Islamic Marketing Ethics and the Marketing Practices of Islamic Banks

Abstract

An important aspect of Islamic banks (IBs) is their inherent ethical strength derived from the principles of Sharīʿah. The ethical framework should serve as the true differentiator of their practice from conventional finance. The ethical foundations that purportedly underlie the practice of IBs should also provide an adequate framework for professionals to avoid unethical practices in economic behaviour and financial dealings while achieving the objectives of Sharīʿah. The fundamentals of Islamic finance, such as risk and reward sharing, have been reported to hold universal values because the principles of fairness and justice may be attractive to a larger and diverse investor and depositor base regardless of their religion. By promoting the Islamic ethical principles in their marketing practices, IBs can thus appeal to a larger clientele, both Muslims and non-Muslims. This paper intends to critically analyse the current marketing practices of IBs in light of the ethical criteria set out in the Islamic marketing ethics literature. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which the ethical ideals espoused by the Islamic marketing ethics literature are reflected in the marketing practices of IBs.