Quora Answer: What are the Objectives of Islamic Financial Regulations?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What are the objectives of Islamic financial regulations?” 

The main objective of Islamic banking and finance is actually the removal of zhulm, oppression.  This oppression, to our understanding is mainly expressed in riba’, usury.  Essentially, any sort of predatory practise, where one takes advantage of another, manipulates the market for unfair gain, cheating, preys on the vulnerable and discounts the consequence of actions are absolutely haram.  The concerns of Islamic banking are not just for the Muslims, but for humanity in general, and the issues with usury, for example, are not unique to Islam but is found in common with Abrahamic faiths.  As such, it is actually better addressed as ethical banking to reflect these shared objectives.