Al-Hikmah University Journal

There is a great prospect for growth in Africa and in some years to come, seventy per cent of the fastest growing nations in the world will come from Africa. To achieve this, Islamic finance has a big role to play in complementing the funding gap and improving the rate of financial inclusion in the continent. The purpose of this paper is to show how the Malaysian experience in the development of Islamic finance can help African countries to grow their young Islamic finance. To achieve this, we have used the qualitative method of document analysis to uncover the different stages that Islamic finance has passed through in Malaysia before it becomes the hub of Islamic finance in the world. Specifically, this paper has shown that the success of Islamic finance in Malaysia is a combined effort of all the stakeholders which include government, financial institutions, Muslims and non-Muslims. Therefore, for Islamic finance to achieve the desired goals in Africa, all hands must be on deck with everybody contributing its quota. It is hoped that this paper will be an eye opener to all the stakeholders on the benefits they stand to gain if they unite to develop Islamic finance in Africa and to wake up all the concerned parties to their responsibilities to achieve these benefits.