Islamic Banking (redirected from Qard al-Hassan)

Islamic Banking

A system of banking that only offers products that conform to the sharia, or Islamic law. For example, in Islamic banking, checking and savings deposits do not accrue interest. They either lie dormant until withdrawal or are invested. Because this involves higher risk than conventional banking services, various highly technical products have been developed to mitigate risk and generally imitate "regular" banks as much as possible while still complying with Islamic law. Considerable debate exists as to whether these Islamic banking products are in fact sharia-compliant.