THE LEGAL CONCEPT OF LEGAL ENTITY IN ISLAMIC FINANCE AND LAW: DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, AND PRACTICAL CHALLENGES FOR UZBEKISTAN
Keywords:
legal entity, legal personality, Islamic finance, Islamic law, waqf, dhimmah, civil law, sukuk, Shari’ah Supervisory Board, comparative lawAbstract
The global Islamic finance industry has grown past USD 3.88 trillion in assets, and Uzbekistan is now actively joining this market. The law on amendments and additions to some legal documents of the Republic of Uzbekistan aimed at introducing Islamic banking in Uzbekistan was adopted. But a fundamental question sits beneath all the practical reform: does Islamic law have its own concept of the legal entity, or does it simply borrow this idea from the West? This article examines the doctrinal basis for legal personality in Islamic jurisprudence, compares the Islamic approach with civil law, common law, and Uzbek legal traditions, and identifies two concrete legal problems that Uzbekistan must solve if its Islamic finance reforms are going to work. For each problem, a tested foreign-country solution is proposed. The article argues that Islamic law does contain the conceptual raw materials for legal personality, that these materials are functionally comparable to Western equivalents, and that Uzbekistan’s unique position as a country with Soviet, European, and Islamic legal heritage gives it both challenges and opportunities in building a workable framework.
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