BOOK ON ISLAMIC VIEW ON DERIVATIVES

There is a near consensus about derivatives (structured products included)being one of the culprits to blame for causing the financial meltdown that no one know for sure how the world can get out. Bailouts, tightening regulations, rescue plans, extra deposit guarantee schemes: all have being pursued but still there has been no clear sign that things are actually better. The last we heard was about a number of banks and brokerage firms thathad been banned by the Singaporean authority from further marketing structured financial products that have caused investors there millions in losses due to the toxic investment schemes. Luckily some have been partly compensated. But still we are not able to understand why there are many proponents of derivatives among the growing number of Islamic finance practitioners as if they have turned a blind eye on the devastating effects of such products that even the conventional players and regulators themselves have admitted. The main reason given in support of the so-called Islamic derivative products is that they are needed for risk management purpose i.e for hedging. Everyone knows that in the world of modern financial markets the distinction between hedging and speculation is not easy to be made. After all, once a door is opened, there is no assurance that only good guys will come in. The truth is that risk management is embedded in the Islamic law of contract and financial transactions such that if they are truly implemented as provided, there is actually no real need to address the issue of risk the way it is pursued in the conventional sense. Hence the biggest question to answer here is whether all that need to be followed in term of Shariah rules are actually implemented. Some concerned observers have expressed their serious dismay at the ways and manners Islamic finance has been practiced of late... Coming back to Islamic view on derivative: for those who want to read more on this please get a copy of a very well-researched book (in Arabic) on Islamic view on derivatives written originally based on a request of OIC Fiqh Academy. ( Al-Mushtaqqat al- Maliyyah: dirasah muqaranah bayna al-nuzum al-wadi'yyah wa ahkam al-shariah al-islamiyyah,-by Dr. Samir Abdel Hamid Radwan, 2005, Dar al-Nashr li'l Jamiaat, Cairo.). Notes: The author at the end of the book swear in God's name that to the best of his knowledge, based on the research conducted to prepare for the book, his finding is that derivatives, as they are, are far from being shariah compliant. It is worth-noting also that the OIC Fiqh Academy had issued similar resolution several years ago.