The rise of Kuala Lumpur as an Islamic financial frontier

Abstract

The rise of Kuala Lumpur as an Islamic financial frontier. Regional Studies. This paper examines Kuala Lumpur’s emergence as a prominent global Islamic financial centre. Its distance from the West and the Middle East offers a frontier positioning that facilitates new social practices from the integration of financial knowledge of Western world cities and Shariah authority claimed by Gulf cities. Based on primary data, the paper shows that transnational, transcultural alliances forged through skills of mediation and compromise among the city’s Islamic talents and Shariah scholars favourably connect separate economic and cultural spheres of knowledge.