[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n April, Saudi Arabia issued its largest ever Shariah-compliant bond on the Irish Stock Exchange. The $9 billion Islamic bond, or Sukuk, was wildly oversubscribed, attracting more than $33 billion in orders. But just what is Islamic finance, what is a Sukuk and why are they proving so attractive to investors outside the Islamic world? WHAT IS IT? The most obvious difference when compared with Western banks is that Islamic finance is forbidden to charge interest. Under Shariah law, money is only a way of defining the value of something and has no value in itself. Therefore, money isn’t allowed…
