Islamic Capital Markets: Theory and Practice

Chapter 19

Institutions and Instruments of Islamic Capital Markets

This chapter covers institutions and instruments of Islamic capital markets. It addresses the regulatory framework, which is characterized by the presence of a Sharia advisory council that advises on matters pertaining to compliance of products with Sharia teachings. The chapter describes Islamic instruments that are used by Islamic banks or traded on exchanges, or that contribute to hedging and structuring new products.1 Many of the described instruments are used in sukuks’ issuance and in innovating structured products. The chapter also describes Islamic investment funds and derivatives markets. It addresses controversies surrounding Islamic hedge funds, namely with regard to short selling, leverage, and speculation, which are basic investment strategies of conventional hedge funds. Islamic hedge funds rely on murabaha, bai-salam, arbun, or waad in their investment strategies to replicate short selling. Sharia opinions differ regarding the application of Islamic instruments to hedge funds. There are Sharia views that approve the use of Islamic instruments to replicate short selling; at the same time, there are Sharia opinions that disapprove the application of these instruments to hedge funds. Sharia opinions differ also with regard to the use of derivatives. Many Sharia scholars have moderated their position in recent years. Although using Islamic derivatives to speculate or enhance returns is forbidden, Sharia-compliant ...