As the concept of Islamic banking Islamic grows, banks following the system were urged to establish “permanent fatwas” instead of temporary ones, organizers of the two-day 31st session of “Al-Baraka Symposium for Islamic Economics” that starts today (Wednesday) said in a statement ahead of the meeting. The initiative was taken in the light of increasing number of Islamic financial institutions along with the growing volume of their assets and deposits, and the consequential interest of many international institutions supporting Islamic banking. The symposium, which is being organized annually during the holy month of Ramadan by Al-Baraka Banking Group, would review some banking issues that have surfaced at the Islamic and international levels. They would be discussed from the Shariah and technical aspects by an elite group of Ulama (religious scholars) and jurists at the Islamic and international levels. They will be joined by a number of experts in the field of finance, banking business and Islamic financing with the objective of arriving at a set recommendations and religious edicts (fatwas) that would contribute in further enriching and guiding Islamic banking. It was also expected that the agreed points would help in the effective solutions to the problems facing the practical applications of Islamic banking system. The symposium would also focus on designing Islamic financial tools that would clarify and overcome the nuisances arising from the growth Islamic financial institutions. The problems include, among others, the issue of liquidity in the absence of a joint plan among Islamic banks for cooperation and integration among themselves, and the availability of investment opportunities based on professional feasibility studies as well as liquidation of investments when needed. The symposium is under the patronage of Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdullah Kamel, chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Baraka Banking Group and of the Federation of Islamic Banks. In the previous symposia, the fatwas and recommendations issued by the Al-Baraka Symposium for Islamic Economics have become a scientific reference and a database that guide research and fatwas issued by Shariah authorities for banks and Islamic financing institutions, Fiqh academies and different organizations and commissions worldwide. They are also considered to be a source for the establishment of Islamic business bodies and organizations.
