Abstract

(Minor revisions 10/06/2021) This article explores the case for semi-secular arbitration as a viable form of dispute resolution in the Islamic finance industry. In doing so, it revisits a proposal made in favour of semi-secular arbitration of Islamic banking and finance disputes on a previous occasion  and confirms the procedural and commercial viability of semi-secular arbitration in the field. More specifically, semi-secular arbitration charts a middle way between traditional forms of Islamic arbitration, which pay deference to the requirement for Shari’a compliance, on the one hand and secular arbitration that operates outside the context of the Islamic faith and as such poses a Shari’a compliance risk on the other. In a globalising world in which Islamic finance products attract Muslim and non-Muslim investors alike, semi-secular arbitration will allow disputing parties to mitigate the Shari’a risk by facilitating Shari’a compliant dispute resolution in a forum that is acceptable and accessible to non-Muslim investors without placing them at a perceived procedural disadvantage whilst providing the comfort of a Shari’a compliant outcome.

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