African Market-led Islamic Finance

Abstract

The poverty only keeps expanding, the African school child cannot get food, and malaria kills hundreds of thousands yearly while the banks still make decent profits. Yet, Islamic finance in Africa imitates the financing model of the West and the GCC. Foreign capital evaporates with the slightest shock in Africa and the growth of GDP means nothing to the population. Weak institutions and actors further depress the bad state of the socio-economic fabric. The debt-based financing model adopted from the conventional banking school suddenly becomes a norm and Islamic finance experts accepts it warmly. So, we see Shariah compliance without societal or communal impact and the scholars seems to have omitted the maqasid – the primary intent of the Shariah which aims to achieve societal happiness. Equity funds are looking scarce in Africa but the Silicon Valley have it in abundance. A part of the world is then experiencing a gradual failure of a good financial model.