Tuesday, December 4, 2007

'All Arabs will prefer Islamic banking'

by Sugata Ghosh and Mayur Shetty from The Times News Network (India)

Hussein Hamid Hassan is considered as the father of Islamic finance. He received his PhD from the faculty of Sharia at the Al Azhar University in Cairo in 1965 and holds two degrees in law from the International Institute of Comparative Law, University of New York. He chairs the Sharia Supervisory Committee of many Islamic banks in the Middle East, and has advised several governments: "For the present circumstances I would [advise others to drop the dollar peg and shift to euro]. Why? because the dollar is coming down and why should I lose. Business is business. Everyone has a right to protect themselves. If after 25 years, things come back to where they were, we can move back. One should mitigate his risks. For any risk, it is compulsory that you mitigate for yourself. This is not religion. Religion does not prescribe what currency one should select. This means that fortunately, every country should look at its own interest ... Not everyone invests in Islamic banks. But every week and every day, conventional banks are converting into Islamic banks. This is happening gradually. I can guarantee that all Arabs will move and prefer only Islamic banks. This is my personal belief as I have my own analysis and research on this.

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