IslamicFinance.de

Prominent Islamic Finance activists have been trying to create recognition and make an impact in the implementation of Islamic Finance in India since decades. Recent years have seen quite a few setbacks in the Islamic Finance initiatives, with many financial initiatives being eventually discovered as Ponzi schemes. Some of these prominent schemes include Heera Gold, Ambiant Marketing, and now the latest is called I Monetary Advisory (IMA). Investigations revealed that IMA did not even have a Shariah board to begin with, and often used non-Shariah compliant statements in its marketing resources. Despite claiming to be a Shariah-compliant investment avenue, IMA had promised a fixed minimum return. A country with a sizeable Muslim population like India demands a central Shariah-Compliance Certification platform that keeps a strict control over Islamic Finance activities.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) announced the availability of scholarships for Muslim Community in India to pursue undergraduate studies in India. The scholarship may cover tuition fees and/or monthly stipends, books & clothing allowance and medical coverage through public or university sponsored hospitals. Major fields at undergraduate level include Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Engineering, Agriculture, Information Technology, Economics, Education, Psychology and Learning, Education Policy and International Development.

Delhi-based Transworld Consultants, a company specialising in laws in the Gulf states, has come out with an English version of the New Islamic Insurance Law of Oman. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Transworld Consultants, Syed Saami Mahmood, the new 58-article Law provides that the companies conducting the Takaful insurance business have to be listed on the Muscat Securities Market with a capital of RO 10 million and above. Mahmood said that the Law does not permit traditional underwriters to open Takaful insurance windows, making it mandatory for a company interested in doing the Takaful insurance in Oman to devote itself exclusively to the Islamic insurance business.

Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, President, Zakat Foundation of India, presented a research paper at the University of Glasgow's International Conference on Islamic Perspective of Accounting, Finance, Economics and Management (7 -9 April 2015). The paper explores the effect of Zakat, Sadaqah and Qulil Afwa on society, and discusses why riba is forbidden in Islamic economies. In conclusion, the concomitant theme of all economic activity should be to ensure that the community's wealth keeps on changing hands and circulating across the entire social spectrum.