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Religious scripts strongly encourage acts of philantrophy and benevolence that contribute to achievement of social harmony and similarly condemn interest out of money. The views paying attention to economic reasons fail to offer a plausible counter argument to this contradiction. Almost all studies since the inception of Islam have, rather than considering the dynamic social and economic realities of the time, attempted to justify the views on the ban. Thus, this study aims to provide clear aspect on Abrahamic religion’s approach on the issue.

This paper seeks to analyze how the Abrahamic religions approach the issue of interest. For the sake chronology, the Judaic approach will be first analyzed, referring to the main arguments that served as basis for the lift of the ban. Subsequent to the rational arguments raised in the Christian tradition that justified the ban, the reasons for the removal of the ban that changed the attitude of the church will be examined. Finally, based on its original sources, the approach of Islam will be evaluated and the current popular arguments will be discussed.

A review of the interest issue in the Abrahamic religions in a historical context reveals that there are visible similarities between the arguments that served as basis of the discussions. Christian scholars were able to justify the ban with reference to strong arguments; however, in reference to the conditions that the economy arguably dictated, the ban has been gradually lifted. A similar process has taken place among Islamic scholars as well. Those who adopt an economic perspective fail to consider the chief principles in Abrahamic religions that promote the practice of benevolence.

This paper seeks to analyze how the Abrahamic religions approach the issue of interest from a broader perspective. To this end, the authors offer a general framework of the notion of interest and present the approaches of Abrahamic religions to the concept through reference to popular arguments.

This study aims to investigate the participation bankings’ financial services with the Islamic precepts in consideration of the doubts and questions in the minds of the public and religious people on this matter. The study further analyzes the differences between the conventional and Islamic financial services. The PBing, referred to as interest-free banking services, is analyzed in respect to Turkey and the public awareness on these practices are also surveyed empirically to offer some plausible findings and conclusions.

Data in this study are collected via survey method. The participants are picked randomly in the study. The priority of the study is the level of public awareness in terms of education level and financial preference. The findings are further empirically analyzed. The participants have been categorized based on their education level, income level and their religiosity. The significance between the Pearson’s chi-square test and the responses has also been tested. Only significant results have been included in the study.

The findings in the study suggest that the “Islamic” identity of the Islamic finance (IF) institutions has been hurt seriously and that a growing number of people now start considering these institutions as “non-Islamic.” The IF institutions which emerged to respond to the needs of the religious people who are keen to comply with the precepts of Islam have converged to their counterparts in the conventional banking system, particularly in secular countries like Turkey.

Some studies focusing on the consumers in Muslim countries reveal that the greatest expectation out of the Islamic Finance is that it will help the Islamic financial thought take root. One of the initial goals of it is to meet the financial expectations of the Muslims who are eager to follow the Islamic rules in their economic activities. But today, whether IF fulfills this major objective remains unclear. This study offers some empirical view on problem. Participation banks are also considered institutions of IF, which is part of the conventional banking system in Turkey. These institutions have been criticized because of the similarities to the banks in the conventional system, the proximities between the interest rates in the regular banks and the profit shares of these institutions and the unpopularity of the profit-loss sharing (PLS). Critics particularly argue that it is not proper to call these institutions “Islamic.” Currently, whether these banks are truly Islamic remains a controversy. This study analyzes the public perception of the IF as IF institutions by reliance empirical findings through survey. For the analysis, a diverse group of participants selected randomly (in terms of age, income, education and religiosity) in Turkey has been surveyed. The significance in the responses to the questions in the survey was measured empirically to draw conclusions based on the responses and the empirical results.

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between financial availability and crime by measuring it across five dimensions: banking, securities, insurance, private lending and digital inclusive finance.

The study utilizes 2011–2017 data from prefecture-level cities as a representative sample. Moreover, these findings remain robust after addressing endogeneity through the use of the historical distance between cities and the railroad network as an instrumental variable.

The findings demonstrate a significant negative relationship between financial accessibility and crime rates. Heterogeneity exists in the inhibitory effect of different types of financial accessibility on crime, with banking finance exhibiting a stronger inhibitory effect compared to private lending. Areas affected by natural disasters and infectious diseases exhibit a stronger inhibitory effect of financial accessibility on crime rates, particularly in areas with severe shocks of natural disasters and epidemics. This effect is attributed to the low financing threshold and easy access to private lending, which plays a more effective role than bank finance when people face extreme risks.

There should be stricter regulations imposed on private lending markets and the introduction of more rational legislation aimed at guiding a healthy development within these markets; such measures serve as effective and complementary means for individuals from all walks of life to access credit financing.

The regulation of financial resources by the government should always prioritize ensuring the accessibility of financial policies to cater to the needs of the majority population.

This study is for the first time in an emerging economy context, the causal relationship between financial accessibility and crime. To provide a more comprehensive measure of financial accessibility in a region, this paper proposes a five-dimensional methodology.