The Role of the Shari'ah Supervisory Boards

Recent developments in the Islamic finance market prompted the industry to rethink the role of Shari'ah scholars. Most Islamic financial institutions appoint a supervisory board or committee of religious scholars who are tasked with reviewing their transactions in order to ensure that they comply with the principles of Islamic Shari'ah in their business and financial dealings. A Shari'ah supervisory board or committee approves or rejects a transaction through the issuance of a fatwa (an opinion or proclamation about the Shari'ah compliance of such a transaction).
When issuing fatawa, Shari'ah scholars are practising ijtihad and they should enjoy complete freedom in their practice of ijtihad; their guidance and limitations should only come from the five sources of Islamic Shari'ah being:
* Qur'an (the holy book revered by Muslims);
* Sunna (the practice and traditions of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him);
* Qiyas (a comparison, used to make a judgement on issues which have no clear-cut ruling in the Qur'an or the Sunna, by consideration of similar issues which do have clear ruling);
* Ijtehad (the diligent judgement of the scholars through reasoning and logic); and
* Ijmaa (a consensus or agreement used for issues which require Ijtehad)
Therefore, in our opinion, Shari'ah Scholars should not be restricted or limited in their practice of ijtihad by any regulator.
These training and continuing education courses should train Shari'ah scholars to be inquisitorial of the intention (niyya') behind the transaction.
We should not exaggerate the required finance and business expertise of Shari'ah scholars