This thesis examines various issues of arbitration law and practice in relation to the Islamic Shari’a law and the law of Saudi Arabia in general, and for arbitration in conventional banking disputes in particular. The thesis found that the Shari’a regulates arbitration tightly compared to other contemporary developments as no fundamental differences were found to exist between the classical Shari’a arbitration rules and the Saudi arbitration regulations, which represent the codification of the Hanbali law of arbitration. Unlike other arbitration laws, almost all kinds of disputes can be settled by arbitration in Saudi Arabia, and these include family and some criminal disputes such as murder and personal injuries. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates the difference between Islamic law and Saudi law. The latter is more comprehensive as it includes Islamic law and the borrowed Codes and Acts of the laws of other nations. The legal status of banking interest under the Saudi law is not clearly defined and it is not clear whether riba contradicts with the public policy of Saudi Arabia or not. This uncertainty has an impact on arbitration related to banking disputes and has led me to conclude that arbitration is not the best method for settling disputes involving domestic conventional banking business. Although resorting to the Committee for the Settlement of Banking Disputes of SAMA might provide a better solution, the decisions of the Committee are not “strong” enough to be fully enforced and the payment of interest continues to be an avoidable obligation in Saudi Arabia; therefore, the thesis examined the alternative remedies for both domestic and international banking arbitration. The thesis also found that if the enforcement of an international arbitration award is sought in Saudi Arabia, the award will be subject to the mandatory application of Shari’a law, which in addition to the imposition of interest, prohibits also certain kinds of commercial contracts.

This thesis examines the problems of implementation of the Islamic “zakat” as a system of taxation. In doing so, it seeks to establish coherent and consistent principles for zakat assessment, collection and disbursement, and to measure the Saudi zakat system against these principles. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is regarded as the cradle of Islam and it would therefore have been expected that Saudi Arabia would implement zakat correctly. However, this thesis argues that the current implementation of zakat in the Saudi legal system is fundamentally flawed, because it does not comply with a significant proportion of the fundamental principles of zakat. This thesis highlights the problems inherent in Saudi Arabia’s arguably excessive reliance on fatwas for the implementation of zakat. It is argued that these fatwas have rendered contemporary practice of zakat distant from the fundamental principles of zakat. This issue is examined with reference to original sources on zakat (Quranic verses and related statements by the Prophet Muhammad), and Islamic jurisprudence generally. The contention herein will be that the Zakat Regulation in Saudi Arabia requires reform in accordance with the principles identified in this thesis. This thesis begins by examining the concept and principles of zakat, and then establishes the principles of zakat collection, zakat application and zakat disbursement, the zakat practice in Saudi Arabia and its problems, and finally offers recommendations that would render Saudi law conformant with zakat principles.

