But Who Will “Police” the Shariah Scholars?
We came across this typically ridiculous article about the role of Shariah scholars in “policing” or “guiding” Shariah-Compliant Finance and decided to use it to illustrate the complete disconnect between the concept of responsible financial regulation in the Western world and that in the Shariah-dominated world.
Dr Rusni Hassan, a shariah adviser to HSBC Amanah Malaysia and an associate professor in Islamic law at International Islamic University Malaysia, wrote this article, entitled: Islamic finance needs guides, not police.
Professor Hassan writes:
Shariah advisers shouldn’t be looked on as only the “police” to the Islamic finance but rather the adviser, the caretaker, the guide and the institution that may shape the direction of the Islamic finance industry.
They shouldn’t only be the “police” who always look for mistakes and “offences” committed by the industry but should always be able to provide the best advice and steer the way for better operation of the industry.Taking into consideration the roles of sharia advisers, and the nature of the ijtihad that are exercised by them to arrive at sharia rulings on Islamic finance, it is a fair consideration that a certain level of supervision be enforced on them.
The problem with this concept is that the major industry organization which is promoting itself as the overarching regulator of Shariah advisers is the AAOIFI (the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions). We have written about AAOIFI from time to time here on SFW:
https://shariahfinancewatch.org/category/aaoifi/
AAOIFI itself has a Shariah advisory board and that board is chaired by none other than Mufti Taqi Usmani, a real Jihadist monster with ties to the Taliban. If these are the folks who are going to “guide” the Shariah Finance industry, then the real police need to get more involved–quickly.
http://business.maktoob.com/20090000517168/Islamic_finance_needs_guides_not_police_/Article.htm
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