By Hessam Kalantar and Owen Delaney

The idea that Islamic finance instruments somehow offered protection from the wider global financial crisis has generally proven to be false. On the contrary, the market for Shari'a-compliant financial products appears to have been hit hard by the economic doldrums. Since the peak in 2007, when almost US$35 billion worth of Sukuk financing was issued worldwide, volumes have dropped dramatically. Read the entire article here.