FACTBOX-Top Islamic finance scholars and their duties

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Sharia advisers are the gatekeepers of
the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry, issuing rulings on
whether financial products satisfy the religion's requirements.

As the industry grows, there are mounting calls to
streamline and boost the supervision of sharia scholars, who
are now regulated by a patchwork of national authorities and
standard-setting bodies.

Below are a list of the most active sharia scholars and the
main responsibilities of a sharia board: SHARIA SCHOLARS
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Number of positions Number of

at international corporate
Scholar organisations positions
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Shaikh Nedham Mohamed Saleh 6 72
Yacoubi
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Dr. Mohammad Daud Bakar 6 32
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Shaikh Dr. Abdul Satar Abdul- Karim Abu Ghuddah

5 72
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Dr. Ali Mohuddin Al'Qurra Daghi 5 26
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Sheikh Abdullah Sulaiman Al Manee'a 4 34
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Dr. Hussain Hamid Hassan 3 29
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Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani 3 14
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Dr. Mohamed Ali Elgari 3 62
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Dr. Ahmad Ali Abdulla 3 3
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Sheikh Mohamed Ali Al-Taskheri 3 1
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Source: Funds@Work DUTIES OF A SHARIA BOARD
**************************

* advising the board of directors on sharia-related
matters;

* reviewing and endorsing sharia-related policies and
guidelines;

* endorsing and validating relevant documentation for new
products and services,including contracts, agreements or other
legal documentation used in the Islamic financial institution's
business transactions;

* overseeing the computation and distribution of zakat
(tithes) and any other fund to be channelled to charity;

* assisting and advising relevant parties that serve the
Islamic financial institutions, such as its legal counsel,
auditor or other consultants, upon request;

* put on record, in written form, any opinion that it gives
on sharia-relatedissues

* adopt any sharia pronouncements/resolutions issued by the
central sharia body and address any arising issues. The central
sharia body is where the Islamic financial institution operates
within a jurisdiction where there is a central/national/highest
body that is mandated to issue sharia
pronouncements/resolutions for Islamic financial services
industry.

Qualifications/experience:

* sharia board members must have at least a bachelor's
degree from a recognised university in the sciences of sharia,
including Islamic transaction/commercial law (Fiqh
al-Muamalat), and an adequate understanding of finance in
general and Islamic finance in particular

* reasonable to expect sharia board members to have strong
skills in the philosophy of Islamic law (Usul al-Fiqh) and good
knowledge of written Arabic;

* highly recommended that sharia board members can converse
in English;

* preferably, only a sharia board member with at least
three years' experience of making sharia
pronouncements/resolutions, or at least four years'
postqualification experience in teaching or research in Islamic
finance, should be appointed as chairman of the sharia board.

* sharia board members must be of respectable character and
of good conduct, particularly in terms of honesty, integrity
and reputation in their professional business and financial
dealings.

Source: Islamic Financial Services Board

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(Reporting by Liau Y-Sing; Editing by Kim Coghill)