LAHORE: Islamic banking is a reality in the modern world. Most of the religious scholars living in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia and Indonesia called it permissible and according to Shariah, Zubair Mughal Chief Executive Al-Huda Center for Islamic Banking said during a seminar titled “Role of clerics in promoting Islamic Banking.” He said that Al-Huda is organizing conferences across the country to develop understanding among the religious scholars and other stakeholders regarding Islamic Banking. The aim of these conferences is to promote awareness and mitigating the doubts about the original spirit of Islamic Banking, as well, it will help to promote the business of Islamic Banking. He said Islam is a complete code of life and it provides guidance to the followers of other religions. “How is it possible that a divine religion does not have guidance about the Economic and Financial system,” he said.
 
He said Islamic Banking is spreading rapidly and it is bothering some unseen forces.
 
The growth of Islamic Banking in Pakistan is much better than Malaysia, Bahrain and U.A.E. There are branches of Islamic Banking in 51 cities of Pakistan and it will grow up to 400 branches till the end of this year. Islamic Banking caters 5% share of the banking industry in a very short span of time. The State Bank of Pakistan vision to cater more than 12 percent market share by 2012. SBP’s statistics shows the strength of total Assets of Islamic Banks are Rs 212 Billion and while deposit is Rs. 152 Billion.
 
He said that there are 6 full fledge Islamic Banks with a network of 243 branches while 12 conventional banks also performing the Islamic Banking in selected 106 branches.
In full fledge banks, Meezan Bank has 127 branches, Al-Baraka has 23 branches, Dubai Islamic Bank working with 23 branches, Dawood Islamic Bank with 15 branches, Bank Al-Islami with 37 branches, Emirates Global Islamic with 25 branches.