The 10th Anniversary Dinner of IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IiBF) is a significant milestone. As an alumni, I am proud that the institute has made great strides in developing and producing the required talent for the Islamic finance industry. Over the years, the IiBF has produced increasing number of Islamic finance graduates and we should take pride that a total of 14 PhD students have graduated this year, the highest number of graduates so far. We should aspire for our alumni and IiBF graduates to become captains and leaders of the industry. It is only this outcome that the institute should benchmark itself in measuring its success.

While the celebration of success is well deserved for our Institute, as it in itself an important element to motivate and inspire continuous achievements, I believe at the same time, it would be meaningful if we reflect on our achievements and assess the extent of our success in upholding the true values of Islamic finance. While we acknowledge the steady growth and commendable milestones achieved in the industry over the last three decades, I thought we should ask ourselves, where does Islamic finance really stand today? Have we truly embraced the Islamic values embedded in Shariah and become a role model of ethics? Has Islamic finance been really innovative? Or simply adaptive? How successful are we in bringing about the required changes in the society that could contribute towards the betterment of the lives of the general public?

Let us go back to the thirteenth century where Islamic civilisation was the epitome of social, economic and learning progress. The Muslim empire during the golden age of Islam has given birth to prominent Islamic scholars whom have pioneered many innovations and breakthroughs. These outstanding inventions in the Muslim world have paved the way for global civilisations, so much so, that Islam became torch bearers of various disciplines including science, mathematics and philosophy. The flourish of Islam was attributable to the Muslims’ endless pursuit of knowledge, their openness to learn from earlier civilisations and their stance against any forms of inequality or prejudices.

Now, the state of the Muslims throughout the world is in disarray. Poverty, illiteracy and suppression of civil society are a few of the many challenges faced by the ummah. While the world environment and civilisation has changed and many people and countries have transformed and progress through the centuries, the Muslims conditions are worse than before.

We are embroiled in polemics, endless disagreements, civil wars and strifes. We forgot about past success that could inspire us to take new leads to improve the conditions of the ummah. We are, it seems, to be forever in a state of quagmire. Many Muslims like to speak about the past but we should not speak of the old glory days of Islam and do nothing about it and continue to fall back and rely on the great inventions of the past. We ought not hold on to practices and views of yesteryears that were suitable for a foregone era but instead make brave and bold ijtihad that can position our religion at the cutting edge of technology, science and philosophy.  It is most unfortunate to observe that most Muslim countries today are experiencing poor social and economic growth and are being left far behind compared to other nations. Why is this happening? Is it the religion? Is it the way it is being taught or practised?

I believe that the sad reality of the current Muslim world is a reflection of the state of individuals in our society today. Our Ummah now is weak and at a low ebb. We lack the tolerance to opinions that contradict ours and we are too reckless in rejecting differing views. We are too quick to criticise and too hurried in passing judgement. We amplify pettiness and trivialise substantive matters. Our tendency to remain simplistic makes us lax in thinking and prevent deep thinking in coming up with solutions. These negative traits are ingrained characteristics that have been holding back the Muslim community from making progress. If we want to reawaken the Ummah, we need to embark upon a paradigm shift in our thinking, in our philosophy, in our technology, in our behaviour.

Stop dwelling in issues of no significance and giving frivolous opinions on irrelevant matters. Start opening our minds by taking advantage of lessons derived from other great civilisations.  As advocated by the Quran, “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves” (Surah Ar-ra’d, verse 11).

The same holds true for Islamic finance. What has brought us this far would not guarantee success over the future.  History is rife with many examples of ideas, concepts and industries that were conceived or invented in one place but were perfected elsewhere and hence found a new thriving home far from those who had originally invented it. If we are not alert and maintain the disposition to preserve or conserve what has been established and traditional; these tendencies to limit change would become the norm.  This is dangerous as parochial thinking and dogmatism would be developed and bring development of Islamic finance to a standstill, preventing the industry to progress to a new level of excellence.

Islamic finance has grabbed the attention of many, including multinational financial institutions in London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong.  The IMF and the World Bank have allocated resources in the understanding and conducting of surveillance in the growth and application of Islamic finance.  If we do not innovate and expand the lead we have now, we may see a shift of activities and dynamism of Islamic finance to somewhere else.  And the centre of gravity for what has always been our claim to fame will drift away from us.
History has shown that the Islamic civilisation has only grown when conventional and mainstream thinking were challenged and the propositions of fresh ideas that were built upon research, science and logic were propounded. To ensure dynamism and progress, we should begin by throwing away disruptive habits of amplifying differences and staying away from being too rigid and too narrow mindedness. Instead, more focus should be directed to the commonalities and the need for our minds to remain open and expansive. We ought to stop our damaging behavior on amplifying differences that leads to disunity and instead focus on common good that bring us together.

