Did you know some of the most prominent Islamic Finance Scholars from the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asia Nation) region? This is attractive because Islamic banking assets have been growing in the last year 2020 and reached USD 1,839.5 billion. In this sense, Southeast Asia shared a portion of USD 258.2 billion. Most importantly, the region also contributes almost 300 Islamic finance scholars who have been recognized globally.
Previously, we have noticed some prominent scholars who have influenced the development of Islamic Finance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Now, we introduce you to some distinguished scholars who have influenced Islamic finance development in Southeast Asia. Here, we present to you their careers and most notable publications.
1) Datuk Dr Mohd Daud Bakar, Malaysia
Datuk Dr Mohd Daud is one of the distinguished Islamic Finance scholars from Malaysia. He earned his first degree in Shariah in 1988 from the University of Kuwait. After that, he completed his PhD in 1993 from the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom. Datuk Dr Mohd Daud founded and served as Group Chairman of Amanie Group, a global boutique Shariah advising firm with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Luxembourg, Cairo, Tunis, and Dublin. Moreover, he is also the Founder and Chairman of Amanie Nexus Sdn Bhd (Kuala Lumpur), Chairman of the Shariah Advisory Councils of Bank Negara Malaysia, the Securities Commission, and the Labuan Financial Services Authority, as well as Chairman of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation’s Shariah Committee.
By now, Datuk Dr Mohd Daud serves on the Shariah Boards of the National Bank of Oman (Oman), Noor Islamic Bank (Dubai), Amundi Asset Management (France), Morgan Stanley (Dubai), Bank of London, and the Middle East (London), BNP Paribas (Bahrain), Bank Al Khair (Bahrain), Dow Jones Islamic Market Index (New York), and SEDCO Capital (Saudi Arabia).
His writings encompass articles in a range of academic journals and over 150 presentations at national and international conferences. Most important, his initial book, “Shariah Minds in Islamic Finance: An Inside Story of a Shariah Scholar,” was named the Global Islamic Finance Award’s “Islamic Finance Book of the Year 2016.” (GIFA). Also, he has published a book about Sukuk titled “An Insightful Journey to Emirates Airline Sukuk: Pushing the Boundaries of Islamic Finance” (2017).
2) Adiwarman Azwar Karim, Indonesia
Another Islamic Finance Scholars from ASEAN is Adiwarman Azwar Karim. He is a sharia economist in Indonesia. Currently, he has been appointed as the MUI National Sharia Council and the supervisory board of several Islamic banking institutions. In the same vein, Adiwarman began his career in sharia banking in 1992 as a research and development staff member at Bank Muamalat, following a stint at the National Development Planning Agency.
In 1999, he co-founded The International Institute of Islamic Thoughts (IIIT) Indonesia with approximately forty-five Indonesian Muslim figures and scholars. After that, he launched the sharia business consultancy firm Karim Consulting Indonesia in August 2001 promoting the establishment of many sharia departments in many Indonesian banks.
Adi earned a scholarship offer to complete his master’s degree in finance at Boston University in the United States of America after graduating from IPB in 1986. After finishing his thesis on Iran’s Islamic economy, he continued his studies at the European University in Belgium, where he got an MBA in 1988. Subsequently, he earned an MA in Economic Policy from Boston University in 1992.
Adiwarman has several published books but has not been translated into English. Some of those are:
- Islamic Economics: A Contemporary Study which is a collection of his articles in the Panji Society Magazine,
- History of Islamic Economic Thought, a group of writings by economists which he translated into Indonesian,
- Islamic Microeconomics and Islamic Macroeconomics
3) Abu Umar Faruq Ahmad, Brunei Darussalam
Dr Abu Umar Faruq Ahmad is a graduate of Western Sydney University (2008). He is a well-known international expert in the field of Islamic Economics and Finance. Above all, Dr Ahmad’s notable achievements include Associate Professorships at the universities in Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. Before, he completed LLM (Hons) in 2004 from the same university. He also accomplished an LLB (Hons.) in 1984 from the Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Prior to this, he obtained a Master of Art in Hadith in 1974 and a Bachelor of Art in 1972 from Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board.
In addition, Dr Ahmad has nearly 80 publications with 5 top Scopus publications as follows:
- The time value of money concept in Islamic finance. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences
- Quality perception of the customers towards domestic Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Journal of Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance
- Riba and Islamic banking. Journal of Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance
- Theory and Practice of Modern Islamic Finance: The Case Analysis from Australia.
- The legal implications of ‘fatwa shopping’ in the Islamic finance industry: problems, perceptions and prospects. Arab Law Quarterly.
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