Some stakeholders of the Islamic Finance industry somehow believe that a Shariah scholar cannot sit on more than one Shariah board.

They have to confine themselves to only one bank or one company or one product.

And the argument is based on the assumption, perhaps an assumption that a Shariah scholar should observe the potential conflict of interest and for that they cannot be involved in more than one institution.

This is not my personal view, because Shariah scholars, their position and their function, is not much different from a lawyer, from an accountant and even an auditor.

If we can allow the lawyer, the accountant and the auditor to serve for more than one client, we have to allow the same for Shariah scholars.

Shariah scholars

After all, Shariah scholars do not involve in product selling and commercialization of the product.

They are needed to issue a fatwa, an opinion if you like and the same is being performed by the other professional bodies in the industry -the lawyers, which I mentioned, the accountants and the auditors.

The fact that a Shariah advisor is sitting on more than one Shariah board improve his ability to contribute more because he can learn from many other products and and practices and he can serve better.

Of course, my word of caution for Shariah scholars who are sitting on many Shariah boards, they have to observe the duty of skill, care, and diligence.

It doesn’t matter how many Shariah board do you have, at the end of the day you have to deliver what is expected of you at the highest level of performance and delivery.

This is what is important and not how many Shariah board do you have and do you serve, because at the end of the day, it is about the performance.

The doctors, the lawyers, accountants, and everyone in the professional community is expected to do more, of course they have to do more according to the highest standards in the industry.

If you are interested to get us to help you with Islamic finance consultancy and Shariah advisory, feel free to contact us. Our team are looking forward to grow your brand with Shariah compliance products and services.