Men of the Mosque and Market: The Case of Malaysia

Men of the Mosque and Market: The Case of Malaysia by Patricia Sloane-White

This brief ethnographic essay explores developments in Malaysia’s Islamic economy, not by focusing on the technical, sharia-based structuring of investment products, but on the corporate culture that has emerged alongside it. Based on interviews conducted with Malaysian corporate elites, the author shows that the latter — mobile Muslim professionals with global aspirations and networks — believe that Islam and sharia not only provide an ethical and moral template for participating in economic life and the human engagements that emerge from it, but also for organizing and managing the very structures and social relations of corporations.

- From the Middle East-Asia Project (MAP) series on Contemporary Patterns in Transregional Islam -