States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other countries in Asia
and the Middle East that use these laws. The author has participated in,
attended, and was exposed to many of the meetings between representatives
from Islamic banks or finance companies and specialized lawyers. The time
spent by the lawyers, and the fees charged, were unbelievably high. Once
one of my attorney friends telephoned me after concluding one of these con-
tract ‘‘Islamization’’ programs—and earned a handsome seven-figure fee.
He asked me, ‘‘Why are you Muslims doing it this way? You end up with a
contract that looks Islamic on paper but it does exactly what any other stan-
dard conventional finance contract does—but of course it costs a lot more
just to remove the word interest from the contract to make it look as if it is
a buy/sell agreement, which it definitely is not.’’
Riba Bankers These are professionals with a proven track record and
experience. In the early stages of the development of ‘‘Islamic’’ banking,
they brought the products, services, and techniques of the riba-based con-
ventional banking system to the Islamic banking arena. They are useful in
explaining the conventional banking business to the scholars, which helps
them create Islamic products and services that comply with Shari’aa. They
also brought their experiences in conducting efficient banking operations.
Organizers for Seminars, Industry Group Conferences, and Training Pro-
grams In the beginning of the Islamic banking movement, seminars were
organized by semi-government and government organizations—mainly in
Malaysia and Bahrain—to discuss, promote, and present papers on new
products and services that are RF qualified. Professionals who were known
to make true and pioneering contributions to the field of RF banking and
finance based on their research work were invited to present their papers at
these conferences, seminars, and workshops.
As the business of training conventional bankers on ‘‘Islamic’’ banking
grew, and demand increased from many banks throughout the world, com-
mercial seminar organizing companies took over the business. These semi-
nar and training companies organized educational training programs and
(promotional) conferences in the field of Islamic Banking and Finance.
These conferences were run for profit, which is why the organizers invited a
predefined roster of superstar scholars and speakers to attract participants,
who paid thousands of dollars to register in these seminars. These seminars
were turned into marketing forums for large investment banks and conven-
tional commercial banks, which paid to speak or participate in a panel. Fees
paid to include the name of the company on the program and to invite the
company to speak in the conference ranged from $10,000 to $100,000.
These entities would present their new, revolutionary, and extremely
242 THE ART OF ISLAMIC BANKING AND FINANCE