{"id":14593,"date":"2012-09-13T16:17:12","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T14:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/09\/islamic-scholars-propose-new-sharia-board-model\/"},"modified":"2012-09-13T16:17:12","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T14:17:12","slug":"islamic-scholars-propose-new-sharia-board-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/islamic-scholars-propose-new-sharia-board-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic scholars propose new sharia board model"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Bernardo Vizcaino<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

DUBAI, Sept 13<\/span> (Reuters) – A group of Islamic scholars is
\nproposing a fresh solution to charges that banks’ sharia boards
\nare open to conflicts of interest: create partnerships between
\nthe boards and Muslim depositors, to insulate the boards from
\npressure exerted by bank managements.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharia boards, composed of experts in Islamic financial law,
\nsupervise Islamic banks’ activities and products to make sure
\nthey conform to religious principles, such as bans on interest
\nand pure monetary speculation.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditionally, banks appoint prestigious scholars to their
\nsharia boards and pay them handsome fees and retainers. This has
\nleft the system vulnerable to charges of conflict of interest:
\nthe scholars are being paid by the institutions which they are
\nsupposed to be supervising impartially.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A group of scholars in South Africa, led by Durban-based
\nEbrahim Desai, a senior figure in the city’s Muslim community,
\nproposes that Muslim depositors in each bank fund a sharia
\ncompliance body that would be created separately from the bank.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The body would then hire a sharia board to supervise the
\nbank. In this way, the scholars on the board would not be
\nappointed by or report to the bank’s management, and would not
\nhave a direct financial relationship with the bank.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We seek a neutral and balanced position,” Desai said by
\ntelephone, adding that freed of subjection to bank managements,
\nsharia boards would be able to play more strategic and powerful
\nroles in governance.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“This would be in line with the larger interest of the
\nMuslim community in upholding sharia law by maintaining the
\nultra-independence of the sharia supervisory board.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Emraan Vawda, a colleague of Desai, argued that by their
\nnature, banks were ill-suited to policing their own Islamic
\nactivities. “Commercial concerns in the overwhelming majority of
\nIslamic banks far outweigh genuine commitment to Islamic values
\nand precepts,” he said.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bernardo Vizcaino DUBAI, Sept 13 (Reuters) – A group of Islamic scholars is proposing a fresh solution to charges that banks’ sharia boards are open to conflicts of interest: create partnerships between the boards and Muslim depositors, to insulate the boards from pressure exerted by bank managements. Sharia boards, composed of experts in Islamic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-14593","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}