Introduction

This article will examine the following matters: a) Islamic law as the governing law of contracts; b) the absence of a distinct Islamic arbitral process, as such: c) the relative conformity of public policy exceptions with industrialized arbitration-friendly states and; d) whether there is a need for a global hub for Islamic finance arbitration, with particular emphasis on the Qatar Financial Center (QFC) and its specialized court. The article will endeavor to show that Islamic finance arbitration is still in its infancy and there is no reason to fear the secularization of its essential elements by the referral of disputes to secular arbitral institutions. Quite the contrary, any introversion will surely decrease the already low volume of global Islamic finance transactions and this will be detrimental not only to the industry but will contribute to the poor image of Islamic finance as a largely redundant and inflexible set of rules. This is hardly the case and should be avoided at all cost.

This paper will be part of the TDM Special Issue on "Islamic Finance and Dispute Resolution". More information here www.transnational-dispute-management.com/news.asp?key=1832