Mateen Altaf

It was a momentous event, as big as the creation of the country itself. On 14 Ramadan 1420, the Shariah Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan gave its landmark decision banning interest in all its forms and by whatever name it may be called. Thus fifty-five years after its creation in the name of Islam (27 Ramadan 1365), Pakistan became the first Muslim country to officially declare modern (and rampant) bank interest as Ar-riba, declared haram by Qur'an. The court also specified a step by step approach to rid the country of the evil of interest. As a consequence of this judgment, certain laws will cease to take effect from 31 March 2000, some other laws from 31 July 2000, and all other laws permitting or condoning interest from 30 June 2001. The Federal Shariah Court of Pakistan had declared the laws allowing interest repugnant to Islam in 1991. The Federal Government of Pakistan and certain banks and financial institutions filed 67 appeals against this judgment in t...

As most of you would know, Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and as an Islamic state in 1947. Therefore, since its independence, religious political leaders and scholars were pressing the demand Islamic Banking in Pakistan and to eliminate the Interest (Riba) completely from the Banking industry & financial institutions of Pakistan. Even the Constitution of Pakistan states that it is the state`s objective to remove Riba based transactions from within the economic system of Pakistan. But unfortunately, this goal hasn’t been achieved, at least so far. The demand of Interest-Free economy from the religious scholars were strong during the period of 1947 – 1960, but it wasn’t successful because no solid steps were taken to make it actually happen and find an alternate solution that can completely remove the Riba based banking system of Pakistan. History of Islamic Banking in Pakistan During the period of 1960 – 1977, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) created a stro...

Banking sector has immense important for the growth and economic development of a country. Pakistan has a growing economy and banking sector is playing a vital role in it. Being a Muslim nation our first priority should be Islamic Banking. Efforts for economy wide elimination of Riba started during 1970s and most of the significant and practical steps were taken in 1980. In 1980 initial steps were taken by the State Bank of Pakistan by changing the rules and regulation of the Banking sector. After that in 2001 first certificate had been issued to Meezan bank of Pakistan as a full fledge Islamic Bank. And present there are six full fledge Islamic Bank in Pakistan. (Meezan Bank, Albarka Islamic Bank, Dai Islamic Bank, Dawood Islamic Bank, burj Bank, Bank Islamic Pakistan). More efforts are needed to increase the share of Islamic bank in Pakistan.  Question is how much people are aware about the Islamic banking in our country?  The demand for Islamic banking in Pakistan i...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) refers to long term participation by a country A into country B (in this case Pakistan). It usually involves participation in management, joint-venture, transfer of technology and expertise. There are two types of FDI: inward foreign direct investment and outward foreign direct investment, resulting in a net FDI inflow (positive or negative). Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a measure of foreign ownership of productive assets, such as factories, mines and land. Increasing foreign investment can be used as one measure of growing economic globalization. Broadly, foreign direct investment includes "mergers and acquisitions, building new facilities, reinvesting profits earned from overseas operations and intro company loans". In a narrow sense, foreign direct investment refers just too building new facilities. The numerical FDI figures based on varied definitions are not easily comparable. As a part of the national accounts of a country, and ...