F.P. Report
KARACHI: Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences, Hamdard University, in collaboration with BankIslami Pakistan on Monday, organized a seminar on Emerging Trends, Career Opportunities for Youth in Islamic Banking and Finance.
The Zeal Canada and Dolmen Group were co-sponsors, said a Hamdard University’s press release.
HIMS’s Associate Dean Prof Dr. Amir Adam said the seminar would play a key role in spreading awareness of the prohibition of riba (interest) in Islam and highlighted the injunction by Federal Shariat Court in its recent verdict on riba to do away with it completely in five years. The moderator and organizer of the event, Dr. Muhammad Wasie Fasih Butt said that this seminar was aimed to present holistic picture of Islamic finance ecosystem, forecasting its future trends, thus guiding the current finance students in choosing the right direction for their successful yet halal career path.
The seminar consisted for two sessions, one on emerging trends and career opportunities in Islamic Banking Institutions while the second one was about on the same theme in Islamic Non-Banking Financial Institutions.
Eminent scholars and practitioners from various leading financial institutions shared their views.
Chief guest, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (Shaikhul Hadith Jamia Darululoom Karachi and Chairman Shariah Board, MBL) addressed the seminar through dedicated audio message and advised University students and madressa graduates to acquire in-depth knowledge of Islamic finance and admired the universities providing related degree programmes. President and CEO of BankIslami Syed Amir Ali endorsed the theme of seminar, saying Muhammad bin Qasim (the great Muslim general) entered Sindh by using modern technology of that time. He stressed on how the Muslims led the world for hundreds of years with advancement in technology and economic system along with their spiritual power. He emphasized on designing more technology based customer friendly products in Islamic banks.
He encouraged the students to take benefit from “Deen Connect” app launched by Bank Islami in Feb, 2021 as a free of cost Islamic awareness program aimed at assisting all Muslims – both customers and non-customers – in acquiring knowledge of Islam in an easy and convenient manner at their own pace and space.
Amir congratulated the management of Hamdard University, his alma mater, for organizing this awareness session.
Shariah Advisor of EFU Life Hemaya Takaful Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Essa motivated the students to chose halal source of earning as directed by Holy Quran in various verses.
He stressed on the need to inculcate the concept of “Imdade Bahimi” (mutual cooperation) in the youth through education. He commented that Takaful demands a totally different mindset from its policy-holders as compared to conventional insurance.
An individual contributes to the pool of takaful to create a fund that can potentially facilitate all those experiencing financial crisis at any point in time.
On the other hand, a conventional insurance policy is purchased as personal financial security for a person, he added.
The primary difference between Insurance and Takaful was that the former is a risk-transfer model, where the latter was a risk-sharing model, he claimed.
In terms of career opportunities, takaful industry was a great place to start and excel as every student meeting a very basic criteria can join the sales team, he concluded.
Raheel Qamar Ahmad, Chairman NBFI and Modaraba Association of Pakistan and CEO of OLP Modaraba briefed about the role of the association and current market dimensions of Islamic finance industry.
He expressed that Islamic finance was attractive for non-Muslims due to the fair treatment towards all parties.
The products within Islamic finance were client specific and designed in ways
to meet the needs of all stakeholders.
He predicted that the upcoming trends of Islamic finance are enshrined in digitization and product innovation as per the growing requirements of clientele to have halal income.
He welcomed all fresh graduates to the Islamic finance industry with his
closing remarks “learn Islamic Finance and believe in it.”
Chairman National Platform for Housing Research (NPHR) and Naya Pakistan Housing Task Force Zaigham Mahmood Rizvi gave a comprehensive presentation on the difference between Islamic and conventional banking stating conventional banking was not banking.
He admired the untiring efforts of Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani and of Irfan Siddiqui , CEO of Meezan Bank in laying foundation of Islamic banking in Pakistan.
Ahmad Khan, CEO and Co-founder of The Zeal Corporation (Canada) introduced a very unique career path in Islamic finance.
His synopsis was on emergence ‘The Zeal’ as a leading trusted global solution provider offering world-class equity investment screening, data analytics, and related
financial services as per Shariah and ethical guidelines.
The Zeal Pakistan would soon start providing financial and capital market data (annual and quarterly reports and related data) both as reported and standardized data and Stock price history data (USA and Pakistan data is ready for the market).
He advised the students to equip themselves with IT and Islamic financial knowledge for their future careers. (APP)
