An interest-free banking system has recently been adopted by several countries to operate in parallel with the existing world banking system. This comprehensive guide to the newly re-asserted system, a subject of practical concern for all involved in international trade between Western and Muslim countries, sets on a new footing contemporary discussion of risk and profit in an Islamic context. Nabil Saleh examines two restrictive rules in Islamic law, reflected in the ban on taking interest and the rejection of aleatory contracts, which strongly conflict with the existing world banking system. The re-assertion of Islamic law in a coherent banking system is considered in the context of its international legal implications. The book is also a comparative study of the two rules in five schools of law, as all aspects are examined in the light of the teaching of the four Sunni schools which hold authority in the Arab states and in Pakistan and of the lbadi school of law peculiar to Oman.