Modernisation between economic requirements and religious law: Islamic banking in Malaysia

Abstract

Im ersten Teil seines Arbeitspapiers gibt der Autor einen Überblick über das islamische Bankwesen in Theorie und Praxis, wobei er Beispiele aus Malaysia anführt. Im zweiten Abschnitt diskutiert er das Projekt der islamischen Modernisierung im Lichte der westlichen und der nicht-westlichen Einbeziehungen globaler Märkte im Verlauf der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen. Das islamische Modernisierungsprojekt interpretiert er letztlich als Versuch, die Ökonomie wieder in der Kultur zu verankern und eine Alternative zum westlichen Banking für die muslimischen Länder auf der ganzen Welt bereitzustellen. Das islamische Banking ist kein Zeichen eines inneren Kampfes zwischen traditionellen und modernen Werten, sondern eine Reaktion auf das westliche, desintegrierende Marktmodell. (ICI2)

"The question of whether or not the taking of interest is legal or at least legitimate has been discussed in the past over and over again. All great religions took up the issue, and in most cases the outcome was the prohibition of interest (for some time at least) or regulation. With the emergence of trading capitalism financial instruments were required and used in economic long-distance transactions and economic necessities and religious morality had to come to an arrangement. Finally an instrumental rationality came out of the modernisation process, which sacrificed moral concerns for the sake of economic ones. Modern Islam, however, has set codes of conduct even in the economic sphere which have been based an religious grounds. An outcome of this is Islamic banking which operates within rather narrow ethical boundaries. According to its self-understanding it provides an alternative to Western banking for Muslim countries all over the world. The author shall start with a description of Islamic banking in theory and practice and present the case of Malaysia. In the second part of this paper he shall interpret Islamic banking in the light of the Islamic modernisation project, which is in some regards similar, and in others different, to the Asiatic-values rhetoric. Finally the author shall conclude that the Islamic modernisation project is also an attempt to re-embed the economy in culture. From such a perspective Islamic banking is not only an inner struggle between traditional and modernist values, but a reaction to the Western, disembedded market model." (extract)