IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p5433-d806647.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Structure to Purpose: Green and Social Narratives, and the Shifting Morality of Islamic Finance in Kuala Lumpur

Author

Listed:
  • Adnan Zikri Jaafar

    (School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK)

  • Marc Brightman

    (Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, 48121 Ravenna, Italy)

Abstract

Background: The anthropology of sustainability documents and interprets diverse visions of sustainable and liveable futures. Islamic scholars and financiers are now debating the distinctive contribution of Islamic finance to global sustainability. While mainstream global finance has only recently begun to pay explicit attention to social and environmental sustainability, Islamic economics has always emphasised the need to benefit society, the community, and the environment. Objectives: We ask what has been the influence of the emergence of green and social finance upon Islamic finance in Malaysia, the global centre of Islamic finance. Methods: The study is based on collaborative, co-productive ethnography and autoethnography, and textual analysis of working documents of the Securities Commission Malaysia, focusing on how environmental requirements are expressed in new financial products, known as green sukuks , or green Islamic bonds. Results and conclusions: We have found that much of the moral debate in Islamic finance has revolved around the distribution of financial risk: when investors share the risk of failure, they can participate in society rather than merely exploiting social relations, yet the emergence of ‘green’ Islamic finance appears to shift the centre of moral gravity away from risk structuring towards technical criteria of sustainability, replicating the growth-oriented anthropocentric managerialism of mainstream finance.

Suggested Citation

  • Adnan Zikri Jaafar & Marc Brightman, 2022. "From Structure to Purpose: Green and Social Narratives, and the Shifting Morality of Islamic Finance in Kuala Lumpur," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5433-:d:806647
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5433/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5433/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eddy S. Fang, 2014. "Islamic finance in global markets: Materialism, ideas and the construction of financial knowledge," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 1170-1202, December.
    2. Timur Kuran, 1995. "Islamic Economics and the Islamic Subeconomy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 155-173, Fall.
    3. Aneil Tripathy, 2017. "Translating to risk: The legibility of climate change and nature in the green bond market," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 239-250, June.
    4. Kuran, T., 1995. "Islamic Economics and the Islamic Subeconomy," Papers 9505, Southern California - Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rini Cahyandari & Kalfin & Sukono & Sri Purwani & Dewi Ratnasari & Titin Herawati & Sutiono Mahdi, 2023. "The Development of Sharia Insurance and Its Future Sustainability in Risk Management: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-23, May.
    2. Shome, Samik & Hassan, M. Kabir & Verma, Sushma & Panigrahi, Tushar Ranjan, 2023. "Impact investment for sustainable development: A bibliometric analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 770-800.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amine Ben Amar & Ikrame Ben Slimane & Makram Bellalah, 2017. "Are Non-Conventional Banks More Resilient than Conventional Ones to Financial Crisis?," Working Papers hal-01455752, HAL.
    2. Lo Turco, Alessia & Maggioni, Daniela, 2018. "Effects of Islamic religiosity on bilateral trust in trade: The case of Turkish exports," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 947-965.
    3. Aydin, Necati, 2013. "Redefining Islamic Economics as a New Economic Paradigm," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 21, pages 1-34.
    4. Lambarraa, Fatima & Riener, Gerhard, 2015. "On the norms of charitable giving in Islam: Two field experiments in Morocco," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 69-84.
    5. Sayyid Tahir, 2017. "Islamic Economics and Prospects for Theoretical and Empirical Research الاقتصاد الإسلامي وآفاق البحوث النظرية والتطبيقية," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 30(1), pages 3-20, January.
    6. Bohnet, Iris & Herrmann, Benedikt & Zeckhauser, Richard, 2005. "The Elasticity of Trust: Evidence from Kuwait, Oman, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United States," Working Paper Series rwp05-046, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    7. Hasnie, Syed Sharjeel Ahmad & Collazzo, Pablo & Hassan, M. Kabir, 2022. "Risk assessment of equity-based conventional and islamic stock portfolios," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 363-378.
    8. Hearn, Bruce & Piesse, Jenifer & Strange, Roger, 2011. "The role of the stock market in the provision of Islamic development finance: Evidence from Sudan," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 338-353.
    9. Murizah Osman Salleh & Aziz Jaafar & M. Shahid Ebrahim, 2011. "The Inhibition of Usury (Riba An-Nasi'ah) and the Economic Underdevelopment of the Muslim World," Working Papers 11002, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    10. Mervyn K. Lewis, 2011. "Ethical Principles in Islamic Business and Banking Transactions," Chapters, in: Mohamed Ariff & Munawar Iqbal (ed.), The Foundations of Islamic Banking, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Abdulkader C. Mahomedy, 2012. "Islamic Economics: Still in Search of an Identity," Working Papers 283, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    12. Saida Daly & Mohamed Frikha, 2016. "Banks and economic growth in developing countries: What about Islamic banks?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1168728-116, December.
    13. Rodney Wilson, 2014. "Islamic Economics: Where From, Where To? by: Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi الاقتصاد الإسلامي: من أين وإلى أين؟ محمد نجاة الله صديقي - تعليق: رودني ويلسون," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 27(2), pages 73-78, July.
    14. Iris Bohnet & Benedikt Herrmann & Richard Zeckhauser, 2005. "The Elasticity Of Trust: Evidence From Kuwait, Oman, Switzerland, The United Arab Emirates And The United States," Discussion Papers 2005-15, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    15. Klein, Paul-Olivier & Weill, Laurent, 2016. "Why do companies issue sukuk?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 26-33.
    16. Aysan, Ahmet F. & Ozturk, Huseyin, 2018. "Does Islamic banking offer a natural hedge for business cycles? Evidence from a dual banking system," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 22-38.
    17. Schramm, Matthias & Taube, Markus, 2003. "Evolution and institutional foundation of the hawala financial system," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 405-420.
    18. Czerniak, Adam, 2010. "Symptomy kryzysu globalnego a etyka gospodarcza religii światowych. Analiza porównawcza bankowości islamskiej i bankowości klasycznej w kontekście kryzysu finansowego [The differences between the c," MPRA Paper 26971, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Mohd Mahyudi & Enizahura Abdul Aziz, 2018. "Method and Substance of Islamic Economics Revisited إعادة النظر في منهجية ومرتكزات الاقتصاد الإسلامي," Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Islamic Economics Institute., vol. 31(2), pages 33-50, July.
    20. Noha Farrag & Hebatallah Ghoneim, 2016. "Challenges to the Development of an Islamic Economic System," Working Papers 42, The German University in Cairo, Faculty of Management Technology.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5433-:d:806647. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.