IslamicFinance.de

Struggling to elevate the standard of living among orphans, the Takaful Welfare Society for Orphan Care in Madinah has announced a new project to build residential units for orphans in the holy city. According to the Takaful program, 195 residential units will be built for families of orphans in Madinah and its villages over a period of three years and 300 houses will be repaired. With the cost of around SR40 million, it is estimated that one unit will cost around SR180,000 for construction and SR20,000 for repairs. Besides, the society announced the Madinah Al Munawwara Award for Social Responsibility under the auspices of Prince Faisal bin Salman to support best projects for orphans.

Islamic banking was introduced in 2008 in Kenya when the first two Islamic Banks, Community Bank (FCB) and Gulf African Bank (GAB), opened their doors. Islamic finance has evolved rapidly into insurance, investments, and pensions which are in line with the Islamic law. Owing to the success of the two Islamic Banks in terms of attracting deposits from the Muslim community, other commercial banks have quickly opened up Islamic segments to compete for the Muslim wallets. Currently, 10 out of the 42 commercial Banks in Kenya have created such segments. However, one of the main challenges facing Islamic finance in Kenya is lack of Shari`ah-compliant investment instruments in the financial markets, such as shares, stocks and bonds.

The Islamic Banking and Finance Society (IBFS) was inaugurated at Oxford Union Debating Chamber last Wednesday. The new society aims at acting as a platform for the Islamic finance as well as creating relationships between professionals in Islamic banking and finance students at Oxford. Financial experts have debated aspects of Islamic finance and banking, offering future economists a platform to better understand the industry. Presentations from Islamic finance Experts have also highlighted the ethical spirit of Islamic finance. The United Kingdom is one of the leading countries in the European Union to have Islamic banks. It is also developing its takaful market for Islamic insurance. Moreover, the UK also has a strong foothold in developing products such as commodity murabaha and Islamic retail services.

WAFAA - a non-profit organization - provides Shari`ah-compliant loans for low-income entrepreneurs in order to enable a better life. Co-founder and Managing Partner of WAFAA - Hammam Khaled - explains that Wafaa is an online micro-financing platform. The role of the company and the platform is to act as a middleman between entrepreneurs and individuals interested in lending. The platform has been running since 2010.