The Future of Islamic Finance

What drives the growth of Islamic finance? Is there a correlation between the spike in oil prices (and hence wealth) with the tremendous interest in Islamic finance? I’m not being a sceptic or a party pooper but would Islamic finance thrive if the oil price is low and the Muslim Arabs are poor? Anouar Hassoune, a banking analyst at Moody’s seem to think so. According to him, “As long as oil remains expensive, which is our base-case scenario, Islamic banking will keep on growing successfully.” Few would deny the obvious correlation between oil price growth and Islamic banking growth. Given the recent slump in oil prices, will we be seeing a decline in the interest for Islamic financial products?