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RRE 102: Islamic Finance & Global Capital Structures
Course Code RRE 102
Course Name Islamic Finance & Global Capital Structures
Department Finance
Semester Offered Even (usually Term 2)
Tuition Hours 20 hours
Course Level Intermediate
Pre-requisite FTM 101: Foundations of Finance & Capital Markets
Co-requisite FTM 102, CFS 102
Course Objective Most finance students grow up believing one thing: interest is the foundation of finance. Islamic finance breaks that assumption completely.

This course introduces a parallel financial system where capital flows without interest, risk is shared rather than transferred, and asset-backing is non-negotiable. It is not niche. It governs over $3 trillion in global assets and dominates entire regions of capital markets.

You will learn how Islamic financial instruments actually work: not as definitions, but as deal structures used in real transactions. Sukuk instead of bonds. Murabaha instead of loans. Musharakah instead of equity with asymmetric risk.

At the same time, you will study how legal systems shape finance itself. Why does Dubai structure deals differently from New York? What happens when Shariah law meets common law? Why do global funds restructure products just to access Middle Eastern capital?

By the end of the course, you should be able to look at any financial structure and ask a deeper question: what assumptions about money, risk, and ethics is this system built on?
Course Philosophy This course emphasizes
  • Structure over terminology: focus on how deals are constructed, not just what they are called
  • Finance as a product of law and culture
  • Learning by reverse-engineering real transactions
Students will not memorize Islamic finance contracts. They will build and deconstruct them, understanding why they exist and when they break.
Course Learning Outcomes Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
  • Explain the core principles of Islamic finance, including prohibition of riba (interest), gharar (uncertainty), and maysir (speculation).
  • Structure basic Islamic financial instruments such as Murabaha, Ijarah, Musharakah, and Sukuk.
  • Compare Islamic and conventional financial systems in terms of risk allocation, incentives, and outcomes.
  • Analyze how regulatory and legal frameworks shape capital markets globally, including DIFC, common law, and Shariah governance.
  • Evaluate real-world financial deals and identify how they are adapted to comply with different regulatory environments.
  • Apply these concepts in capital allocation decisions, especially relevant for global investment portfolios and cross-border capital flows.
Course Author Sagar Udasi
MSc Statistics and Data Science with Computational Finance from The University of Edinburgh.
Contact: sagar.l.udasi@gmail.com
Course Organiser TBD
Industry practitioner or academic with expertise in Islamic finance and global capital markets.
No. Lecture Title Concepts Covered Lecture Objective
01 Finance Without Interest. Then What Is It? Riba, risk-sharing, asset-backing Break the core assumption of conventional finance and introduce the philosophical foundation students must understand before building anything in this domain.
02 Why Religion Ended Up Shaping Trillion-Dollar Markets Historical evolution of Islamic finance, global adoption Help students see Islamic finance as a practical system, not a theoretical curiosity.
03 If You Can't Lend Money, How Do You Make Money? Murabaha structure, cost-plus financing Teach students how one of the most widely used instruments actually replaces loans in real transactions.
04 Renting Instead of Lending Ijarah, lease-based financing Show how asset ownership and leasing structures replace debt in financing real-world assets.
05 What If Investors Actually Shared Risk? Musharakah, Mudarabah, profit-loss sharing Introduce equity-like structures and how incentives change when downside is shared.
06 The Bond That Isn't a Bond Sukuk structures, asset-backed securities Understand how fixed income markets operate without interest and why Sukuk markets are massive.
07 When Theory Meets Legal Reality Shariah boards, compliance frameworks Show how religious compliance is operationalized in modern financial institutions.
08 Dubai vs New York: Same Capital, Different Rules DIFC, common law vs Shariah law Help students understand how jurisdiction changes deal structures and investor access.
09 How Global Funds Restructure Deals to Access Capital Cross-border structuring, hybrid instruments Connect Islamic finance to global capital flows and real investment strategies.
10 When Islamic Finance Breaks Criticism, loopholes, synthetic structures Develop critical thinking by analyzing where systems fail or get gamed.
11 Designing a Shariah-Compliant Investment Portfolio Asset allocation constraints, screening Direct application to capstone: how to operate within constraints while still generating returns.
12 Ethics vs Efficiency: Who Wins? Trade-offs in financial systems Push students to question whether constraints improve or limit markets.
13 Case Study: Real Estate, Infrastructure, and Sovereign Deals Large-scale applications Ground theory in billion-dollar transactions relevant to Dubai’s ecosystem.
14 Building for Global Capital, Not Just One System Integrating Islamic and conventional finance Prepare students to think like global capital allocators managing diverse regulatory environments.
Component Weightage
Case Study Analysis (2 total) 30%
Deal Structuring Assignment 30%
Final Project (Shariah-Compliant Portfolio Design) 40%
Type Resource Provider
Lecture Islamic Finance Explained Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance
Lecture Sukuk and Islamic Capital Markets DIFC Academy
Reading Islamic Finance: Law, Economics, and Practice Mahmoud El-Gamal
Reading An Introduction to Islamic Finance Mufti Taqi Usmani
Report Global Islamic Finance Report Various (Annual Industry Reports)