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AIPS Funded Lecture on Islamic Banking and Finance
Submitted Friday, March 20th, 2015
Islamic Banking and Finance in Praxis: Pakistan as a Case Study
Since Pakistan's Islamization in the late 1980's, Islamic" alternatives have been created in many sectors of the national economy, including finance. The proliferation of Islamic banking in the last 20 years is a remarkable development and in most urban areas allows upper middle class citizens to choose between Islamic and conventional banking options. Yet Pakistan is a society in which great inequality is present, for instance, " As of 2015 a reported one-half of rural households in Pakistan are landless, while 5% of the country's population owns almost two-thirds of its farmland." If a stated goal of Islamic economics is to create a more equitable distribution and access to financial resources in the society, this ideal is far from the current reality. What role does Islamic banking play in the Pakistani financial sector, what are the losses and gains of Islamic finance in the last two decades, and what can Islamic economics contribute to the social development of the most neglected and vulnerable in Pakistani society?
Dr. Imam Uddin is an assistant professor and department head of humanities at DHA Suffa University, Karachi.
This event is made possible by an AIPS international travel grant for scholars from Pakistan.
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