WHY ISLAMIC FINANCE LAW MATTERS FOR UZBEKISTAN: TWO LEGAL GAPS AND HOW OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE CLOSED THEM
Keywords:
Islamic finance, Uzbekistan, waqf, sukuk, Shari’ah Supervisory Board, legal personality, civil law, Islamic banking, comparative law, harmonisation, legal reformAbstract
Uzbekistan signed a new Islamic Banking Law in March 2026, but two serious gaps remain in the legal framework: the absence of a dedicated Waqf Law, the absence of sukuk legislation, and the need for clearer regulation of the Shari’ah Supervisory Board. This article examines each gap using primary Uzbek legislation, official government sources, and expert assessments from international forums. For each problem, a tested foreign-country solution is analysed. Türkiye rebuilt its waqf system through the General Directorate of Foundations and Waqf Law No. 5737 of 2008. The United Kingdom created a legal framework for sukuk through the Finance Act 2008 and issued sovereign sukuk in 2014 and 2021. Malaysia established a two-level Shari’ah governance model through the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009 and the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013. The article argues that none of these reforms requires Uzbekistan to abandon its civil law tradition. Each one builds on existing legal structures through targeted amendments. The article also explains why Islamic finance law matters beyond economics: Islamic law has its own concept of legal personality, rooted in the doctrine of dhimmah and institutions like waqf and Bayt al-Mal, and integrating Islamic finance properly means bringing two legal traditions into genuine contact rather than applying superficial labels to conventional transactions.
References
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