In the context of Malaysia, Islamic finance presents vast opportunity for greater innovation to take place. Given our three decades of journey in developing Islamic finance, we should be confident enough to show leadership as our tireless efforts have brought the industry to the fore, increasingly making Islamic finance mainstream. But the skills and conceptual thinking that have pioneered our progress since the 1980s have most likely served its purpose.  In forging ahead, we require a new way of thinking that is totally divorced from the mainstream views of today.  Allow me to quote a hadith that may motivate us to undertake this calling; “He who introduced some good practice in Islamic which was followed after him (by people), he would be assured of reward like one who followed it”. (Narrated by Sahih Muslim)

From that perspective, the future will greatly reward people of courage whom are bold enough to envision outcomes that are exclusive from the contemporary thinking. Tonight, I would like to raise some viewpoints relating to a design thinking in nurturing talent in the Islamic finance industry which I hope would spark reassessment in talent development.

I will start with the first verse that was sent down to the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, that is Iqra (read). Are Muslims nowadays among the great readers? As the first revelation, this verse marks the importance of reading in the pursuit of knowledge. In Islam, people of knowledge are held in high esteem. But without useful knowledge, making progress is impossible. Students of Islamic finance are therefore expected to have the thirst and hunger for knowledge and strive to be great readers. Equally important is the mastery of knowledge in diverse fields of disciplines to ensure comprehensive understanding of relevant subjects to make Islamic finance complete.

In the ‘Lost Enlightenment’ by Frederick Starr, the glory of Central Asia as a leading Islamic civilisation during the years between 800 to 1200 was manifested by its leadership in the development of trade and economy; its cities that were renowned for their sheer size and sophistication; the refinement of its art and more importantly its pioneering knowledge in various fields.  The Muslims in Central Asians made significant breakthroughs in mathematics, astronomy, geology, medicine, chemistry, social sciences, philosophy, theology and music, just to name a few.

They were ahead of their time and could use unprecedented precision in calculating the earth’s diameter, and authored many books that became important references on European medicine later during the century. Their creativity also shone through their poetic works which are known to be some of the world’s greatest poetries. They even named algebra. It is astonishing that a scholar working in Afghanistan could even prophesize that North and South America would exist, ahead of Columbus by five centuries. It is impressive that such an elite league of polymaths had appeared within a similar era of history. It is of no surprise that their masterpieces could greatly influence the European culture, beginning from the period of St. Thomas Aquinas until the scientific revolution, with similar tremendous impact in India and majority of Asia.

It is in this spirit that our Islamic finance industry therefore needs a new cadre of Islamic finance developers whom are conversant not only in Shariah, but also in other related areas such as legal, economics, mathematics and finance. We need a group of scholars with multidisciplinary backgrounds whom have freed themselves from parochial thinking and straitjacketing. With diversity in knowledge, our talent in Islamic finance will possess an innate ability to mobilise the conceptual thinking propagated by various sects or Mazhabs in different Islamic schools of thought.

Let us take an example from Imam Al Nawawi, one of the distinguished Islamic scholars whose work has benefitted thousands of people. His great desire for learning has driven him to author more than 40 books ranging from hadith, theology and jurisprudence, in his mere 45 years of living.  If Imam Al Nawawi could write that many books of everlasting value in such a short period of lifetime, we should be capable of contributing more to the wealth of Islamic finance knowledge especially with greater access to information and technology at the present time. Unfortunately, it is sad to note that in the  Islamic finance education today, we are short of basic textbooks that can be used as reference materials.  Similarly, great works of yesteryears are not being translated.  Books by Al Tabari, the great historian were only translated into English in 2000, more than 1000 years after they were first authored.  Most Muslims, not conversant in Arabic, were not able to learn the lessons of history from a direct source. Instead, they have to rely on subsequent scholars for interpretations, views and opinions. This is in stark contrast where books authored by scholars and philosophies of great Muslims thinkers were translated into many languages and formed the basis for the advancement of other civilisations. 

Secondly, from great readers, great thinkers are born. Scholars of Islamic finance must not be passive, but active and courageous intellectuals that continuously strive for new breakthrough ideas.

For example, the calibre and prestige of the great scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah, was distinctive not only by the level of knowledge that far excelled from other scholars of his time, but also by his bravery, boldness and nobleness in his teaching,  through the issuance of legal verdicts and writing that expanded the boundaries of opinions. Together with his student Ibn Qayyim, they were known to be great thinkers and innovators, with vast knowledge and strong acquaintance with the differences in various mazhabs. During a time of strife and internal chaos, both great scholars were however regarded as heretics and I am sure were isolated and ostracised due to their unorthodox method of thinking and views. It was only many centuries later that their opinions were accepted and became mainstream and formed the basis of many modern Islamic finance contacts.

We need scholars and thinkers of such stature. Ones who possess the courage and the boldness to traverse beyond contemporary issues and accepted norms. For instance, the Malaysian Founding Fathers would not be able to position the country to where it is now without their bold and ‘outrageous’ vision.  They have boldly laid the building blocks for future generation and place the country at the forefront of developments. Similarly, we need to be bold and courageous in building the required foundation to lead Islamic finance into the future.  The future favors the bold. This adage is true and proven, and reflective of what we had embarked on to chart the growth of Islamic finance in the 1980s.

