Mufti Ismail Ebrahim Desai, one of South Africa’s leading Islamic finance scholars, has joined Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance in Dubai as a Shariah Advisor. Mufti Desai joins Ethica’s Shariah team of Sheikh Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, Mufti Zubair Usmani, and Sheikh Ashraf Muneeb. Ethica is the Islamic finance training and certification institute that helps professionals find Islamic banking jobs and launch careers in Islamic finance.
The highest accreditation in Islamic finance is a fatwa, or expert legal opinion, and Mufti Desai’s role will be to review Ethica’s training, certification, and advisory documentation to provide fatwas on its authenticity. Central to this review process will be to ensure that Ethica’s Islamic finance training and certification follows the industry’s most widely accepted and stringent standards, AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions), the de facto standard in 90% of the world’s Islamic finance jurisdictions.
Mufti Desai said, “It gives me great pleasure to join Ethica, the industry’s most trusted name in Islamic finance certification. To be part of the approval process, to deliver Islamic finance training, and to ensure that professionals can turn to a reliable and standardized certification, is the very essence of what makes Islamic finance actually Islamic. Millions of South Africans – and millions more around the world – lack a basic understanding of Islamic finance and it is my hope to help bridge this knowledge gap with Ethica.”
“We are deeply grateful to have retained one of the industry’s leading scholars for Islamic finance training and certification. Mufti Desai brings extensive practical experience structuring sukuks, setting up funds, and monitoring stocks around the world. We look forward to having Ethica’s community of Islamic finance professionals benefit from his wide-ranging expertise,” said Ethica’s spokesperson.
Mufti Desai currently serves as Shariah Advisor to various Islamic financial institutions and educational institutes around the world including Ideal Ratings, Southern African Consultant, Infinity Consultants, Centre for Advanced Islamic Economics, and a number of Islamic investment firms and real estate funds. Mufti Ismail has developed various Shariah auditing, governance and risk management standards for Islamic financial institutions and has issued several hundred expert legal opinions (fatwas) with a special focus on Islamic finance and economics.