ABSTRACT
The world of Islamic banking has grown phenomenally particularly over the past decade. Though existing literature contains anecdotal figures and reliable data are onerous to get hold of, the expansion of the sector has been exceptional, given current statistics that originate from a wide variety of sources. The Halal Journal refers to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) estimates of the total worldwide assets of Islamic financial institutions to exceed USD 250 billion while it predicts the growth rate to be around 15 percent annually. 3 Eagle refers to the Islamic financial world as one of the fastest growing segments of the financial sector and the “$180 billion/day industry.” 4 Aaron MacLean quotes Hussein A. Hassan of Deutsche Bank who envisages Islamic finance to be the world’s fastest-growing banking sector for years, based on what he calls “a modest estimate of 20 percent annual increase in deposits.” 5
