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African Market-led Islamic Finance

The  poverty  only  keeps  expanding,  the   African  school  child  cannot  get  food,  and malaria  kills  hundreds of  thousands  yearly while the  banks still  make decent  profits.  Yet, Islamic finance in Africa imitates the financing model of the West and the GCC. Foreign capital  evaporates  with  the  slightest  shock  in  Africa  and  the  growth  of  GDP  means nothing to the population. Weak institutions and actors further depress the bad state of the  socio-economic   fabric.   The   debt-based   financing   model   adopted   from   the conventional  banking  school  suddenly  becomes  a  norm  and  Islamic  finance  experts accepts it warmly.

So, we see Shariah compliance without societal or communal impact and the scholars seems to have omitted the maqasid – the primary intent of the Shariah which aims to achieve societal happiness.  Equity funds are looking scarce in Africa but the Silicon Valley have it in abundance. A part of the world is then experiencing a gradual failure of a good financial model.

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