Under the chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Abdul Salam Al-Abbadi, Minister of Awqaf, Religious and Islamic Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Khalid Amin Adbullah, the PhD advisor, Dr. Fakhri Abu-Safiyeh and Dr. Rashed Salameh as members, a panel convened to discuss a PhD dissertation entitled: “The Structure of Islamic Sukuk between jurisprudence and application” submitted by Dr. Khawla Al-Nobani, the Partner-in-Charge of the Islamic Financial Advisory Services (IFAS) division of BDO Jordan. His Excellency Dr. Al-Abbadi highlighted the importance of the subject, where the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan pioneered the legislation of Muqaradah Bonds in 1981, which was the basis upon which a number of other countries enacted their respective legislations. Jordan intends to stay abreast in this field, where the Government recently appointed a committee to draft the Islamic Financing Sukuk legislation, of which Dr. Khawla Al-Nobani is a member.
The dissertation focused on the variety of Islamic Financing products, which by necessity have to comply with the Shariah principles, but all must start with a deep understanding of their practical applications, followed by an analysis of their compliance with Shariah throughout their life cycle as specified in the prospectus. The dissertation stressed on the importance of having a global unified view with a single source of Fatwa such as the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, as the risks of underestimating the jurisprudence are high. This emphasizes the role of the Shariah Supervisory Boards, which in turn need to be governed by a higher official supervisory authority.
This study is an impetus, and a prelude to other research that is required to fortify and fine-tune the infrastructure of the industry, specifically in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan so that it remains ahead of the curve in this industry. This will also increase that awareness of Islamic Finance practically and objectively.
