Asasiyyat al Tamwil al Islami (Fundamental of Islamic Finance) This book attempts to establish a theory of Islamic finance. it is deeply founded on the Fiqhi premises as a blend them with economics and the science of finance. It refuses the extreme unrealistic presumption that Islamic finance and Islamic banks must play a role tilted to businesses in their distribution of financial resources. It rather argues that the market demand and supply determines who receives the finance. this is a fundamental premise of an Islamic market system. However it argues that Islamic finance is developmental by its nature because it is always build around the real market of production and distribution. The book does not take a stand, which is common among Muslim writers, against Murabahah. It rather considers Murabahah as a main and most important contract/tool of financial intermediation. It also argues that Islamic financial intermediation is never understood clearly when think of it as merely an investment vehicle which uses Mudarabah and Musharakah tools to finance business. Islamic financial intermediation is rather built on Wakalah/agency relationship granted by surplus units to Islamic banks for the purpose of maximizing their profit/return through helping the deficit units in fulfilling their desires to acquires goods and services whether for consumption or for production purposes. It goes on to determine that Islamic financial intermediation is and should be more keen of determination of planned exits of its financing operations than conventional financial intermediaries and that can best be done by focusing on Murabahah and Ijarah. The book offers a new direction for Islamic finance while it relates it to its original sources in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. At the same time it stands very strongly against the ill practices of Tawarruq and other untrue practices that do not reflect the true Islamic theory of finance.
About the Author: Monzer Kahf Website: www.kahf.net Present position: Professor of Islamic Finance and Economic, Faculty of Islamic Studies, HBK University, Doha, Qatar. Monzer Kahf has a strong training and knowledge of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Islamic Studies. He got his Ph.D. in Economics (Monetary theory and development) from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA 1975. He served as research economist, head of research division and senior research economist at Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) from 1985 to 1999. He was a professor of Islamic Economics and Banking in the graduate program of Islamic economics and banking, School of Shari'ah, Yarmouk University, Jordan for the year 2004/5. He wrote 35 books and booklets in English and Arabic, on Islamic banking and finance, Islamic economics, Zakah, Awqaf, including some which have become the standard reference manuals in the field. Some of Dr. Kahf's books are translated to Indonesian, Turkish, Russian and Korean languages. He also wrote more than 100 articles, in English and Arabic, on Islamic finance and economics, Islamic public and private finance, Islamic banking, Zakah, Awqaf, including entries for the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and other international encyclopedias. Recently he completed three landmarks of his works; 1) four books under the title of Notes on Islamic Economics: Theories and Institutions, the Third Charitable Sector, Islamic Finance and Banking and Public Finance, Economic Policy and Development, 2) an academic book on Islamic Finance Contracts (English), and 3) an Arabic book on Fundamentals of Islamic Finance. Monzer is active in associations, he is a founding member of the International Association of Islamic Economics, founding member of Association of Muslim Social Scientists of the United States of Canada, and he was part of the American Economic Association. He also advises Islamic and conventional banks, courts and other public institutions on Islamic finance, banking and Islamic endowment (awqaf). He won the President of Syria Award for best University Graduating Student in 1962 and the IDB Prize for Islamic Economics in 2001.