Abrahamic Banks not Islamic

Abrahamic Banks not Islamic

Recently there were conflicting views of analysts and economists between supporters and opponents of the idea of changing the name of Islamic banks to “Abrahamic banks”.

The name change was advocated by the Saudi businessman, Saleh Kamel, President of Dallah Al Baraka Group and the founder of the Al Baraka Banking Group.

The idea came from the agreement of Islam, Christianity and Judaism on the principle of prohibition of Riba (Interests on loans).

Mr. Saleh Kamel said “Usury is prohibited by Islam as well as Christianity and Judaism…hence these banks should be named Abrahamic banks since these three religions are affiliated to Abraham [Ibrahim], the father of prophets (peace be upon him). We have no right to deny Christians and Jews their right in prohibiting usury”

“All those three main religions advocate justice and an economy that is based on fairness.”

The Islamic finance expert, Fouad Muheisen, commented that the change of the name does not constitute a real problem, since the most important is the correct Islamic transactions which are approved by the Islamic law.

Muheisen added that Islamic banks were named ”Non-interest Banks” and then the name was changed to the Islamic banks, and there are currently a number of banks in the Gulf states with other non-Islamic names, but they deal and are based on the principles of Islamic law.

Finally, Mr. Muheisen noted that “the name change will not affect the customer demand for Islamic banks as the demand is driven by the desire to obtain Islamic non interests transactions.

Another specialist in the Islamic affairs, Hashim Ramadan, commented that there must be consideration of the full details of the issue of name change by a group of scientists and specialists in Islamic economics, and search in the number of rules that focus on the origins of money and monetary transactions, and then decide on the name change subject.

On the other hand, the expert in banking affairs, Mr. Muflih Akl, said that Islamic banks welcome clients from different religions and backgrounds, and not being involved with the Muslims only, so there is no need to change the name as long as the applied policies are the same.

Muflih added that fears come from the reaction of customers who deal with these banks, and the idea that the name change caused by a desire to include Jews and Christians to deal in these banks, particularly with regard to the Jews, and the opposition from Muslims relevant to any matter related to or shared with the Jews, and the biggest proof is the boycott of products and goods from Western countries, which supports the Israeli presence in Palestine.

He ended his statement by saying that he do not think that the idea of the name change would meet the great demand in the Arab and Islamic countries. But on the international level, the nature of clients dealing with banks in those countries is different and the name change can be accepted.

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