The Art of RF (Riba-Free) Islamic Banking and Finance: Tools and Techniques for Community-Based Banking, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 9 Comparing RF Banking and Conventional Riba-Based Banking: What is the Difference?

THE RF BANKING BRAND: HISTORY, DEVELOPMENT, AND STAGES OF GROWTH

Riba is prohibited in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (as detailed in Chapter 2). The RF (riba-free) banking and finance system was started in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pp); it revived and reinforced the teachings of Moses (pp) and Jesus (pp) in the seventh century and helped the growth of international trading, but it declined over the years and was dismantled completely after World War I and the resulting disassembly of the Ottoman Empire. The RF banking and finance system was left behind as the riba-based banking and finance system grew and developed in a more sophisticated way to meet the ever-growing volume and diversity of world economy and trade. New economic, monetary, political, and social systems were developed in Europe to cope with the changes of the Renaissance and, later, the Industrial Revolution. After World War I, most of the Muslim lands were occupied by the British and the French. It is believed by some that this was God's plan to wake up the people of these lands, to expose them to the Western world and bring them quickly to the latest developments of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a result, many young men and women were educated and became aware of the new world and its progress in the fields of education, medicine, engineering, technology, social relations, social sciences, ...