Risk and profitability of Islamic banks: A religious deception or an alternative solution? Abstract The aim of this paper is to examine whether Islamic finance could be an alternative to the traditional financial system and could guarantee stability in times of crisis. To this end, 78 Islamic banks in 12 countries have been studied over the 2004–2013 period. A series of bank-specific and other country-specific indicators are combined to explain the soundness of Islamic banking in terms of ...