ABSTRACT
Since the formation of OPEC and the first oil price hike of 1973/ 74, Middle East based finance capital, particularly the banks, has come to play an increasingly important economic and political role, not only in the Middle East, but also within the international financial system (The Economist 1981b). Associated with this development there has been arevival, and indeed a considerable upsurge, oflslamic -style, interest-free banking practices. Islamic banks are now spreading to other parts of the Muslim world and, in some instances, branches have been openedin the Christian West (Hamdi 1981;Cooper 1981).
