First Islamic Bank In Bosnia Opens With $300 Million In Capital
by Abd al-Rahman Ismail
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (IslamOnline) - The Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Dubai’s Islamic Bank and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah have agreed to establish the first Islamic bank in Bosnia-Herzegovina with a total capital of $300 million and paid capital of $60 million.
The combined share of the both the Emirate banks will be 10%, and the IDB would account for the other 90%, announced Abd al-Rahman abd al-Malik, CEO of the Abu Dahbi Islamic Bank.
ADIB officials had expressed desires to explore foreign terrain for investment opportunities during a recent workshop on Islamic banking; its Shariah and Fiqh aspects.
Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, a renowned Muslim scholar and head of the committee dealing with Islamic fatwas on Islamic banking, who has been attending the workshop, called on Muslim economists and financiers to work hard to provide more Islamic alternatives in the field of investment and banking.
He praised Emirate experience in establishing the first Islamic bank (Dubai’s Islamic Bank) and said that the Islamic banking experience has proven valid despite strong opposition to its prospects when the idea was first introduced decades ago.
Al-Qaradawi also encouraged financial experts to be aware of some basic fiqh rules regarding agreements and transactions in society and that the base assumption is permissiveness, and not prohibition, unless specifically mentioned by clear Islamic script.
He also said that people should feel free to invent new kinds of agreements that may serve their everyday life, and that Shariah would only intervene in matters if any such agreements are found not in congruence with Islamic law, and may further add some regulations placing them within an Islamic context.
Islam only prohibits some transactions that may result in oppression to a party, citing that this is the reason behind the prohibition of riba (interest).
Shariah law also considers current situations in the world, allowing scholars to further promote more flexible assessments of the rules with a better understanding of the broader context of Islamic teachings and values to facilitate Muslims’ lives at a time when they face many challenges, where adherence to religious rules are getting weaker among many Muslims.
