At the kind invitation of His Excellency Dr. Yousef Al-Khalawi, the Secretary General of the Al-Baraka Forum for Islamic Economics, His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), participated in the Summit of the Al-Baraka Forum for Islamic Economics on Saturday and Sunday 18 and 19 of Rabi` al-Thani 1444H corresponding to 12 and 13 November 2022G, in the British capital, London.

His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Sano, during his opening speech at the summit, addressed the topic: “The importance of applying the mind for the advancement of the contemporary Islamic economy,” stressing that “The true religion celebrates the mind greatly, as it is the source of assignment, the source of thought, the source of creativity and innovation, and the reference for inspiration and guidance. The evidence of Shariah’s keen interest in the mind lies in the fact that it made preserving the mind one of the five legitimate purposes that the divine messages joined together to call for the necessity of preserving it, and protecting it from imbalance, because it is a necessary interest without which life cannot be straight (which are: the soul, religion, honor, reason, money). Therefore, using the mind, developing it, taming it, and elevating it is an Islamic principle that should not be disputed in its legitimacy and necessity. Rather, the understanding of the provisions of the Shariah in the Book, the Sunnah, and the narrations, all of this depends mainly on the necessity of applying the mind to reading, thinking, and contemplating”. His Excellency also clarified that “the right mind cannot in any way oppose the correct transfer from the Book and the Sunnah or reject it in any way, which means that what is thought to be a conflict between transfer and reason is nothing more than a contradiction between a corrupt reason and a sound transfer on the one hand, or between a corrupt transfer with a sound reason on the other hand. The corruption of transfer is evident in its being a weak or a fabricated transfer, as is the case in the weak or fabricated hadith, both of them are corrupt transfer that contradict the right mind; As for the corruption of reason, it is manifested in the mind not adhering to the foundations and controls that guide it when examining the transfer as inference or deduction, and it contradicts the methods of thinking and analysis that lead it to a good understanding of what is meant by the correct transfer.”

Based on this, His Excellency called on scientific and research institutions and centers in the world in general and in the Muslim world in particular to “give more attention and care for creative and critical thinking through the rational and courageous implementation of reason in texts on the one hand and in facts and developments on the other hand in order to elicit and produce integrated scientific ideas capable of advancing the Islamic economy in a comprehensive manner, and its transformation into a parallel human economy that produces economic knowledge, directs economic calamities, and contributes to building a global contemporary and influential human economy, away from all ideas that prohibit the implementation of the mind, and glorify imitation, repetition and consumption. The implementation of the mind today in order to build a creative Islamic economic thought that produces knowledge, and is not satisfied with consumption, but is creative in providing solutions and does not imitate existing ready-made solutions.” His Excellency concluded by saying that those in charge of the Islamic economy should provide all forms of moral and material support in order to promote creative thought and encourage creative researchers, and not pay attention to the apprehensions of those apprehensive about the use of reason, its employment, and its development so that it plays its desired role alongside the eternal divine revelation.

This summit is being held in London, United Kingdom, due to the promising prospects that this city enjoys in the field of Islamic finance, which made it the destination for the first global summit of the Al Baraka Forum in the European continent, where the summit focused on the issue of the smart economy based on knowledge, and the role of the Islamic economy in developing the knowledge of the individual and society and the need for independent, intelligent and specialized institutions in the Islamic economy, due to the importance of an analytical understanding of Islamic finance to help it grow and flourish globally, and the necessity of having intellectual institutions that raise global awareness of the Islamic economy in general.

It should also be noted that the Al Baraka Forum summit for this year is being held for the first time in Europe and was attended by a distinguished elite of international economic and intellectual pioneers, influencers and actors at the political, economic and social levels. During two days of deliberations and discussions, they exchanged opinions and ideas on all aspects of Islamic economics and Islamic finance and ways of developing them to keep pace with developments and various global challenges and providing alternative and innovative financial solutions stemming from Islamic Shariah.

In addition to His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy, the Forum was attended by Ms. Sarah Amjad Badewi, Director of the Department of Family and Women’s Affairs at the Academy, and Dr. AlHagi Manta Drammeh, Head of the International Cooperation and External Relations Division at the Academy.