingdom, as peculiar as it may seem, it is wise to say that Islamic banking and finance has found its way in the United Kingdom. Islamic finance is the basis of Islamic banking system. Laying its foundation on the rules and principles of Sharia, commonly known as the Islamic law, this offers Islamic finance its very unique and competent features. As much as Islamic Banking has its challenge and opportunity, many western bankers have sort to involve themselves in this growing business. Their guiding principles and rules state that Allah owns everything in this world and that man has only been rendered permission to use it. In the United Kingdom, London has emerged itself to be the core ad centre of Islamic banking. In the United Kingdom, a decade ago, the business was perceived to be in its infancy this being the reason as to why its extent is limited. A decade later, Islamic ban king and finance has prevailed in the United Kingdom due to its unique characteristics. One of the most distinct characteristics that have made Islamic banking and finance business to grow is the fact that Islamic banking does not offer interests, which is commonly referred to as riba in the Islamic world. The reward for money deposited as perceived is done by not charging or paying interest. As a way of curbing the loss and profits occurred, Islamic banking use the technique of sharing both the profit and loss occurred. This is commonly known as mudarabhah, which in lay man’s term means profit sharing. In cases that involve mortgage buying, the bank itself buys the mortgage from the seller then giving it to the buyer making profits thus allowing the buyer to pay the money in installments. The mortgage is registered under the buyers name from the start to avoid any suspicions. This kind of arrangement is known as Murabah. The entrepreneur feature of the Islamic banking and f inance is another characteristic that has made this type of banking to stand out. Putting its focus not only on financial expansion but on also physical expansion of economic services and production, this has made many western bankers to use the Islamic banking and finance services. Trade financing and equity financing have led the way for the Islamic banks. No wonder the growing trend of people enjoying their banking services. The United Kingdom being one of the worlds’ most sophisticated and complicated banking and financial systems, this has helped the Islamic banking and finance to prevail. The main reason as to why Islamic banking and finance has prevailed more in London than in any other cities of the world is due to the fact that London is much closer to Middle East than any other cities. In fact, London is estimated to have hosted the world’s largest Islam’s in all the cities of the world (Anwar, 1995). In the center of London, the Arab community is rank ed among the most affluent Arabs in the world. To add on to that, Arabs restaurants and hotels exists in London center to cater for the Arabs that visit the city every now and then. There has been an increasing number of doctors, engineers, and students in the United Kingdom. London emerges to be the leading market in the world for foreign currency exchange, dollar being the popular currency trade. In the recent years, the retail level banking in the United Kingdom has gone down. This is due to the introduction of the Banking Act of 1987, which allowed external banking to exist. The big four banking players dominance namely Barclays, Lloyd, NatWest and the Midland bank, the latter being the only one that has managed to secure its market share. Evolving from a small niche bank in the Middle East in the last four decades, Islamic Banking and finance have grown in to a dynamic, profitable, and resilient competitor to all major banks in the United Kingdom. By the end of 2008, Islamic ba nks are estimated to be over $850 billion and

Do the courts (judges) make policy Should they Essay

Do the courts (judges) make policy Should they - Essay Example This has made it possible to make rulings that are up to the time, and work in favor of the situation at hand. Judicial activism should exist in order to allow courts make decisions without fear of reprisal or reprimand from policy makers, who tend to pass the buck whenever things are tough. It is sometimes difficult to put the blame on judges once they make a ruling on certain cases, especially after being thrown some of the hardest choices in legislations they sometimes have to contend with. Policy makers are always quick to spinelessly punt the courts with the toughest legislations hoping that they might make decisions to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, they are the first individuals to criticize and chastise the courts for their efforts whenever things go awry. The formulation of ambiguous legislation in most areas of the United States is what leads individuals to believe that judicial activism should exist in order to bring some sanity to the justice system. It is my belief that the courts (judges) make policy in a bid to shed some light on some of the ambiguous statutes that exist (Taylor, 2009). This paper will examine how judicial activism is exhibited in most courts, and how this aids the judicial system in its everyday functions. Every time a judge makes decisions based on the ambiguous statutes passed by the legislature, or gives contradicting facts about certain issues, the court (judge) is said to be engaging in judicial activism. For every defendant that is sent to trial, judicial activism comes into play. The truth of the matter is courts, especially courts of appeal, deal with numerous and countless ambiguous legislations. This means that in the passing of judgment, it may be next to impossible to pinpoint which area exactly the law should be implemented, and how it should be applied (Stone, 2012). In most cases, there is a lot to interpret, which means that judges have to make the call on what