The Islamic finance industry is estimated around $1.7 trillion with substantial growth momentum in the past decades. It is now too important to be ignored, particularly in the Middle and Far East. This chapter reviews the most salient features of Islamic finance that distinguish it from the rest of the conventional financial universe. A significant volume of research focuses on the comparative performance of Islamic and conventional banks across a wide range of metrics, such as profitability, risk, and efficiency. Islamic stock and bonds markets are also an important segment of the related comparative literature and we reviews these studies, too. This chapter provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the extant literature, useful for academics and practitioners with little or significant experience in the Islamic finance sector.