Islamic Banking and Finance in the European Union

The book under review is the first of its kind as it addresses burning issues regarding the implementation of Islamic banking in the European Union. In this regard, one senses a mixture of pessimism and optimism from the different views expressed by the authors regarding the development of Islamic banking in the European Union. There are three preliminary observations that need to be made. First, some of the data provided in the book are not all up-to-date even though the book is published in 2010. For instance the assets under Islamic finance is considered to be worth $500bn whereas the figure provided by IMF is $1tn. Second, there are a few repetitions in the various articles on issues such as riba and Islamic banking products. Third, the book’s title mentions Islamic finance but the bulk of it focuses on Islamic banking, apart from one article which discusses funds.

The book is divided into four main parts. In the first part, Santarelli draws a picture of the evolution of the legitimization of interest in Christian thought and the mindset created by such legitimization. What becomes very clear is that interest is deeply ingrained in European economic thought. There is no real common ground, perhaps apart from ethical investment as discussed in chapter 5, for allowing the accommodation of Islamic banking on a grand scale. This in turn might not after all catapult Islamic finance in Europe as thought by some quarters.