Saleem Ahmed

Shariah Supervision of Islamic Modes of Finance in the Arab Countries: An Assessment Saleem Ahmed

The expansion of Islamic financ to non-Muslim countries led to the development of scholarly and academic writings in general and Islamic finance in particular. The writings of these scholars fulfil the need of the long awaited alternative economic system which could ensure the values of Islam.1 In turn, seeing the viability of Islamic financial system the stock exchange boards of several countries have already taken initiative to invest in the stock market on the basis of Shari'ah. The American exchange board, the London exchange board as well as Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) have amended their laws to attract the customers particularly to those who want to invest in Shari'ah compliant products. The screening as per the Shari'ah norms is very common in stock exchange boards of Arab countries. Moreover, Islamic financial institutions throughout the world are not allowed to function without Shari'ah supervisory board. Also, a Shari'h supervisory board consisting atleast three Shari'ah scholars is mandatory in each Islamic bank.