Six key figures who have played a leading role in the development of Islamic finance in the region: Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah, Sheikh Abdullah bin Sulaiman al-Manea, Mohammed Daud Baker and Mohamed Ali Elgari
Sheikh Nizam Yaquby
Position Sharia board member, HSBC Amanah
Biography Bahrain-born Sheikh Nizam is one of the most powerful figures in Islamic finance, and one of the sector’s most active scholars. He holds more than 70 corporate positions and sits on the board of six international Islamic finance organisations. Sheikh Nizam has a doctorate in Islamic law from the UK’s University of Wales, and a degree in economics and comparative religion from Canada’s McGill University. He is on the sharia boards of several international banks, including the Islamic arms of the UK’s HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Barclays; France’s BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole; and the US’ Citigroup. Sheikh Nizam is also on the board of many regional institutions, including Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank, First Energy Bank, Gulf Finance House, Dubai Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank. He is considered to be one of the bridges between the slightly different approaches to Islamic finance in the Middle East and Asia.
Contact Tel: (+973) 1 756 9944
Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani
Position Chairman, International Sharia Council
Biography Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani has taught on various aspects of Islamic law for the past 39 years. During that time, he has served as a judge in the supreme court of Pakistan, and is considered an expert in Islamic jurisprudence, economics and hadith, the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammed. Usmani has a master’s degree in Arabic literature, a law degree from Karachi University and a degree in Islamic education. He teaches several subjects, including Islamic economics at the Darul Uloom Karachi seminary. Usmani has played a key role in the development of Islamic finance in the Gulf and sits on the sharia boards of 14 firms, including the Central Bank of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. He is also a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah, an organisation for the advanced study of Islam. He is chairman of the International Sharia Council, which is part of the Islamic Financial Services Board.
Contact Tel: (+603) 2 698 4248
Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah
Position Chairman and head of sharia board, Minhaj Sharia Financial Advisory
Biography Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah has a degree in sharia from Damascus University, as well as a law degree. He also has a master’s in hadith, a master’s in sharia and a doctorate in comparative jurisprudence from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University. Sheikh Abdul holds more than 70 positions on sharia boards. These include president and secretary general of the sharia board for Bahrain’s Al-Baraka Banking Group, the sharia council of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions. He sits on the sharia board of the Dubai Financial Market, the Central Bank of Syria, the Central Bank of Bahrain, Sharjah Islamic Bank, Dubai Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank and the Islamic Bank of Britain. He also helped establish the Dubai-based Minhaj Sharia Financial Advisory, which offers sharia advisory services to firms.
Contact Tel: (+971) 4 223 3268
Sheikh Abdullah bin Sulaiman al-Manea
Position Deputy chairman, Sharia board for Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions
Biography A Saudi national, Sheikh Abdullah bin Sulaiman al-Manea sits on the sharia boards of 34 companies and four international Islamic finance organisations. He is on the boards of companies such as Gulf Finance House and Ithmaar Bank of Bahrain, the UAE’s Abraaj Capital and Mashreq, and Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Samba and Arab National Bank. He also sits on the sharia boards of international banks including the UK’s HSBC. Al-Manea has been a member of the Supreme Judicial Committee of Saudi Arabia since its inception in 1971. He is also a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah and is a former deputy president of Mecca Courts. He has written several books on Islamic finance and worked as a supervisor on several doctorate theses.
Contact Tel: (+971) 4 319 7688
Mohammed Daud Baker
Position Member of the sharia board, Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions
Biography Mohammed Daud Baker graduated with a degree in sharia from the University of Kuwait in 1988. He went on to complete a doctorate at the UK’s University of St Andrews and a bachelor’s degree in jurisprudence at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. Baker sits on the sharia boards of several regional and international banks, including Bahrain’s Unicorn Investment Bank, Dubai Bank, Dubai Financial Market, Noor Islamic Bank, France’s BNP Paribas and the US’ Morgan Stanley. He holds 32 corporate roles. He is also chairman of the Central Sharia Advisory Council of the Central Bank of Malaysia and has set up the Amanie Islamic Finance Learning Centre at the Dubai International Financial Centre, where he acts as the centre’s president and chief executive.
Contact Tel: (+971) 4 319 7688
Mohamed Ali Elgari
Position Professor of Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah
Biography Mohamed Ali Elgari has a doctorate in economics from the US’ University of California. A Saudi national, Elgari sits on the sharia boards of many of the kingdom’s banks, including Sabb, Saudi Hollandi Bank, Arab National Bank, Jadwa Investments, Banque Saudi Fransi and Samba. He holds more than 60 positions on sharia boards around the world, including the UK’s HSBC Amanah and Royal Bank of Scotland, Switzerland’s Credit Suisse and UBS, and the US’ Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. He regularly lectures on Islamic banking and has written several books and research papers on Islamic finance. Elgari also sits on the board of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions. Before becoming a professor at King Abdulaziz University, he was director of the Centre for Research in Islamic Economics at the university.
Contact Tel: (+966) 2 640 0000
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