Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance

Durham Islamic Finance Summer School 2024 - 29th July-2nd August 2024

What a wonderful week…

Another exciting and successful Durham Islamic Finance Summer School (DIFSS) has been completed.

The intensive programme included 23 sessions and workshops covering foundational issues to contemporary practices in Islamic banking, finance and capital markets and product development as well as sukuk and fintech workshops. Special sessions focusing on Islamic fintech offerings and sustainable development were another strength of DIFSS 2024, responding to market developments.

DIFSS 2024 hosted 67 delegates who travelled from 25 different countries with various professional and academic backgrounds, including bankers and financiers, legal persons, regulators, public policymakers, politicians, and professional and academic researchers. Thanks to the faculty and the delegates, the interactive nature of DIFSS 2024 was commendable.

Thank you to our delegates for making DIFSS 2024 a success. Their support is our strength, and their positive comments will motivate us for the future. It has been amazing to meet each and every one of them, each with a different story and linkage to Islamic finance.

We are grateful to our faculty, who delivered the sessions and conducted the workshop, who are leading individuals in their specialised fields with outstanding professional and educational acumen. Being the professionals directly in the ‘kitchen of Islamic finance’ who have been contributing to the development of Islamic finance offerings and institutionalisation, their contribution has been an essential factor for the success of DIFSS over the years.

Our faculty included: Iqbal Khan, H.E. Yousef Khalawi, Mahmoud Mohieldin, Zulkifli Hasan, Maszlee Malik, Omar Oseni, Stealla Cox, Kamran Sherwani, Habib Ahmed, Hylmun Izhar, Wael Eid, , Iqbal Asaria, Shaher Abbas, Farrukh Raza, Mohammed Kroessin, Omar Sheikh, Shehab Marzban, Khaled Howladar, and Zurina Shafii.

I am most grateful to our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Karen O’Brien for her opening remarks, which reflected on the Islamic finance industry, the UK position on Islamic finance and concluding with Durham University’s history and future in Islamic economics and finance.

Durham’s story in Islamic economics and finance will continue to impact knowledge and practice development.

We are looking forward to DIFSS 2025 in July 2025. Watch the space!

Durham Islamic Finance Summer School 2022
25th-29th July 2022

Join us to benefit from this unique opportunity set in the forefront of Islamic finance education institution situated in one of the most beautiful parts of England, Durham

https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/islamic-economics-and-finance/durham-islamic-finance-summer-school/


We are back!

Durham Islamic Finance Summer School (DIFSS) has become an essential learning and training programme in the Islamic Finance event diary for current and aspiring Islamic finance professionals and academics. Since 2006, many banking and financial professionals as well as academic and professional researchers from all over the world have benefited from and enjoyed the programme.

DIFSS 2022 will take place on 25th – 29th July 2022 at the Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance, Durham University Business School, Durham University, UK; accommodation is available at the University College (Hatfield College).

For registration, please follow this link (https://www.dur.ac.uk/conference.booking/details/?id=17222) (please go to the end of the page to locate Book on this event).

The sessions will include:
An Introduction to Islamic Finance
Islamic Finance and Sustainable Development
Islamic Fintech and Islamic Digital Economy
Venture Capital and Fintech in the Context of Islamic Finance
Product Development Process in Islamic Financial Institutions
Sukuk Structuring Workshop
Profit Distribution: Working Mechanism and Challenges faced by Islamic Banks and Islamic Windows
Risk Management in Islamic Financial Institutions Workshop
Liquidity Management Practices in Islamic Financial Institutions
Corporate & Shariah Governance in Islamic Financial Institutions
Islamic Social Welfare Institutions and Socio-Economic Development
Dynamics of Halal Markets
Emerging Shari’ah Issues in Islamic Finance Practice
The Islamic Finance Industry’s Next Frontier: Inclusive Economies, Institutions, and Finance

You may like to watch our introductory video on DIFSS by clicking on the screen below or alternatively by following the link below.


Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sf-qChDNeg
For further information, please email to: [email protected]

Looking forward meeting at the DIFSS 2022.

Durham Islamic Finance Summer School A one-week course aimed at financiers and bankers working in, or those who wish to enter, the Islamic financial market, covering the principles, operations, ...

Dear Colleagues, I am pleased to inform you that our Report, The Role of Islamic Finance in Supporting Microenterprises and SMEs Against COVID-19, commissioned by COMCEC (the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), has just been launched after the meetings of the OIC country ministers. The report examines five case studies (Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Russia and Senegal) along with presenting the results of a survey as well as providing the foundational discussion on the subject matter and developing recommendations to help the Islamic banking and finance industry as well as the regulators to develop the necessary MSMEs friendly structures, capabilities and capacities. We hope that the Report will contribute to the development of Islamic financing opportunities and new institutional forms and Islamic product development for MSMEs, which are the backbone of any economy.

The research team was led by Professor Mehmet Asutay and coordinated by Dr Mucahit Ozdemir.

