This book is a multidisciplinary volume, comprising of four parts. After a short introduction by the editors, outlining the theme of the book, Santarelli, a skilful scholar of legal history, deals with the common origin of Islamic and Western traditions in commercial and banking transactions, in a period in which Italian merchants and their organizations had been at the forefront of the post- medieval renaissance in trade and law (Part I). In Part II Gian Maria Piccinelli, Frank Vogel, Muhammad Fahim Khan and the young Valentino Cattelan present the main features of Islamic banking. They raise several doubts and diff erent questions on the future development of Islamic banking.