Saudi Arabia and Islam have had a very close relationship since the establishment of Saudi Arabia. Thus, Saudi Arabia chose Islam to govern all its laws. Since 1952, with the discovery of oil, the country has witnessed a huge development including the establishment of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) as a Central Bank. SAMA was expected to only allow financial activities that did not conflict with the teachings of Islamic law, as stated in its Charter. However, since its existence, SAMA has supervised and licensed conventional banks that charge Riba (interest or usury) and all the regulations made by SAMA have been designed to deal with conventional banks. Consequently, there is a difference between the law, Islamic law, and the practice. Over the years a dramatic improvement in Islamic finance has been realised. Many countries and international organisations that specialised in Islamic finance have set especial regulations that suit such finance. Nonetheless, Saudi Arabia as a regulatory body preferred not to join this trend and continued adopting and practising the same regulations that were made for conventional finance. This thesis seeks to develop the regulatory framework towards Islamic finance by sheding light on the legal challenges and difficulties that may encounter Islamic finance in Saudi Arabia, which may prevent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from being the leading country for developing Islamic finance. To help in identifying these challenges, an Islamic financial product Sukuk (Islamic bonds) is chosen to be a case study to show some of the challenges in practice. The thesis firstly discusses Islamic principles toward finance, then the legal environment of Saudi Arabia and how Islamic finance is practised in the Kingdom. It then introduces the new development in the legal environment in response to the Saudi Vision 2030 which can be a tool to help solving the obsricales that Saudi Arabia is encountering. Then the thesis discusses some challenges related to sharia boards in financial institutions, such as not having sharia governance as part of the corporate governance of financial institutions that market their products as being compliant with sharia law; in addition, the absence of a Central Sharia Board that should help in ensuring the conformity of financial products to sharia law. The thesis proposes that the regulators should develop and adopt especial regulations framework that could help the development of Islamic finance. The thesis defines Sukuk and shows how it differs from other financial instruments in conventional finance. Then, it identifies some of the challenges that face Sukuk and its development in the country. Moreover, it looks at a very recent development in the Saudi legal system, which is in response to the Saudi Vision 2030 and the recent interest that was shown by decision-makers, such as the Chairman of the CMA, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Deputy Minister for Internal Trade, and also both the Governor and Vice-Governor of the SAMA, in response to the Vision 2030 which could contribute to the development of Islamic finance. As far as the researcher is aware, hardly any studies have addressed this issue with respect to the new development that Saudi Arabia is currently witnessing in response to the Saudi Vision 2030 and the recent developments taking place in neighbouring countries which broadly share similar cultural and religious values. Finally, the thesis proposes some recommendations to develop Islamic finance including some guidelines for establishing a Central Sharia Board, and also, a sharia supervisory governance for Islamic financial institutions which should have a positive effect on Islamic finance in the country.

Si le recours au crédit est devenu aujourd’hui une banalité, la réglementation de ce secteur s’avère cependant une nécessité. Des réglementations ont donc été mises en place concernant non seulement les opérations de crédit proposées par les banquiers mais également le comportement de ceux-ci à l’égard de leurs clients lors de l’octroi de ces crédits. Le droit saoudien et le droit français ne portent pas, en la matière, les mêmes regards. Ceci est dû au fait que le droit saoudien, fondé sur le droit musulman, est tenu de respecter ses exigences lors de la distribution de crédit. Parmi celles-ci, se trouve l’interdiction du prêt à intérêt, ou du riba, ayant pour conséquence la création d’un régime original de distribution de crédit, marque de la différence essentielle avec le droit français libre de toutes exigences d’ordre religieux. Cependant, si cette divergence est inéluctable, une convergence est constatée entre le droit saoudien et le droit français quant aux obligations mises à la charge du banquier dispensateur de crédit. Toutefois, contrairement au droit français, ces obligations en droit saoudien manquent de précision et d’évolution. Ainsi, la convergence devrait encore être consolidée, et cela en s’inspirant des solutions dégagées par le droit français en la matière, notamment par la mise à la charge des banquiers dispensateurs de crédit d’un certain nombre d’obligations assurant le juste équilibre entre les intérêts du banquier et ceux de son emprunteur. / If the appeal on credit today has become somewhat trivial, the regulation of this sector however proves to be a necessity. Regulations have therefore been set up concerning not only the operations of credit offered by the bankers, but also their behaviour concerning their clients during the conferment of credits. Saudi law and French law differ in this field. This is due to the fact that the Saudi law is based on the Charia, which influences its requirements concerning the distribution of credit. Among these requirements is the ban of loans with interest, or of the riba, creator of an original regime of credit distribution, which marks the major difference to French law, free from any religious requirements. On the other hand, although this divergence is ineluctable, a convergence can be found between Saudi law and French law concerning obligations put payable to the banker providing the credit. However, contrary to French law, these obligations in Saudi law lack in precision and evolution. Therefore convergence should once again be consolidated by drawing inspiration from the solutions given by French law in the field, notably by putting obligations on bankers in order to assure a fair balance between the interests of the banker and those of his borrower.