Dr Mucahit Ozdemir, Lecturer in Islamic Finance, Department of Islamic Economics and Finance, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey (Russia case study – Section 4.6)
Professor Zu’bi Al-Zu’bi, Director of Development and Special Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (Jordan case study – Section 4.3)
Dr Nur Dhani Hendranastiti, Lecturer and Researcher in Islamic Finance, Department of
Management, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia (Indonesia case study – Section 4.2)
Mr Lamine Mbacke, Chairman, Managing Director, African Institute of Islamic Finance (AIIF)
Advisory and Training, Dakar, Senegal (Senegal case study – Section 4.5)
In addition to leading and coordinating the entire project and developing the foundational sections,
Professor Mehmet Asutay and Dr Mucahit Ozdemir jointly developed and wrote the Kuwait case study (Section 4.4).
The research team is grateful to all the interviewees for their contribution to this study in relation to the case studies by allocating their valuable time in imparting their expert opinions. We are also grateful to those colleagues for kindly completing the survey.
Here is the link to download the Report: http://ebook.comcec.org/Kutuphane/Icerik/ac185b1d-28f8-4188-b6a7-377ed54bd382.pdf

ebook.comcec.org

Dear Colleague,
This survey aims to analyse the opinions of the distinguished participants about the potential and current role of Islamic finance in supporting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic in their resident countries. The views are expected to provide valuable contribution to developing policies for the ongoing project supported by the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Your answers to the questions in the survey will be kept confidential and will be used purely for scientific purposes. In the questionnaire, the name of the person and the institution they work for, will not be specified. Please do not, therefore, specify your name in any part of the survey.
This survey consists of two parts. The first part includes questions prepared to obtain descriptive information about the respondent; the second part consists of questions directed to determine your views and opinions about the research topic.
Thank you for your contribution in advance.

https://research.typeform.com/to/m22cHGtD

COVID19_Islamic Finance Turn data collection into an experience with Typeform. Create beautiful online forms, surveys, quizzes, and so much more. Try it for FREE.

Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance
Online Seminar Series:

Wednesday, 19th May 2021 at 14:30 (UK Time)

The Islamic Waqf (Trust):
Instrument of Unequal Security, Worldly and Otherworldly

by

Professor Timur Kuran
Professor of Economics and Political Science and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies, Department of Economics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

Registration Link for the Seminar
https://durhamuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAkf--tqz0pHdGPIcMmzNgjPuqy_Whehpub

Abstract:
The Islamic Waqf (Trust): Instrument of Unequal Security, Worldly and Otherworldly
Fatih Serkant Adıgüzel, Duke University & Timur Kuran, Duke University

Until the modernizing reforms of the 19th century, the Islamic waqf played a massive role in the economy of the Middle East, the Balkans, and North Africa. Formally, it was a trust founded by an individual; income from the endowed assets financed designated services in perpetuity. The largest waqfs were established by members of high officials of the ruling dynasty to provide social services now supplied by municipalities or charitable corporations. These Islamic “state waqfs” have been the focus of case studies that make the waqf seem mainly a supplier of public goods. Using an original data set consisting of Istanbul waqf deeds from 1457-1923, this paper explores the functions of Islamic “regular waqfs”—waqfs founded either by elites below the top echelon or by commoners. The typical regular waqf had a relatively modest endowment and architectural footprint. In a setting characterized by weak property rights and legal system that favored males, Muslims, and state officials, it was established principally to provide material security to its founder and his or her descendants. Providing public goods was not among its major functions; neither was assisting the poor. Founders belonging to a disadvantaged group, including women, were especially likely to prioritize wealth sheltering. Regular waqfs thus served to perpetuate prevailing worldly inequalities through material security to the wealthy. They also aimed to create inequalities in the hereafter. Their major functions included financing prayers to expiate the sins of founders and their families.

Paper Download:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3836060
Biography:
https://sites.duke.edu/timurkuran/
Timur Kuran is Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His research focuses on (1) economic, political, and social change, with emphases on institutions and preferences, and (2) the economic and political history of the Middle East, with a focus on the role of Islam.
His current projects include a study of the role that the Middle East’s traditional institutions played in its poor political performance, as measured by democratization and human liberties. Among his publications are Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification (Harvard University Press), Islam and Mammon: The Economic Predicaments of Islamism (Princeton University Press), and The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East (Princeton University Press), all translated into multiple languages. He is also the editor of the tri-lingual, ten-volume compilation, Socio-Economic Life in Seventeenth-century Istanbul: Glimpses from Court Records (İş Bank Publications).
After graduating from Robert Academy in Istanbul in 1973, Kuran went on to study economics at Princeton University (AB 1977) and Stanford University (PhD 1982). Between 1982 and 2007 he taught at the University of Southern California. He was also a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the John Olin Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, and a visiting professor of economics at Stanford University.
He currently directs the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS); edits a book series for Cambridge University Press, Economics, Choice and Society; co-edits the Journal of Comparative Economics; and serves on numerous editorial boards.

Timur Kuran | Professor at Duke University. Studies economic & political development, Middle East, Islam. Home Timur Kuran is Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. His research focuses on (1) economic, political, and social change, with emphases on institutions and preferences, and (2) the economic and political history of the Mi...