The need for interest-free and shariah-compliant banking system for Muslims has brought the concept of Islamic banking in the world.
During their colonisations, European countries opened their bank branches in Muslim countries to facilitate trade and business activities in their colonies which some Islamic scholars had opposed.
The Britain-based Barclays Bank opened its Cairo branch during the 1890s to process financial transactions related to construction of the Suez Canal.
Islamic scholars challenged the operations of the bank, considering its dealings to involve interest, according to an article titled ‘A History of Islamic Finance’ published by the Islamic Finance Foundation.
Islamic scholars like Anwar Qureshi, Naeem Siddique, Mahmud Ahmed and Mohammad Hamidullah proposed an interest-free banking system based on the concept of profit and loss sharing in their writings during 1940s to 1960s.—New Age
