Editing Islamic banking and finance (section)

====Since 1970====
The involvement of institutions, governments, and various conferences and studies on Islamic banking (Conference of the Finance Ministers of the Islamic Countries held in Karachi in 1970, the Egyptian study in 1972, The First International Conference on Islamic Economics in Mecca in 1976, and the International Economic Conference in London in 1977) were instrumental in applying the application of theory to practice for the first interest-free banks.<ref>ISLAMIC BANKING By A.L.M. Abdul Gafoor [http://users.bart.nl/~abdul/chap4.html 4.1 Historical development] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821185300/http://users.bart.nl/~abdul/chap4.html |date=21 August 2017 }}</ref><ref>
Sami Hassan Homoud, established the Jordanian Islamic Bank in 1978. (source: {{cite book|last1=Salihovic|first1=Elnur|title=Major Players in the Muslim Business World|date=2015|publisher=Universal-Publishers.com|page=368|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSa1DAAAQBAJ&q=Jordanian+Islamic+Bank+Sami+Hassan+Homoud&pg=PA368|access-date=31 August 2016|isbn=9781627340526}})</ref> At the First International Conference on Islamic Economics, "several hundred Muslim intellectuals, Sharia scholars and economists unequivocally declared ... that all forms of interest" were ''riba''.<ref name=Kepel-77/>{{sfn|Khan|2013|p=143}}

By 2004, the strength of this belief (which is the basis of Islamic finance){{sfn|Khan|2013|pp=xv-xvi}} was demonstrated in Pakistan—when a minority (non-Muslim) member of the Pakistani parliament{{#tag:ref|i.e. M.P. Bhindara, one of the non-Muslim MNA – Member of the [[National Assembly of Pakistan]] – representing their minority religious group – in this case the Hindus – rather than an electoral district.|group=Note}} questioned it, pointing out that a scholar from [[Al-Azhar University]], (one of the oldest Islamic Universities in the world), had issued a decree that bank interest was not un-[[Islamic]]. His statement resulted in "pandemonium" in the parliament, a demand by members of leading [[Islamist]] political party{{#tag:ref|the [[Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal]] (MMA) party|group=Note}} to immediately respond to these allegedly derogatory remarks, followed by a walkout when they were denied it. When the upset members of parliament returned, their leader (Sahibzada Fazal Karim), stated that since the Pakistan [[Council of Islamic ideology]] had decreed that interest in all its forms was ''[[haram]]'' (forbidden) in an Islamic society, no member of parliament had the right to "negate this settled issue".<ref name="dawn.com">[http://www.dawn.com/2004/06/17/top2.htm Govt accused of fudging figures: Poverty reduction]| dawn.com | 17 June 2004</ref>

The council's decree notwithstanding, over the years a minority of Islamic scholars ([[Muhammad Abduh]], [[Rashid Rida]], [[Mahmud Shaltut]], [[Syed Ahmad Khan]], Fazl al-Rahman, [[Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy]] and [[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]]) have questioned whether ''riba'' includes all interest payments.<ref name="RBIRPMNS2004:55-56">Siddiqi, ''Riba, Bank Interest'', 2004: p.&nbsp;55–56</ref> Others (Muhammad Akran Khan) have questioned whether ''riba'' is a crime like murder and theft, forbidden by [[Sharia]] (Islamic law) and subject to punishment by human beings, or simply a sin to be inveighed against, with the reprimand left to God, since "neither the Prophet nor the [[Rashidun|first four caliphs]] nor any subsequent Islamic government ever enacted any law against ''riba''."{{sfn|Khan|2013|pp=55-56}}

With an increase in the Muslim population in Europe and the current lack of supply, opportunities will arise for the important role which Islamic finance plays in Europe's economy. In particular, Luxembourg is emerging as a leader and hub for Islamic funds.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.deloitte.com/lu/en/pages/islamic-finance/articles/islamic-finance-europe.html|title=Islamic Finance in Europe|website=Deloitte Luxembourg|language=en|access-date=2019-11-09|archive-date=9 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109000645/https://www2.deloitte.com/lu/en/pages/islamic-finance/articles/islamic-finance-europe.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>