Introduction

Abstract

This chapter articulates the two central questions of the book: 1) what makes Islamic finance Islamic, and 2) what kind of alternative does Islamic finance present to conventional finance. It situates the work in relation to anthropology, the social studies of finance, and work within Islamic economics and finance. The book develops a new line of analysis in economic anthropology: rather than presuming a necessary opposition between society and economy, it seeks to show how new forms of subjectivity and sociality are produced through economic action. Further, the chapter argues that Islamic finance offers both a diagnosis and solution to the problems created by debt. The chapter also describes how the book departs from work that seeks to evaluate the authenticity and distinctiveness of Islamic finance by arguing that this question was itself the object of reflection among Islamic finance experts. The chapter also introduces the concept of the "Islamic global city."