266 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 11:2 Book Review Banking and Finance: Islamic Concept Edited by Mukhtar Zaman. Karachi: International Asso­ ciation of Islamic Banks, 1993, 204 pp. This book features a selection of articles dealing with interest (riba) and other related issues and is mainly an appraisal of the interest-free system as an alternative to the western fixed-rate system. Seven essays deal with the experience of Islamic banking in Pakistan. Ziauddin Ahmed Book Reviews 267 and Nawazish A. Zaidi highlight some of the concern d a t e d with implementing Islamic banking practices. Although these cancems ate quite real, the a p p m h is more anecQtal than empirical. nK essays of Ghulam Khan, D. M. Qureshi, and Tariq Hassan, as well as the State Bank of Pakistan's article on Islamic modes of financing, provide prudent descriptions of how Islamic financial instnunen ts have been implemented in Pakistan. They also discuss various problems, a common one being that most (if not all) Islamic countries ate developing countries and, therefore, the transition to Islamic banking is inseparable from the mdi- mentary nature of their present banking systems. Jal- A. Faruqui's article analyzes some of the ideological diffemces between the Islamic, capitalist, and socialist ecoflofILic sys- tems. The capitalist system is Qminated by individualism and self- intetest, whems a staple element of the socialist system is the concept of class warfare. The Islamic system differs from the other two in one important way: it gives people individual rights, but in the context of caring for others. 'Lhis characteristic means that an equitable distribution of h m e is an inherent, rather than an institutionalized, part of the system The final article in this section, by Haqqani, makes the point that a m&bah certificak is nothing but a share certificate. Al-Bagkir Y-Mudawi evaluates Islamic banking in Sudan and illustrates the impomt role that Islamic banking plays in rewarding eamed income versus unearned income. However, the d c l e is more of an "overview" of the Sudanese experience than an "evaluation," for me would expect an evaluation to result in a thorough cosYbenefit pre- sentation of the expected pmfitability of Islamic banks as opposed to the accrued returns on capital under the fixed-interest rate system. Salim Chisti analyzes the experiences of Pakistan and €ran and brings a com- man, yet formidable, problem to our attention: Islamic banks have yet to do what they ate essentially intended to do in terms of financing profit- 1- sharing cuntmcts. At present, they ate "invariably in shott-term com- modity and trade related activities." Mohamed Korouma looks at the experience of Islamic banks in West Aftica. Notwithstanding Korouma's confention that West Africa's experience with Islamic banking is limited, he does not take the reader through an "experience." instead, he merely de~someofthestepstakentoestablishIslamicbanlring. Ironically, these seem to be contradictory, distinguishing between Islamic banlrs, which ate primarilr intended to operate under profit/lass investment con- tractq and inv- firms. 'Ihe remaining articles ate either overview essays or simple structural models of the Islamic interest-fnt banking system. pnwrintnt among these is Mohsin Khan's paper, in which he presents a zem-intetest, nee classical, macmeconomic model, under fixed and flexible prices, which incorporates "- ' imposed by religion on the conduct of iinancial 268 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 11 :2 transactions." The paper's main contribution of advocating differential reserve requirements on deposits is important and insightful, but remains untested without any accompanying empirical evidence. Muhammed N. Siddiqi's article is a delightful essay on public expenditure in an Islamic state. However, it is totally unrelated to the main theme of the book. It is unfortunate that the benevolent message of this book may have been thwarted by the many unintentional editorial and typographical enors. In addition, although the articles are infonnative and sometimes insightful, they lack the spirit of a fonnal presentation. Many abbre­ viations are undefined. which leads to confusion among those who are not already well versed in the subject Furthermore, most of the articles did not formulate a prudent thesis to form the shape and flow of the dis­ cussion. Most essays lack conclusioM, leaving the reader uncertain about their main thrust and purpose. While much of the material will be familiar to Islamic economists, the arguments presented should stimulate the interest of other economists and practitioners who are unfamiliar with Islamic banking concepts. To that extent, the book fulfills its goal of pre­ senting the Islamic concept of banking and finance. Osman Suliman Department of Economics Millersville University Millersville, Pennsylvania