Islamic religion strictly prohibits paying and charging any amount of interest on borrowing and lending, or what is so-called Riba. Consequently, in the light of the interest-based global economic systems, the adherents of the Islamic faith may become confronted with a dilemma to choose between two alternatives. Either they comply with their religious beliefs and thus refrain from accessing some essential financial services that directly charge an interest such as housing mortgages and education loans, or they deal with these services against their will to manifest their religious beliefs.
Either choice may result in certain human rights issues confronting the adherents of the Islamic religion. On the assumption that such adherents choose to relinquish their religious beliefs in order to access the interest-based financial services, they may indirectly deny themselves their right to freedom of religion or belief. On the other end of the spectrum, when the adherents of the Islamic faith elect to adhere to their religious beliefs, they may indirectly deny themselves access to the interest-based financial services such as housing mortgages and education loans. This may not only affect their equal access to these services in relation to their non-Muslim counterparts but may have also an indirect adversely impact on some of their economic, social and cultural rights such as their right to adequate housing and their right to education.
The focus of this research is to address these human rights issues and to bring to light a new perspective on whether access to a specific type of financial and banking services, namely Islamic finance and banking, may reflect certain entitlements for the adherents of the Islamic religion under the international human rights framework. This study examines such access in light of three particular human rights, namely the right to freedom of religion or belief, the right to adequate housing and the right to education. In order to illustrate examples of the relevant human rights issues, this thesis also conducts a case study on Islamic finance and banking in the UK jurisdiction in the final part of the thesis.