The UKIFC: Islamic Banking to Help in Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals at a Faster Pace

The practices followed in Shariah compliant banking could help to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) at a rapid rate, according to Omar Shaikh, Founder of the Islamic Finance Council in the United Kingdom (UKIFC). The UNSDGs is part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and include 17 goals consisting of practices such as ending poverty and hunger, good health and education, clean water, energy and sanitation, for example.

According to Shaikh, Islamic banking is an ethical form of banking and it will not provide funding for anything that is deemed harmful for the society. Shaikh also added that Islamic banking could provide relatively better systemic stability, enhanced transparency...