The central religious precept driving the Islamic finance industry is the idea that riba (a word that can be translated either as “interest” or “usury”) is haram (“forbidden” or “sinful”).

At first glance, this appears to rule out most aspects of modern finance. But although the Koran bans the creation of money, by money, it does allow money to be used for trading tangible assets and businesses – that can then generate a profit.