The study covers Muslim economic thought from the emergence of Islam, long before economics became a separate discipline with distinctive analytical tools. The economic environment in ancient Arabia from which Islam emerged is examined, and the economic concepts in the Qur'ān and Sunnah are discussed, as well as the thinking of early Muslim jurists. Detailed consideration is given to Islamic economic thought during the dynasties of the Umayyads and the Abbasids, periods of administrative and economic reform, as well as of much latter developments under the Ottomans, Safawids and Moghuls....

From Iran, where all banking is Shari'ah compliant, to Malaysia and the gulf, where Islamic financial institutions compete with conventional banks, Rodney Wilson examines how Islamic financial institutions are licensed and governed by common and civil law. Covering Islamic banks, takaful operators, fund management and Shari'ah-compliant securities, it examines how their assets and liabilities differ from their conventional counterparts and what the implications are for risk management.

To what extent do Islamic values have implications for economic policy making?
Islamist political parties have enjoyed unprecedented election victories in recent times. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, the election of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey and the coming to power of Islamists, albeit briefly, after the Arab Spring, has changed the political landscape in the Middle East and has ramifications for the entire Muslim World. Yet the continuing success of these parties depends on their record on economic development and employment creation. Are their economic policies...