Islamic Banking in Russia: Implementation Experience and the Problems of Constitutional and Legal Regulation

The article attempts to define the content of the concept of Islamic banking as a financial and legal phenomenon, an experiment on the introduction of which started in Russia on September 1, 2023, and also to consider the legal conditions for the implementation of the principles of Islamic finance in the domestic legal space. The term “Islamic financial system” appeared in the mid-1980s to denote a new way of organizing financial relations based on Sharia and proved its right to exist during the financial and economic crisis of the early XXI century. Currently, Islamic banks carry out traditional banking operations, but in a special way. Islamic banking is one of the popular models of banking services that goes far beyond the Muslim world and has proven itself positively in terms of stability and reliability. Based on the analysis of the results of scientific research and the practice of applying the principles of Islamic banking in various countries, the authors identified the differences between Islamic banking, characterized as a philosophical concept of banking services, from the traditional, identified the main sources of profit of Islamic banks, concluded about their legal nature as investment and savings organizations. The study of the stages of the introduction of Islamic banking in the Middle East, Europe, as well as attempts to test it in Russia over the past decade allowed the authors to conclude that the introduction of an experimental legal regime of partner financing in a number of regions of the country is timely, which will eliminate legal conflicts and gaps in legal regulation associated with the development of the Russian financial system in a given direction. The use of the term “partner financing” in domestic legislation, which is similar in meaning to the concept of Islamic banking, fully complies with Article 13 of the Constitution of Russia on the secular nature of domestic statehood and develops the constitutional provision on the support of competition and freedom of economic activity in relation to financial services.