Islamic finance

Financial instruments are one of the fundamental dimensions of financial markets that guarantee their efficiency and effectiveness of these markets. These instruments playe a main role in economy to direct money from saving sources to investment needs. These instruments provide possibility of financing companies from public and private sources and also are considered as investment instruments for cash savings in an economy that can provide a suitable return for investors. Today, various financial instruments have been developed that can meet different financial needs of corporations which can comply with investor tastes and preferences. Among these instruments, commercial paper is usually considered as a short-term financing instruments for working capital expenditures of companies. Banks and credit institutions are among the main entities which issue commercial papers for their liquidity needs. In spite of this, like other traditional financial instruments, commercial papers have been developed and structured in western markets and cannot be issued in Islamic markets due to Shariah (Islam) regulations and condition. But, Islamic contracts and regulations have the capability to develop this important financial instrument in an accepted framework of prescribed contracts in Islam jurisprudence (Fiqh). The present research with a comparative study, (Delphy method) explains the conceptual model of Islamic commercial papers for banks and credit institutions in the form of Murabaha Sukuk, in a way that these papers can be structured and issued in the Islamic markets by using opinions of the experts. Key words: Islamic finance, Commercial paper, Sukuk, Murabaha JEL Classification: G21, G23, G32

The recent global financial crisis once again revealed the harmful effects of interest-based contracts in the conventional financial system. Islamic finance, as an alternative financial system, discourages interest rate and debt financing. This paper investigates the effects of two financial systems, namely the conventional and Islamic systems, on macroeconomic variables. To achieve this goal, a DSGE Model with two monetary rules, one for conventional financial system and the other for Islamic financial system, has been designed. Comparing the dynamics of the models, the results of this study show that, in response to different shocks, investment and output in Islamic finance are less volatile than those of conventional financial system. Moreover, the process of adjustment in Islamic system is faster than that of the conventional system. These results imply that promoting Islamic finance has a great role in macroeconomic stability and covering the effect of financial crises.

Blockchain technology is rapidly gaining the attention of financial institutions around the world, especially among decision makers in Islamic financial institutions who are planning to apply this innovative technology into their institutions activities which could be an upright solution for their issues and challenges. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on financial technology by discussing some of the innovative applications of blockchain in Islamic financial institutions. In addition, this paper sheds light on the main opportunities and challenges facing application of Blockchain Technology in the Islamic financial industry and highlight the way forward to address these issues. Relying on the previous literature and analysis; this paper confirms the enormous opportunities for utilizing blockchain technology in various Islamic financial applications such as Waqf, Zakat and Sukuk. On the other hand, the main challenges towards implementing blockchain in this industry are the complexity of Islamic finance products added to the opacity of its application which end up with unclear regulations and lack of standards.

Islamic financial systems have been growing in many countries with different pace over the last four decades. The purpose of this paper is to construct a model of learning-by-practicing, explaining long-term growth of financial system. Benefiting from the literature of endogenous growth theories and using a dual financial system consisting of an Islamic financial system and a conventional one, the paper seeks to reveal some of the main growth characteristics of Islamic and conventional financial systems across countries and over time. The model suggests that learning-by-practicing Islamic finance will eventually create comparative advantage for Islamic financial system vs. conventional finance system provided it gets initially protected until sufficient level of learning accumulates in the whole Islamic financial system. Evidence shows that Malaysia with a dual financial system has been very successful in this regard, while Iran and Pakistan, each with single Islamic financial system, and have not been very successful in reaching their expected goals.