...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

How it’s done:  A link on the site of this weekend’s sharia financing seminar in Toronto outlines the process a person must go through in order to get the sharia seal of approval for his/her financial service/product: 

Our clients send us a brief “premise document” describing the objectives, proposed contracts, methodology and economic impact of the services to be developed for initial review. 

IFAB prepares a Preliminary Shariah Assessment Report (PSAR) that identifies Shariah issues, weaknesses and strengths using a traffic light system of the proposed product and methodology.

The clients take the appropriate actions making revisions and amendments to their proposal ensuring Shariah compliance through addressing the concerns raised in the PSAR.

Once the document is revised by the client, it is discussed with the Board that scrutinizes it further to ensure that the product and its methodology is completely Shariah compliant. An Interim Shariah Report (ISR) is produced at this stage with comments from the advisors.

Once the Board gives a green light, the clients prepare legal documentation required for product development. After the legal documentation is completed, it is submitted to the Board for final approval. 

The final stage involves approval of the completed product and its structure by the Board that issues a Legal Ruling (Fatwa) on the basis of the information provided by the client.

The product is now ready to be introduced into the market with the necessary and complete documentation including the fatwa ensuring its compliance.

Audit

The Board undertakes the audit of Shariah-compliant service providers to ensure continued compliance over the life of the product.  The audits are conducted by specialized professionals and Shariah scholars either on a periodic basis, or on a per request basis.  The Board also partners with public accounting firms to provide audit of financial institutions under the guidelines issued by Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).

In future, the Board plans to develop a process of enforcement – audit of organizations and products with alleged non-compliant practices and products. (My emphasis)

Sounds like these guys are resolute, well-organized and have done their homework, and that the future of sharia-compliance in Canada is looking bright.

Posted by: scaramouche at 10:51 | link | comments

Comments: