HUMA Islamic Finance Conference was held on 26-27th October 2018 at Boylston Hall under the patronage of HUMA and Harvard Islamic Society (HIS). The conference was attended by over 250 attendees and was focused on the three themes of Capital, Commerce and Careers within the Islamic Business and Finance. This is a summarized report of the Conference.
The report delves into the vexed question of who is driving the Islamic finance industry, which has multiple players – Islamic scholars, regulators and, finally, practitioners – in the fray. It outlines the historical evolution of the industry and concomitantly the roles of its disparate stakeholders during the different stages of development. Starting with a few isolated and independent initiatives, the industry has evolved to acquire the robust shape it has today.
| Circular Economy has gained attention in society and industry in the past years, since the world is faced by the challenge of balancing the economic growth with the use and availability of natural resources. The two unmistakable trends of 8+ billion people by 2025 along with living on higher standards, coupled with robust growth of emerging economies has really taken our planet beyond the carrying capacity. |
| Scholars had differed whether managers are primary responsible to shareholders or to other aspects such as the long-term prospects of the firm or to other stakeholders or even to the larger environment in which businesses operate including sustainable business practices. Notwithstanding recent voices and momentum in favor of the later, modern management theory and practice largely favored the former, i.e. profit maximization is viewed as the primary responsibility of managers. |
In this paper, we analyse the Sustainable Development Goals performance of a global sample of 4,643 firms (34,177 firm year observations) across 43 countries.
Islamic Banking was founded on higher objectives based on social justice: namely to develop financial intermediation based on risk-sharing for socially responsible economic activities. From an Islamic worldview money is a sterile asset. Its sole economic purpose is to serve as a medium of exchange. Whilst one can lease a land out on rent, one can’t lease out money on interest. From Aristotle to St. Thomas Aquinas the narrative on interest was unequivocal.
In 2018, participants chose the topic of “Challenging the Shari’ah Compliance of Islamic Finance Products”. As in previous years, the workshop is preceded by the submission of written commentaries on the topic.
The Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School has housed a research project named, Islamic Finance Project (IFP) that was quite active and well recognized in its field. The idea behind the workshop was cropped up during discussions with IFP associates about the future of Islamic finance and economics. It was suggested that engaging key scholars in a debate on the role of Islamic finance and Islamic law (Shariah) in the current trajectory of the Islamic finance industry would be an essential; step to support the industry. The whole debate centered around two key stakeholders; i.e.
The emphasis of the workshop was not meant to review contemporary Fintech technology, products and processes, but rather focus on the Shariah related challenges Islamic finance must address to ensure their compliance. Therefore, the main purpose of this workshop was to explore whether to use and apply the Ahkam Fiqhiyya, and/or,