This is the last in a well written and researched series on Islamic Banking from Ozrisk.   There are some interesting lessons to be learned here.

The Islamic financial services sector should continue its recent compound annual growth for some time to come. It is a valuable addition to the more conventional, Western, style of financial services. Because of the nature of the products issued, it should also have some appeal beyond the Muslim community and some of its products could well be adopted by the financial community at large.

Source: Islamic Financial Services – Current Developments « Risk Management in Australia

I particularly liked the last comment there, that there is appeal beyond the Muslim community in the concepts here. 

Take the concept of Gharar for example.  The concept is to protect the weak, and ensure that participation in the market is based on freedom to enter and leave, not on the traditional borrower/ creditor relationship. 

d) Gharar (Uncertainty, Risk or Speculation) is also prohibited.
Under this prohibition any transaction entered into should be free from uncertainty, risk and speculation. Contracting parties should have perfect knowledge of the counter values intended to be exchanged as a result of their transactions. Also, parties cannot predetermine a guaranteed profit. This is based on the principle of ‘uncertain gains’ which, on a strict interpretation, does not even allow an undertaking from the customer to repay the borrowed principal plus an amount to take into account inflation. The rationale behind the prohibition is the wish to protect the weak from exploitation. Therefore, options and futures are considered as un-Islamic and so are forward foreign exchange transactions because rates are determined by interest differentials.

This has interesting ramifications for social lending.  I am thinking about Zopa and Prosper.  The eBay model is based on community trust.  Hmmm .. food for thought.