Comparative Financial Systems in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Case of Interest
In today’s discussions the prohibition of interest, based in Shari’a law, is seen as solely an Islamic finance phenomenon and often advocated as a new way of providing financial services. It is important to recognise that the principles underpinning Shari’a are largely similar to those preached and practised by Judaism and Christianity as well as other religions. Both Judaism and Christianity have, for example, banned the receipt and payment of interest for a significant period of time, albeit that each had a slightly different interpretation on the permissibility of lending at interest. Although there is evidence about the existence of prohibitions on interest in other religions such as, for example, Buddhism, the focus of this paper is on the prohibition of interest in the three religions that are generally referred to as the Abrahamic or monotheistic faiths; Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the way in which the prohibitions entered into law and the impact on the availability of financial transactions that were executed despite the restrictions. The paper provides an insight into the way in which opinions regarding the permissibility of interest has changed over time.
"Interest" and the Paradox of Contemporary Islamic Law and Finance
... [T]he manner in which an act was qualified as morally good or bad in the spiritual domain of Islamic religion was quite different from the manner in which that same act was qualified as legally valid or invalid in the temporal domain of Islamic law. Islamic law was secular, not canonical... Thus, it was a system focused on ensuring that an individual received justice, not that one be a good person.
What is Islamic Economics
A photographic camera having a focal plane shutter is provided with a data recording device for recording on the film the photographing date or the like. The data recording device consists of a data carrier carrying thereon data representing characters which is operable from outside of the camera to select the data to be recorded, a light source for illuminating the data carrier, and an optical system for projecting an image of the data representing characters onto the film. The optical system includes a light reflecting prism which reflects the light from the data carrier toward the film. The prism is inserted into the optical path of the objective of the camera between the focal plane shutter and the film only when the data recording device is operated. With this arrangement, the data can be recorded while the shutter is closed, and accordingly, the quality of the image of the data recorded is not affected by the shutter speed.