Banking on shariah finance: Islamic banks on rise

It happened at an international conference promoting Islamic real estate financing last month in Amman. After a session detailing product trends in real estate financing that meet the requirements of shariah, an American listener working in a real estate business in Jordan stood up and said, “I am completely confused about the products you have, but it sounds all very interesting.” The man was not alone. Panelists presenting the latest models for Islamic real estate financing at the event said apologetically at several points that their explanations would “increase the confusion” of listeners, especially when questions ventured into the ethical underpinnings of specific Islamic products. Instead of trumpeting new flashy deals between Islamic bankers and regional real estate investors, speakers overall had their hands full with building awareness in a meeting that showed how the complexity of Islamic financial concepts in the past five years has grown faster than the