Paper presented at the conference Christianity and Islam: Between Love, Law, and Secularity, University of Glasgow, 12-13 October 2010 Performing Piety in Islamic Financial Discourse and Practice Ibrahim Abraham University of Bristol ABSTRACT: The Islamic finance sector is a $ϭ tƌillioŶ gloďal iŶdustƌLJ offeƌiŶg halal ;ƌeligiouslLJ peƌŵissiďleͿ fiŶaŶĐial pƌoduĐts that ostensibly eschew the lending of money at interest. Understandably, regulating the industry alongside the conventional financial system in countries like the United Kingdom has proved difficult. Nevertheless, Islamic financial institutions and conventional banks haǀe ďeguŶ offeƌiŶg halal fiŶaŶĐial pƌoducts in the UK, catering to British Muslims and wealthy Muslim investors around the world. Emerging from the broad discourses of Islamism, the rhetoric of Islamic finance emphasises the religious obligations of Muslims to avoid conventional banking, promotiŶg halal aŶalogues as logiĐal alteƌŶatiǀes. Hoǁeǀeƌ, the oǀeƌlLJ-rational rhetoric of the industry, and its assumptions of a normative piety amongst Muslim communities have proven problematic. This article argues that more politically-engaged and emotive ƌhetoƌiĐ is eǀideŶt iŶ the iŶdustƌLJs disĐouƌse, pƌeseŶtiŶg IslaŵiĐ fiŶaŶĐe as ŵethod of performing religious piety and mediating the cultural changes of global capitalism. Introduction In 2008 a furore broke out in the United Kingdom after Archbishop Rowan Williams argued for the inevitability of the recognition of aspects of Islamic law – shari’a – within BritaiŶs systems of legal and dispute resolution. 1 Despite conservatives and liberals responding with calls-to-arms to defend, in turn, British civilisation and the ĐouŶtƌLJs particular approximation of liberty and gender equality, 2 Williams and his antagonists were all too late. By 2008 there was a well-established, though rather obscure, precedent for shari’a norms and British law operating together. In 2003 the Finance Act was altered to ensure that home buyers using the services of the emerging Islamic finance industry were not forced to pay stamp duty twice. 3 This understandably overlooked amendment was the result of lobbying by the Islamic finance industry that felt its customers were being unfairly punished, albeit unintentionally, because of the particular nature of the religious prohibition underpinning the product being offered, as ǁell as the desiƌe ďLJ the Bƌitish goǀeƌŶŵeŶt to attƌaĐt IslaŵiĐ Đapital to its ;ǀiƌtualͿ shoƌes. Islamic finance, as it has (re-)emerged since the 1960s, prohibits the lending of money at interest – a practice referred to by the Arabic term riba, meaŶiŶg iŶĐƌease oƌ edžĐess aďoǀe the pƌiŶĐiple, ďut effectively translating as usury since it is considered an illegitimate and exploitative transaction. 4 Rather, a ŵoƌtgage uŶdeƌ the ĐoŶteŵpoƌaƌLJ IslaŵiĐ sLJsteŵ involves the financial institution purchasing the house and then on-selling it to the customer who pays back the cost of the house, plus a mark-up, a fee considered legitimate ĐoŵpeŶsatioŶ foƌ the ďaŶks effoƌts – hence two transfers of title, and two payments of stamp duty under conventional systems. 5 This is referred to as the murabaha model of financing, the most common Islamic consumer and commercial financial product. After offering a brief overview of the key ethical, regulatory and practical concerns of Islamic finance, this paper will examine the issue of how the industry markets itself; its public rhetoric in other words. It will be argued that the iŶdustƌLJs gƌouŶdiŶg iŶ the ƌatioŶal pietLJ of Islaŵisŵ has geŶeƌallLJ ďeeŶ iŶappƌopƌiate foƌ its deǀelopŵeŶt iŶ the financial market where it must compete against conventional institutions and products. The paper will look at the way in which the assumption of piety has given way to a rhetoric and performance of piety by the industry and its consumers, arguing that, in effect, the industry is moving towards a more commercially savvy and emotive identity- driven discourse that promises the mediation of late capitalist modernity and neo-traditionalist religiosity. 1 ‘oǁaŶ Williaŵs, Civil and Religious Law in England: A Religious Perspective, Ecclesiastical Law Journal 10, no. 3 (2008): 262-282. 2 JoŶathaŶ ChapliŶ, Legal Monism and Religious Pluralism: Rowan Williams on Religion, Loyalty and Law, International Journal of Public Theology 2, no. 4 (2008): 418–441. 3 Neil Milleƌ, EŶglish Laǁ AlƌeadLJ Makes PƌoǀisioŶ foƌ “haƌia CouŶĐils, The Lawyer February 18 (2008): 6; RodneLJ WilsoŶ, IslaŵiĐ BaŶkiŶg iŶ the UŶited KiŶgdoŵ, M. Fahiŵ KhaŶ aŶd Maƌio Poƌzio ed., Islamic Banking and Finance in the European Union: A Challenge. (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010). 4 See generally, Abdullah Saeed, Islamic Banking and Interest (Leiden: Brill, 1998). 5 Yahia Abdul-Rahman, The Art of Islamic Banking and Finance (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010), 54-56.