COVID-19 and Islamic Finance: A Practitioners' View and Financial Accounting Investigation

The chapter aims to investigate the link between COVID-19 and Islamic finance, investigating how Islamic countries respond to the impact of the pandemic and how Islamic banks have responded in consideration of their financial statements. The study proposes a novel perspective based on thematic analysis of blogs and newspapers to validate the relevant literature. Moreover, the documentary analysis will allow researchers to investigate Islamic banks' financial statements. We find that Islamic countries have used extraordinary Sukuk issuances both at government and cross-border level. Moreover, traditional instruments such as the Zakat have been converted for even more social uses. Concerning the literature, we find that there have been temporary tax suspensions and commodity supply measures to deal with the pandemic crisis's uncertainty. Finally, financial statements analysis reveals prudent behaviour with decreases in profits aimed at increasing risk provisions. The results provide theoretical evidence to researchers and practical evidence to policymakers, public policy investors and citizens.