UK and Russia get their first sukuks ready while Maldives welcomes its first Islamic Bank

The United Kingdom finally saw the dawn of its own Sukuk or Islamic bond for the first time in the history of its capital markets. The firm, International Innovative Technologies (IIT), that has taken this commendable step in these tough times is a manufacturer of industrial milling machines.

The sukuk industry has been hit hard in the recent times due to the turbulence in the underlying asset markets such as the real estate price fluctuations, hence, shifting the preference of a majority of market investors towards more liquid and conventional investments.

Many Muslims are insecure whether it is allowed to invest in the stock market or not. Basically it is permissible. Buying shares of a company means that investors are becoming shareholders and therefore share business-risks equally.But in either case the companies strictly have to comply with Shariah-principles.

The financial health of a majority of banks of the world has been questionable over the last couple of months. Frantic news reports and speculations concerning the growth prospects of various banks in specific regions have kept the investors on their toes.

Sometimes getting rich means not to lose money as well. So there have been times in history when to preserve your money have had highest priority. One could argue whether we're living in such a period of time right now. The point is that we usually discover it only when it's too late.