At the kind invitation of the International Islamic Center for Reconciliation and Arbitration in the United Arab Emirates, H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, participated on Thursday and Friday, 26 and 27 Jumada Al-Ula 1446, corresponding to 28 and 29 November 2024, in an international conference on “Evolution of Codification in Islamic Finance: the UAE Model and Experience” in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

H.E. Dr. Rami Suleiman Abu Daqqa, Secretary General of the International Islamic Center for Reconciliation and Arbitration, delivered a speech in which he welcomed the patron of the conference and the participants of the conference, and he invited H.E. Mr. Abdullah bin Tuwaiq Al-Muri, the Patron of the Conference and Minister of Economy of the UAE, to deliver the opening speech of the Conference, in which he summarized the UAE’s efforts in the field of codification of Islamic financial transactions and referred to several Islamic financial transactions that have been codified and become part of the UAE’s legal system, stressing the country’s determination to continue to move forward in codifying Islamic financial transactions as a model. H.E. Prof. Jassim Ali Salem Al Shamsi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center, delivered a speech in which he referred to the Center’s continuous efforts in the field of legalization of financial transactions during the past period and expressed the Board’s keenness to cooperate with various institutions and centers inside and outside the UAE in the field of codification of Islamic financial transactions.

H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the Academy, then delivered a speech in which he began by expressing his thanks to the leadership and people of the UAE for the support, development and progress of Islamic finance, noting that the excellent models of codified financial transactions presented by the Minister of Economy are a clear proof and confirmation of its success and this Fiqh renewal. He concluded his speech by expressing his thanks and appreciation to the International Islamic Centre for Reconciliation and Arbitration for organizing this important conference, praising the efforts of the Centre under the leadership of H. E. Dr. Rami Sulaiman, Secretary General of the Centre, and the support of the members of the Board of Trustees of the Centre, including his dear friend H. E. Prof. Jassim Ali Salem Al Shamsi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and expressed his firm expectation to strengthen the cooperation, partnership and coordination between the Academy and the Center in various fields, especially in the codification of financial transactions.

After the ceremony, the Secretary General chaired the second session on “Codification of Islamic Financial Transactions Regionally and Globally: Reality and Challenges. In this session, H.E. Dr. Yasser Al Hosani, Director General of the Sharjah Center for Islamic Economy, reviewed the efforts to codify financial transactions in the GCC countries, and H.E. Mr. Mukhtar Abdullah, CEO of the Foundation of Shariah Advisors in Islamic Finance, spoke about the efforts to codify financial transactions in Southeast Asian countries and Malaysia as a model, and H.E. Dr. Abdul Hannan Alissa, an international legal consultant and arbitrator, reviewed the most prominent Islamic financial transaction laws in the Middle East and North Africa.

The Secretary General of the Academy emphasized that the legal basis for codification in general and the codification of financial transactions in particular can be summarized by several Fiqh maxims, the most important of which are the rule that “the rulings of the ruler are subject to general benefits” and “the rulings of the ruler eliminate disagreements”. These two maxims establish the legitimacy of codification by considering it as a preference for one of the opinions in a jurisprudential issue and obliging the subjects to act in accordance with the chosen opinion to achieve the purpose of maintaining the balance and welfare of the Ummah in accordance with the duty of obedience to the “ruler”: In other words, “codification is a matter of the ruler choosing an opinion on an ijtihad issue and then making this chosen opinion binding on the subjects, based on the fact that this opinion is an opinion whose action brings benefit or prevents harm. The subjects must obey the ruler in what he has chosen, by following this opinion and working with it, and avoiding breaking such rules”.

At the end of the session, the Secretary General stressed the Academy’s readiness to present the recommendations of the conference at the next session in Qatar. He presented a copy of the book of resolutions and recommendations to H.E. Abdullah bin Tawq Al Murri, Minister of Economy, and H.E. Prof. Jassim Ali Salem Al Shamsi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Center, who in turn presented him with a medal of honor.