When observing the Doha skyline, one cannot help but recall the image of the New York skyline. Skyscrapers abound, jutting upwards and then falling before rising like undulating mountain tops. Each building appears unique with the most conspicuous being one that looks like a phallus as it shines bright with an orange hue. This once desert town populated with Bedouins is now a sparkling oasis, transformed remarkably over the last 15 years from sand dunes to a bustling metropolis.
In this conversion from desert primitiveness to marbled floors, malls with Gucci shops, McDonald’s and Georgetown University, immigrants have come to take service and construction jobs. As with the UK post World War II, Qatar is reliant on a committed foreign workforce to push things forward, to undertake the menial jobs rejected by the indigenous. In adopting this model of growth, the indigenous Qatari population is at 10%; 90% are immigrants.
This brings forth a highly cosmopolitan society, a melting pot of Nepalese, Indians, Bengalis, Filipinos, Americans, and others congregating in a constantly developing city. Doha not only shares a New York skyline but can boast of its cosmopolitanism. In light of this, cultural expressions can range from the traditional to the western (Damian Hirst appears to be the artist of choice for the royal family). What took New York and London decades to achieve – the harmonious gathering of races and cultures – has taken Doha one decade.
Yet in this development, tradition has slowly eroded. Indeed, this is the natural consequence of Western notions of economic development. In development of sectors from financial to health, the exemplar will always be the West. Thus consultants will be brought from the US and Europe to advise thereby ensuring that Western influence becomes pervasive. What would an indigenous Qatari know about creating a stock exchange? In fact, why is a stock exchange even important? However, in a developed society we have been taught that the stock exchange is a barometer for the health of an economy…and more importantly as an indicant to the happiness of society. Consequently, any emerging market will latch onto this model of development.
Is there any other mode of development? One cannot be certain given that today development is required to be rapid. While the West has had over 400 years to construct its infrastructure, a quite organic growth, most emerging countries such as Qatar and Pakistan, are expected to develop quickly. Indeed, the economist J. Bradford Delong has shown that before the 19th century (the point where the industrial revolution really takes off) economic growth for human history was below 1%. Exponential growth is felt from the beginning of the 20th century.
Rapid growth, while undeniably beneficial in terms of improving health and sustenance and alleviating poverty, has a definitive spiritual effect. To speak of spirituality in the same sentence as progress is considered anachronistic though the proclivity for new-age spiritual fads appears to be growing too. Perhaps this is reflective of the human’s own primordial desire to connect to something transcendent, and the current development explosion takes people away from this core.
Islamic finance attempts at some connection between the transcendent and the mundane, but as it embarks on path of growth with indicants of its success based on the accumulation of assets, percentage growth and being oversubscribed, Islamic finance unwittingly adopts the language, the philosophy and the objectives of Western growth. To be integrated into the system, it cannot escape its hold.
Is that necessarily a bad thing? Perhaps not but it is a question one should ask. The development of cities such as Doha means that traditional aspects suffer decimation. Language is key casualty with English dominating and dialects slowly fading.
Handmade arts and crafts are substituted for industrial production; consumerism replaces austerity. For Islamic finance, or rather Islamic economics, to combat this, it has to offer more instead of adopting. But then maybe Islamic economics does not want to do this.
In this issue of ISFIRE, we ponder the paradoxical nature of the principles of Islamic finance.
Islamic asset management is a growing field and imbues the principles of PLS. But the screening methodologies have tended to ignore social responsibility. Instead of negative screening, Rizwan Malik argues for the adoption of positive screening methodologies. Apart from the articles, we have two main interviews in this issue. First, with Raja Teh Maimunah, CEO of Hong Leong Islamic Bank. She represents an excellent story of success; a woman who is spearheading the growth of Islamic finance in Malaysia, but as the market changes with technology playing more of a role, Islamic banks need to adapt. It is the nature of growth and rapid change. Second, with Trevor Norman, Director at Volaw Group. He shares with us his experiences at Volaw and the services it offer for the Islamic banking and finance industry.
I would personally also like to thank our supporters, without them it might not be possible to publish ISFIRE on such regular basis.
