Since long Muslim scholars are trying to work out Islamic Financial model. These efforts are date back to the rise of Western capital market concept when “interest or riba” became the integral part of global economy and financial systems. 30 years before, advent of Islamic Banking is the beginning of an era where Muslims could fulfill their financial needs without the mixing of “Riba.” Both Arab world and far eastern Muslim nations have worked out various Islamic Banking models with some differences.
This page is setup to account the outstanding services of Muslim Scholars in the field of Islamic Financial System setup or the elimination of Riba.
1. Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah (of Paris)
He was the first scholar in early 40s who initiated writing about zakat and the economic system of Islam in his famous writing, ‘The Introduction to Islam.’ after Hazrat Shah Wali ullah, the most famous personality of sub-continent. Dr Hamidullah was invited to help writing the constitution of newly formed Pakistan and later awarded highest award of Pakistan. He was remembered by many of his students and lovers in Turkey and others. He lived a simple life.
2. Syed Abul Ala Maududi
He was one of the first sub-continent scholar/writer who wrote in detail about Interest, economic system of Islam, capitalism and socialism. His books such as ‘Sood (Interest)’, ‘Hurmat e sood (Why Interest prohibited)’, ‘Maasheiyat e Islam (economics of Islam)’, Íslam aur jadeed maashee nazeryat (Islam and new economics views)’played a vital role in understanding Islamic economics in early 20th century.For his life and work, a web site is established Maududi.org. He has founded a political party to promote Islam and Islamic ideology in Pakistan. Jamaat e Islami views about interest are well known and its efforts are widely acknowledged. http://www.jamaat.org/issues/riba.html
3. Justice Maulana Taqi Usmani
One of the living legend of modern day interest-free banking history, his work and achievements are countless in the field of modern Islamic economics and today’s Islamic banking. He has served as a judge in 1982 and later given a remarkable judgment regarding the prohibition of Riba (interest) in Pakistan and its elimination from the interest based economy. His book Íslamic Finance is widely accepted as a text book for Islamic Bankers.
4. Dr Mohammad Umer Chapra
Dr. M. Umer Chapra is currently serving as Research Advisor at the Islamic Research & Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Before joining IRTI in 1999, he worked as Senior Economic Advisor at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) from where he retired after a long service of 35 years. Dr. Chapra taught in the United States at the Universities of Wisconsin and Kentucky and worked in Pakistan at the Institute of Development Economics and the Islamic Research Institute. He has made seminal contributions to Islamic Economics and Finance over more than three decades in the form of ten books and monographs and more than seventy papers and book reviews.
He has received a number of awards, including the Islamic Development Bank Award for Islamic Economics, and the King Faisal International Award for Islamic Studies, both in 1989.
5. Dr Nejatullah Siddiqi
Dr Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi was born in India in 1931, educated at Aligarh Muslim University and Sanvi Darsgah Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Rampur, he also studied at Madrasatul Islah, Saraimir, Azamgarh. Prof. Siddiqi served as Associate Professor of Economics and Professor of Islamic Studies at the Aligarh University and as Professor of Economics at the King Abdulaziz University Jeddah, in its Center for Research in Islamic Economics. Later, he was a Fellow at the Center for Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and after that a Visiting Scholar at the Islamic Research & Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah. During his long academic career, he has supervised a number of Ph.D. theses in the universities in India, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.
Among the several works of Dr. Siddiqi are: Recent Theories of Profit: A Critical Examination (1971); Economic Enterprise in Islam (1972); Muslim Economic Thinking (1981); Banking Without Interest (1983); Insurance in an Islamic Economy (1985); Teaching Economics in Islamic Perspective (1996); Role of State in Islamic Economy (1996) and Dialogue in Islamic Economics (2002). For his contributions to Islamic Economics, he was awarded the Shah Waliullah Award in New Delhi (2003). A prolific writer in Urdu on subjects as Islami Adab (1960), Muslim Personal Law (1971), and Islamic Movement in Modern Times (1995), Siddiqi has also translated Abu Yusuf’s Kitab al Kharaj (1966). He has a comprehensive work on Islam’s View on Property (1969). Several of his works have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Indonesian, Malaysian, etc. A list of his works and some of his recent papers are available on his website: (http://www.siddiqi.com/mns). Dr. Siddiqi has been and continues to be associated with a number of academic journals as editor or advisor. He has served on numerous committees and participated in many conferences in various parts of the world. Presently, he lives in California with his children.
Khurshīd Ahmad (Urdu: خورشید احمد, also known as Professor Khurshid) (March 23, 1932 in Delhi – ) is a scholar, economist, writer, and Islamic activist. He holds Bachelors degrees in Law and Jurisprudence, Masters degrees in Economics and Islamic Studies, and an Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Education, and an Honorary Doctorate (Ph.D) in Islamic Economics conferred by the International Islamic University Malaysia IIUM. Khurshid Ahmad is a prolific writer with numerous books, articles, seminar papers and translations to his name. Prof Ahmad has been editing a number of ideologically oriented magazines and periodicals. He has authored and edited about 70 books in English and Urdu combined and contributed to a large number of magazines. He has so far participated in over 100 international conferences and seminars in personal as well as representative capacities.
In view of his pioneering work and contributions towards the development of Islamic Economics as an academic discipline, he was awarded the First Islamic Development Bank Award for Economics in 1988.
His contributions to the Islamic cause were also recognized in the form of King Faisal International Prize,1990, which is the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in the Muslim World. In recognition of his services in Islamic Economics & Finance, he was given 5th Annual Prize of American Finance House, LaRiba, USA in July 1998.
This page is still under construction, so keep visiting!