Thirdly, the talents that will serve the industry must also maintain strong values of ethics and integrity that portray the principled values of Islam. This includes practising mutual respect to differing schools of thought. The differences in the opinions of the various Mazhabs is a blessing to the people as the diverse opinions enable the needs of society to be met. It should not be a cause for division.  It should be a course of celebration in the pursuit of intellectual diversity.  Hence, the students of Islamic finance must appreciate the intellectual differences and value the flexibility within the variation of views. Nevertheless, it is important to note that acquiring profound understanding on the diversity of opinions is not the endpoint.  The criticality is in the application of the diversity.  As important is the determination to search for practical and universal solutions and take advantage of common grounds in dealing with these differences.

The ethical characters built through the Islamic value system must be translated and complemented with technical competency and supported by scientific practices. In adapting to the fast-paced developments in the world today, we need to supplement good moral judgement with practical and systematic approach that makes use of various theories and modelling. This is to prepare our talent in making inclusive decisions that are also based on quantitative valuation, on top of qualitative assessment.  Embedding modern tools and techniques into the teaching of Islamic finance should help towards meeting this objective.

In imparting these desired traits among the students of Islamic finance, the academia has a big role in setting the right intellectual climate to nurture visionary scholars. Ahead of admitting students, the universities that teach Islamic finance should first shift their mindset when measuring their key success indicators. The measure of effectiveness in an academia should not end at the point of students’ graduation but should extend beyond that mark to include students’ employability, their ability to contribute to practical and innovative solutions to the industry, and their impact to society at large.  Therefore, members of the academia should measure their success using indicators beyond the day their students graduated.

As an institution that is among the first to come into contact with our potential talent, universities have the privilege to mould future generations. To attract the brightest minds into the industry, universities should seek for quality talent as early as during student admission. Place high entry requirements for Islamic finance programmes to acquire the best brains for the industry. It is important to impose stronger quality controls at the entry points to capture outstanding talents with the right characteristics who have the potential to produce revolutionary ideas and philosophies. As Islamic finance is a relatively young sector, we need people who possess formidable intellectual capacity as change agents and leaders to move the industry into the millennium. 

Rethinking the fundamentals underlining the contemporary curriculum would be the catalyst for development of future Islamic finance education. With the aim to produce outstanding and multi-skilled graduates, the curriculum must strike a balance between academic learning and acquisition of important sets of expertise such as soft skills, agility, and the ability to articulate and sell ideas and strong problem solving ability.  There is also a need to upgrade and revamp existing curriculum to equip students with knowledge from diverse disciplines. This will train the students to develop the ability to loop all knowledge and wisdom of previous civilisations and contextualise issues in accordance with the needs of modern times. The comprehension of multiple languages is also useful to understand intimately the success of previous Islamic dominions in different lingos.  We want to mould and breed talents in Islamic finance that will become the great thinkers, great philosophers and great pioneers of the future. With these desired qualities ingrained in the curriculum structure, we will get to produce versatile and thinking talents that are highly sought after not only by the Islamic finance industry but by other fields as well. When it comes to quality, we need the IIUM graduates to be self-evident.

As we aspire to be the global leaders, universities of Islamic finance should also continuously improve their learning pedagogy that is cutting-edge and innovative.

 Take the example from Harvard Business School that adopts case study methods of learning to produce effective decision makers recognised by the market. MIT, on the other hand, embraces action learning to provide empirical understanding through real life business experiences. In shaping the best talent for Islamic finance, we must develop teaching methodology and strategies that are able to groom our students holistically. Our teaching methodologies must be diverse and current.  We must design an approach that transforms the education experiences of our students into the springboard for lifelong learning.

Lastly, we need to professionalise the industry to raise the calibre of Islamic finance talent. Through increased professionalism and ethics, we can promote talents that will preserve the integrity and sanctity of the Islamic finance profession.  IIUM can start this journey by adopting the professional standards advocated by the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals when developing the curriculum of its Islamic finance programmes in the future.  With the necessary accreditation by the Finance Accreditation Agency (FAA), the faculty can elevate the stature of its courses to form part of the students’ professional developments. Ultimately, the adoption of such standards will add to the prestige of this university as it reflects contemporary standards of the industries and in time attract more talented students to take Islamic finance as a vocation.

It is our responsibility as a collective to have the vision and courage to step our game to another level in our endeavor to build talent for the Islamic finance industry. We have a call to answer, and we must not be afraid to fully liberate our thinking and silos and break new grounds. The exceptional Islamic scholars in the past have shown us the way and they have well-exemplified the path we should embark on. It is only with guts, the heart and the burning desire and passion that we can create original ideas and undertake radical changes that would bring about greater transformation in our industry.

Islamic finance should be the leader, not a mere follower, not an adapter.
Islamic finance should be at the cutting edge, not conventional, not mainstream. Islamic finance should be the trailblazer, not a laggard or a straggler.

It is time for us to mould Islamic finance in a totally different light.