Islamic Jurisprudence comprises of the laws that govern a Muslims daily life. The Prophet Muhammad explained and practically demonstrated these laws. The jurists studied the Quran and the Prophet's life and they adopted a refined methodology which they used to extract legal rulings and verdicts. This methodology is known as the Principles of Jurisprudence. The jurists expanded on this methodology with some differences among them on the usage and the application of some aspects as acceptable forms of evidence. Eventually, the Muslim world was left with four schools of jurisprudence that are present to this day. There are differences between these schools on some issues but these differences never caused conflict, instead it provided us with a wealth of knowledge. We need to study these schools and its principles together with the objectives and intent of the Shariah and utilize this to find solutions to all new issues that arise. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. A. (Islamic Studies)

Problem: Do ethical investments perform better than conventional investments? Purpose: To evaluate whether Shariah-compliant indexes and/or socially responsible indexes can improve financial performance of an investment portfolio. Sub-problem: What kind of relationship exists between socially responsible investments and faith-based investments, represented by Shariah-compliant investments? Sub-purpose: To discover how two types of ethical investments, socially-responsible and Shariah-compliant, are related. Method: Quantitative study, covering three types of investment styles of four index families during the period from 2000 until 2011. Financial performance evaluation through the Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen’s alpha. Conclusions: Conventional, socially responsible, and Shariah-compliant indexes do not have any significant differences in financial performance on a global basis. However, Shariah-compliant indexes could slightly over-perform conventional and socially responsible indexes during financial downturns. In the same time socially responsible indexes were noticed to be the most volatile during the whole period of study, to compare with conventional and Shariah-compliant. Regarding relationships, high correlations were found between ethical indexes, as well as between ethical and conventional indexes.

Islamic Jurisprudence comprises of the laws that govern a Muslims daily life. The Prophet Muhammad explained and practically demonstrated these laws. The jurists studied the Quran and the Prophet's life and they adopted a refined methodology which they used to extract legal rulings and verdicts. This methodology is known as the Principles of Jurisprudence. The jurists expanded on this methodology with some differences among them on the usage and the application of some aspects as acceptable forms of evidence. Eventually, the Muslim world was left with four schools of jurisprudence that are present to this day. There are differences between these schools on some issues but these differences never caused conflict, instead it provided us with a wealth of knowledge. We need to study these schools and its principles together with the objectives and intent of the Shariah and utilize this to find solutions to all new issues that arise. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. A. (Islamic Studies)

Cette thèse met en lumière trois questions importantes au regard des banques Islamiques. Dans le premier chapitre, nous examinons l'impact de la concurrence sur les différences de fixation des taux de dépôt dans les banques Islamiques et conventionnelles. Nous montrons qu'il existe des différences notables dans les déterminants des taux de dépôt dans les deux types d'institutions. La concurrence du marché a un impact significatif sur le taux de dépôt des banques conventionnelles mais pas des banques Islamiques. Notre résultat, en général, suggère que bien que le dépôt des banques Islamiques semble être similaire à celui des banques conventionnelles, leurs déterminants sont différents. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous poursuivons nos enquêtes en examinant la question de la concurrence et de la stabilité. La concurrence entre banques Islamiques et conventionnelles augmente-t-elle la stabilité ou la fragilité des banques ? Notre principale constatation suggère que le marché concurrentiel des deux banques n'est pas bénéfique pour la stabilité des banques. Conformément au résultat du premier chapitre, lors de la prochaine enquête, la concurrence sur deux marchés ne concerne que les banques conventionnelles. Dans le troisième chapitre de cette dissertation, nous analysons le rôle du Conseil de surveillance de la Charia sur le financement par capitaux propres des banques. Notre résultat montre que le financement par capitaux propres des banques Islamiques est influencé par certaines caractéristiques de la Conseil de surveillance de la Charia. La présence d'un membre de la Conseil de surveillance de la Charia au Conseil d'administration ou d'un membre de l'exécutif a un impact positif sur le financement par actions tandis que l'existence d'un département de la Charia dans les banques Islamiques diminue la proportion de financement par capitaux propres. / This dissertation highlights three important issues in Islamic banks. In the first chapter, we investigate the impact of dual market competition on the differences in deposit rate setting in Islamic and conventional banks. We show that there are notable differences in the determinants of deposit rates in the two types of institution. Market competition has a significant impact on deposit rate of conventional banks but not Islamic banks. Our result, in general, suggests that although Islamic banks’ deposit seems to be similar than conventional banks, their determinants are different. In the second chapter, we continue our investigations by looking at the competition-stability issue. Does competition between Islamic and conventional banks increase banks’ stability or fragility? Our main finding suggests that competitive dual banking market is not beneficial for banks’ stability. In line with the result from the first chapter, in the next investigation, dual market competition only matters for conventional banks. In the third chapter of this dissertation, we analyze the role of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) on banks’ equity financing. Our result shows that Islamic banks’ equity financing is influenced by some characteristics of SSB. The presence of SSB member in the Board of Directors (BOD) or executive member has a positive impact on equity financing whereas the existence of a Shariah department in Islamic banks decreases the proportion of equity financing.

