Islamic Wealth Management And The Pursuit Of Positive Sum Solutions

How is Islamic wealth management (IWM) distinguished from conventional wealth management? In this paper it is argued that the level of concentration of wealth at both national and international level is related to the conventional wealth management, where the latter can be viewed having a zero-sum bias and IWM, in its current practices, is more of an appendage to its conventional counterpart. The focus of this paper is to articulate, explain and advocate approaching IWM from positive-sum perspective, meaning that genuine wealth management does not have to be broadly at the expense of others. Rather, sustainable and fair wealth management is not only compatible with, but also is facilitated by broad economic development where the standard of living of an increasingly larger proportion of the society improves. More importantly, Islam upholds a fundamental principle against ever-increasing concentration of wealth that causes wealth to circulate among a few privileged wealthy and places a specific burden on the rich to avoid such undesirable level of concentration, for which God warns of stern consequences in the life hereafter. This paper identifies a number of areas that those wealthy parties who care about Islamic principles and accountability before God should appreciate and help foster.

This book addresses the theory, practices, challenges, key issues and potential future policies concerning investment and wealth management in connection with Islamic finance. There is a noted scarcity of literature on Islamic approaches towards wealth management from a jurisprudential perspective, and so this book aims to address this lacuna in available literature. It demonstrates strategies for wealth management in keeping with the Qur’an and Sunn’ah, posing questions relating to interest and investment, and proposing financial models for benefiting the poorer segments of society while simultaneously satisfying economic necessities in keeping with Islamic law. Given its breadth of scope, combining perspectives from scholars and practitioners with extensive experience in the banking and finance sector from different Islamic settings including Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Brunei and Indonesia, this edited volume will benefit practitioners, researchers, and graduate students studying finance, economics and business management in an Islamic context.

This book, “Islamic Wealth Planning & Management: The Practice of Personal Finance” focuses on personal financial management with applications of Shariah principles that suit both students and working people for entertaining applications. It begins with introducing wealth management, explaining how wealth can be created, accumulated, mobilized, preserved and purified. This book guides readers on investing their surplus income in the stock, bond, property and commodity markets that comply with Shariah principles. It describes how important it is for readers to have personal financial planning in their retirement, estate, and inheritance. It will plans that could provide regular returns and avoid the risk of losing their pension or EPF money. It concludes how easy it is to have their set of personal finance in terms of personal assets, personal, debts and personal income as a practical way to control expenses and hence avoid becoming bankrupt at the young ages of 25-40 years.

Nearly two years after the economic meltdown, joblessness and foreclosures are still endemic, Wall Street executives are once again getting massive bonuses, and our leaders in Washington lack the will to make desperately needed fundamental changes to the economy. Change will have to come from below. Agenda for a New Economy is the handbook for that revolution. In this revised and updated edition David Korten has fleshed out his vision of the alternative to the corporate Wall Street economy: a Main Street economy based on locally owned, community-oriented “living enterprises” whose success is measured as much by their positive impact on people and the environment as by their positive balance sheet. We will lose nothing in the process because, as Korten ably demonstrates, the supposed services Wall Street offers are simply a con game. And Korten now offers more in-depth advice on how to mount a grassroots campaign to bring about an economy based on shared prosperity, ecological stewardship, and citizen democracy.

Although Islamic finance is one of the fastest growing segments of emerging global financial markets, its concepts are not fully exploited especially in the areas of economic development, inclusion, access to finance, and public policy. This volume is to improve understanding of the perspective of Islamic finance on economic development, social and economic justice, human welfare, and economic growth.

From an Islamic perspective, although the ownership of wealth is with God, humans are gifted with wealth to manage it with the objective of benefiting the human society. Such guidance means that wealth management is a process involving the accumulation, generation, purification, preservation and distribution of wealth, all to be conducted carefully in permissible ways. This book is the first to lay out a coherent framework on how wealth management should be conducted in compliance with guiding principles from edicts of a major world religion.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

In this pioneering work Siraj Sait and Hilary Lim address Islamic property and land rights, drawing on a range of socio-historical, classical and contemporary resources. They address the significance of Islamic theories of property and Islamic land tenure regimes on the 'webs of tenure' prevalent in the Muslim societies. They consider the possibility of using Islamic legal and human rights systems for the development of inclusive, pro-poor approaches to land rights. They also focus on Muslim women's rights to property and inheritance systems. Engaging with institutions such as the Islamic endowment (waqf) and principles of Islamic microfinance, they test the workability of 'authentic' Islamic proposals. Located in human rights as well as Islamic debates, this study offers a well researched and constructive appraisal of property and land rights in the Muslim world.

This book provides an overview of the practice of Islamic finance and the historical roots that define its modes of operation. The focus of the book is analytical and forward-looking. It shows that Islamic finance exists mainly as a form of rent-seeking legal-arbitrage. In every aspect of finance - from personal loans to investment banking, and from market structure to corporate governance - Islamic finance aims to replicate in Islamic forms the substantive functions of contemporary financial instruments, markets, and institutions. By attempting to replicate the substance of contemporary financial practice using pre-modern contract forms, Islamic finance has arguably failed to serve the objectives of Islamic law. This book proposes refocusing Islamic finance on substance rather than form. This approach would entail abandoning the paradigm of 'Islamization' of every financial practice. It would also entail reorienting the brand-name of Islamic finance to emphasize issues of community banking, micro-finance, and socially responsible investment.