Preface to the First Edition

There is now great interest, both in financial and legal circles, in reliable and authoritative texts on Islamic finance. I have no doubt that those who provide financial and legal services will warmly welcome the availability of Islamic Finance: The Regulatory Challenge. The work will be of great assistance to them.

The editors and the contributors write with great authority and clarity on a wide range of subjects, all of great relevance and interest. I am confident that those who read Islamic Finance: The Regulatory Challenge will find that they are fully equipped to deal with the many problems and issues that the book addresses. In the days of global financial markets, this subject is of the greatest importance and should not be neglected.

It is therefore very reassuring to know that in this book, there is now available the information necessary to all who are involved in financial markets. I am confident that this book will have the success it deserves.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

When I wrote a preface for the first edition of this extremely useful book, I anticipated it would be of considerable value to those involved in the field of Islamic finance and that it would be a success. This has proved to be an accurate forecast, and six years later there is now a second edition.

I am delighted to welcome this new edition. In the period between the two editions—as is to be expected in the case of a subject, which, if it is no longer in its infancy, is a rapidly maturing adolescent—a great deal of experience has been acquired and many changes have occurred. In consequence, there is an even greater need than that which existed when the first edition was published for an up-to-the-minute and authoritative second edition for all those involved today in this important and growing area of finance. This book now meets that need, and I am confident it will succeed, as did the first edition. I wish it well.

Rt. Hon. Lord Woolf

Former Law Lord,

Master of the Rolls and

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales