Features and Characteristics of Writing on Islamic Financial Engineering in English and French

Abstract

The study aims to shed light on the basic features of writings on Islamic financial engineering in English and French. The most important findings of the study are the following: (1) These writings are tainted with misunderstanding and confusion in terms of conceptualization, which has a negative impact on the scientific value added. (2) Financial engineering is a filling vacuum to evade legal and tax obligations that are prepared to preserve public good and provide basic social services; this leads to assimilate the commandments of Shari’ah to constraints (3) The first article on Islamic financial engineering in English was published in 1990, in Arabic in 2000 and in French in 2012; indicating that the interest in the subject is not due to internal vital need, but to external reasons motivated by the globalization of Islamic finance and the adaptation to existing regulations. (4) What is most interesting for researchers is the mimetic approach that seeks to find an Islamic counterpart to the conventional under the pretext of enhancing competitiveness and pushing the Islamic financial industry forward. Among the most important recommendations of the study is to write a literature survey on the Arabic writings about Islamic financial engineering to test them in terms of conceptualizing the reality.