Au cours de ces dernières décennies, le concept de la compétitivité s'est établi comme un mot-clé important dans la vie sociale, à l’échelle micro-économique et surtout macro-économique. Au regard d’une mondialisation grandissante et de l'expansion des marchés mondiaux, la compétitivité peut quelque fois se limiter à l’aspect purement économique et commercial. Alors que l’examen des différents défis économiques, sociaux et environnementaux qui préoccupent de nos jours l’humanité conduit à reconsidérer les modèles d’évaluation de la croissance économique adoptée, à reconnaitre leurs limites et à apporter un jugement critique sur l’évaluation de la compétitivité. Ce travail se propose donc d’explorer quelques possibilités de l’intégration contemporaine de principes « éthiques » dans le concept de la compétitivité macroéconomique. Prenant en compte la dynamique du concept de la compétitivité, la thèse analyse l’histoire et l’évolution de cette notion. L’analyse engage alors une approche théorique, ensuite une étude comparée des différents indices d’évaluation de la compétitivité. L’objectif est d’examiner comment des principes éthiques peuvent être intégrés pour la mesure et l’évaluation de la compétitivité des pays, c’est-à-dire comment elle pourrait être évaluée au-delà du PIB et des résultats commerciaux et comment elle rejoint également la préoccupation pour les inégalités, la pauvreté, le changement climatique dans des domaines aussi différents que la santé, l’éducation, l’eau et l’agriculture …Les objectifs de la Charia (Maqasid Charia) constituent une assise convenable pour construire un nouvel indice de compétitivité éthique, permettant ainsi la contribution de différents pays, même non musulmans, à chacun des objectifs de la Charia. / Throughout the past decades, competitiveness was established as an important concept in social life, at micro and especially macro levels. With globalization and the expansion of global markets, competitiveness can sometimes be limited to purely economic and commercial dimensions. While examining various current economic, social and environmental challenges that affect today’s economy and humanity, the thesis reconsiders the economic growth assessment models adopted, to recognize their limits and put forward critical judgment on the assessment of competitiveness. This study develops, therefore, an exploration of some possibilities of contemporary integration of "ethical" principles into the concept of macroeconomic competitiveness.Taking into account the dynamics of the concept of competitiveness, the thesis analyzes the history and evolution of this concept. The analysis puts forward a theoretical approach, followed by a comparative study of different indices for assessing competitiveness. The aim is to examine how ethical principles are integrated to measure countries' competitiveness. That is, how competitiveness could be evaluated beyond the GDP and trade outcomes and that it also incorporates the measures of inequality, poverty, climate change, health, education, water, agriculture etc. The objectives of Shariah (Maqasid al Shariah) present a suitable foundation to build a new ethical competitiveness index that measures countries’ contribution to the objectives of the Shariah.

With the rapid development of the Islamic banking and finance in South Africa, the legal regime of South Africa, must be able to progress at the same rate of development. The recognition of a foreign legal system such as Islamic law in South Africa is challenging and difficult. South Africa, has an interest based insurance legislative framework and this is not aligned with the principles of the Islamic financial system. As a result of this, regulators have taken various measures to develop and promote the Islamic Industry. The amendment to the South African Tax legislation has created an equitable and level playing field for Islamic law. The South African government also has a further obligation which is to develop a legislative framework to govern Islamic law, as well as to enhance the regulatory and supervisory framework. The study of the development of the Islamic legal regime is an important area that aids legal practitioners in identifying and resolving legal disputes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the accommodation of the Islamic law of Takaful under the South African Insurance legal framework. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. M. (Public, Constitutional and International Law)