Muslims in Russia on cloud nine as Putin rolls out Islamic banking

MOSCOW – Russia on Friday formally launched Islamic banking, a move that has sent a wave of joy to the Muslim community.

Reports said President Vladimir Putin signed the law on Islamic banking on August 4 this year to launch the system in the country with 25 million Muslim population.

The Muslim community in Russia has thanked the president for this initiative and said that Islamic banking has become the need of the hour.

Some Islamic financial institutions were already working in Russia, but now for the first time Islamic banking has been launched at the official level.

Initially, Islamic banking is available in the Muslim-majority regions of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Chechnya and Dagestan. If the programme is successful, it will be implemented across the country.

The Muslim population has been demanding Islamic banking for a long time, but the Ukraine war and Western countries’ pressure on Russia’s economy caused delay in its launch.

The Islamic banking operates under Sharia law which strongly discourages transactions involving interest.