The controversy over shariah law raises cultural and economic issues rather than simply religious questions. If shariah banking can be modernized, globalised and in management terms westernized in synergy with a liberal fi nancial system, then why not other aspects of shariah law? Interpretation of shariah law is culturally contextualized in time and space, not universally fi xed like concrete.
The liberal Islamic Indonesian scholar Zuhairi Misrawi argues that shariah law is a cultural product because it has been historically constructed and is attached to a specifi c territorial, geographical and socio political culture. [Jakarta Post 14.02.08].
Last year there were seminars on shariah banking organized with the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia. Shariah banking can be very modern. It has Export Credits, Bonds, Mortgages, leasing and profi t-sharing, and will doubtless devise environmental credits too.
The profi t and loss sharing aspect of shariah banking is the most innovative but the poor can normally only access fi xed cost Islamic facilities more similar to Western interest. Islamic profi t & loss sharing instruments in Asia are surprisingly heavily used by non Muslims (in Malaysia).
The big issue in shariah banking policy is the gap between rich and poor. When a modern economically dynamic society absorbs migrants from a culture of rural poverty, tribalism and feudalism, then economics is driving social change. Shariah banking needs to fi nd ways to extend its more innovative profi t sharing concepts to poorer people to reduce marginalization & promote social inclusion.
Maybe the UK should consult more with social workers in Pakistani and Bangladeshi cities who are also coping with urbanization from backward rural areas. The only way out of this will be economic and social change, in UK, and in countries of origin.
Shariah banking should offer part of the way forward without excluding other groups or religions. In Indonesia the trend is towards Islamic windows in conventional banks, based on consumer choice, not to an institutionally separatist Muslim banking system. If non Muslim Chinese business people in Malaysia or Indonesia want to use Islamic banking they are welcome to do so, it is open to everybody.
Some UK Muslim communities are resolving family disputes voluntarily with shariah law. Of course all parties should also have the right of recourse to the jurisdiction of UK courts. Such rights have to be taught, learned and upheld. Politicizing the debate on shariah law and confusing it with extreme criminal punishments which are not agreed with or practiced by most Muslims in the world does not help this process.
We should study the voluntary use of shariah law to resolve family disputes in UK, Canada and elsewhere, parallel to recourse to normal courts, to see if this helps resolve confl icts or hinders social changes.
Most of the people who reacted strongly about voluntary shariah law in local communities in the UK would not be so negative if the modernization of their factory or water supply was partly fi nanced by an Islamic Financing Institution which was shariah law compliant. Nor do they object to shariah law when they eat in a Halal restaurant, while they are drinking their laager with their curry. If the Muslims who serve the laager can be broad minded, is it too much to ask of other people?
Dr Terry Lacey was a well known student leader in Manchester in the 1960s studying politics and economics for his BA Econ, French military nuclear technology for his Masters and Internal Security in Jamaica for his PhD. He taught and trained offi cials from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean at the Department of Overseas Administrative Studies. He was an EU offi cial for 7 years, serving in Brussels and West Africa. He worked for 30 years in international development in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacifi c Regions working with NGOs, private sector and UN agencies. He covered political transitions in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe and worked extensively in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. He is now based in Jakarta from where he covers work in the ASEAN countries. Dr Lacey writes from a modern secular point of view and is part of the Muslim community in Indonesia. His small NGO foundation has supported small business development and vocational training via churches, mosques and secular agencies. He now concentrates on promoting tourism, inward investment and increased trade , especially in new environmentally friendly markets like clean energy.
