‘40pc of world’s Shariah-compliant financial experts hail from Pakistan’

This is apropos a Business Recorder news item ‘40pc of world’s Shariah-compliant financial experts hail from Pakistan’ carried by the newspaper yesterday.

According to the news reports, the country has firmly established itself as a key player in the global Islamic banking sector, with nearly 40 percent of the world’s Shariah-compliant financial experts hailing from the country.

‘’This recognition comes from Sheikh Ibrahim Khalifa Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), highlighting Pakistan’s growing influence in shaping the future of Islamic finance worldwide,’’ the news report further said.

But a question that needs a clear answer is: what is the future of Islamic finance? In my view, it does have future in Islamic countries, including Pakistan. That is why perhaps we witness so many Islamic finance experts, including revered Mufti Taqi Usmani, in our midst. It is said that over 25,000 experts are related to Islamic Finance Industry (IFI) in Pakistan.

No doubt, Islamic finance has experienced continuous growth in three decades or more, with continuous expansion of total Islamic finance assets as well as sophistication of Shariah-compliant products.

Unfortunately, however, it represents only 1 percent of the conventional finance while there exists little or no hope that the Shariah-compliant products would be replacing interest-based products in near or even distant future, although growth of Islamic finance is much faster than conventional finance’s.

Samina Malik (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024