Badlisyah Abdul Ghani's "Syariah Scholar Wannabes"

This article by Badlisyah Abdul Ghani is taken from Free Malaysia Today here.  My comments are in blue.

Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer

KUALA LUMPUR: The Islamic financial market globally has been invaded by syariah scholar wannabes and they are destroying it from the inside out.

While this is a strong statement, it is one which I have made many times in open conferences and many would agree with me. However, like so many other issues in Islamic finance, most prefer to keep such opinions to themselves.

Many real and qualified syariah scholars have lamented about this in private and some in public but most times, like the Malay proverb, “Ibarat mencurah air ke daun keladi”, the lamentation goes unheeded.

These syariah scholar wannabes have infiltrated Islamic banks at the highest level of decision-making bodies – the board of directors, the syariah committee and the senior management – dictating what cannot be done without due consideration to stakeholders value, which at times resulted in the overnight dismantlement of businesses that took years to build.

They have infiltrated financial regulators and syariah governing bodies and exerted unnerving and disastrous influence on industry regulatory frameworks and policies in many jurisdictions, causing Islamic finance to fail its function as a public good to facilitate optimum financial inclusion for the general populace or the Ummah, particularly Muslims. As a result, the industry becomes a non-starter in many jurisdictions until today.

They have infiltrated many institutions of higher learning and distorted the teaching of syariah and its application in commerce or Muamalat, especially in Islamic finance, by imposing their personal opinion and biasness in their teachings.

This weakens the very foundation of the industry from the inside out as they train the industry’s workforce.

Those that provide distorted shariah application in Islamic finance have also written many books and presented many papers, putting themselves as the industry’s authority although most of them have never done a single Islamic banking and finance business themselves. They have a tendency to make prohibition on what has never been expressly prohibited in the Quran and Hadith, such as debt.

There have been instances where they have changed the meaning of Quranic verses and Hadith to suit their arguments and define established shariah principles differently, such as defining “Bai” or “Bay” as risk sharing instead of its true meaning, sale.

Syariah is simple

Considering that most of them are excellent orators and have a stronger command of English than most qualified syariah scholars, many people are easily persuaded and influenced by what they say. I believe that even if we call ourselves an Islamic economist, Islamic accountant, Islamic banker, Islamic journalist or whatever with an Islamic prefix, we are still just an economist, accountant, banker, journalist and so on.  We are not syariah experts.

We have to accept that we cannot be a syariah expert by simply learning about syariah as a single subject or module in our higher education programmes.  Being a syariah expert or a scholar certainly requires a different kind of training.

I have never referred to myself as a syariah expert nor have I ever allowed people to think that I am one. I have my opinions. My opinions may be legitimate under syariah and I can appear to come out very strong on it but I have never and would never impose them on others as an authority of syariah.

Of course to be fair, most people in the industry are just like me, someone who knows syariah from self-learning and on-the-job training and rely on real qualified shariah scholars to guide us on syariah matters in the industry.

However, there are some that truly takes the cake and present themselves as a syariah scholar to the extent of installing themselves as members of the syariah scholars’ fraternity although they have no qualification to be one.

The reality of Islamic finance is that syariah is simple but it is the people, particularly the syariah scholar wannabes, that make it difficult.  - End


My comments : Wow Badlishah ! What a choice of words. Let me list some of the things that Badlishah has said about these so called Islamic banking 'experts':

• they are destroying it from the inside out.
• without due consideration to stakeholders value
• resulted in overnight dismantlement of businesses 
• unnerving and disastrous influence on industry 
• causing Islamic finance to fail its function 
• prohibition on what has never been expressly prohibited in the Quran
• industry becomes a non-starter in many jurisdictions
• distorted the teaching of syariah
• biasness in their teachings
• weakens the very foundation of the industry
• distorted shariah application in Islamic finance
• they have changed the meaning of Quranic verses  
• truly takes the cake and present themselves as a syariah scholar
• syariah scholar wannabes, (who) make it difficult

Well Badlishah, I dont want to explode your helium balloon but there is no such thing as Islamic banking in the first place. I have said this again and again. Which is why you are saying all the things that you are saying now.  

Just like the ostat and the jihadists you too are fighting because the whole thing is just made up - imaginary. You are trying to slay each others imaginary pet unicorns. Get a real life bro - these things simply dont exist. 

Err when you speak of those who are fluent in English, by any chance are you referring to INCEIF  (that Islamic finance education centre or something). I hear they have a Mat Salleh as the CEO now. 

When you say that they have a tendency to make a "prohibition on what has never been expressly prohibited in the Quran" it means they have elevated themselves to the status of little gods. The Quran speaks about such people :

Surah 16:116 "You shall not utter lies with your own tongues stating: "This is HALAL, and this is HARAM" to fabricate lies and attribute them to Allah. Surely, those who fabricate lies and attribute them to Allah will never succeed".

Which is why Badlishah is complaining now that Islamic banking is not succeeding. I repeat what he said :  "As a result, the industry becomes a non-starter in many jurisdictions until today."  Ini bukan saya cakap. Dia yang cakap. Jangan marah saya ok.

Badlishah also says that these syariah scholars "have changed the meaning of Quranic verses".  Well the Quran speaks about these people too :

Surah 2:79  "Therefore, woe to those who distort the scripture with their own hands, then say, "This is what Allah has revealed," seeking a cheap material gain. Woe to them for such distortion, and woe to them for their illicit gains."

They twist their tongues and fabricate things with their hands and say 'this is also from Allah, this is from the Rasul, this is Islamic' etc. They do nothing but tell lies. That is why they are so screwed up.

I beg to differ about syariah experts. There are no such persons. I have yet to come across any shariah expert. Even from the past. 

Anyway what does Badlishah's long complaint really mean? It means that there is no certainty about Islamic banking. That is what it means. 

Its his view versus the wannabe scholars' views. The wannabes are saying, 'ini tak boleh, itu tak boleh, ini haram, itu haram' etc.  What Badlishah is saying is "semua boleh pakai, semua boleh terima".  How do you run a business like Islamic banking with so much uncertainty? 

Bank Islam ala Badlishah  will say, 'our housing loan can be prepaid even without penalty'.  Bank Islam ala Syed Mokhtar may say, 'we dont call it housing loan, it is a buy and sell'. 

How is the public going to make a decision - which Islamic Bank is more halal? Badlishah punya ke, Syed Mokhtar punya ke, Syed Akbar punya ke? How are you even going to open for business every morning?  

In business or in doing anything at all, certainty is crucial. We must be sure and certain about what we are doing.  Our customers and clients (the marketplace) demand it of us. 

We cannot tell the market, 'we are Islamic banking. Like this also can, like that also can, this one is halal here, not halal there, that one is haram there, not haram here". That will cause uncertainty and chaos.  You cannot run any business based on uncertainty.

The Quran says "The earth is full of signs for those who are certain" Surah 51:20.  

You must be certain about what you say and do. If you are uncertain, it means you are jahil bro. As simple as that. After 1,400 years of Islam, still fighting about what is halal and haram in banking. The non-Muslim ummah in the rest of the world (yes they are also ummah) has reached the planet Mars and you are still fighting about what is right and wrong in Islamic banking.  

I dont know how long it is going to take the Islamic bankers to realise that bank interest by itself is not part of riba. Riba refers to profiteering, excessive profits many times over the cost.  Buying something for RM1.00 then selling it for RM10.00 is definitely excess profiteering. 

But it is up to the market to weed out excessive profiteering by creating healthy competition. Free markets and healthy competition will weed out riba profiteering.  This is why there is no punishment for "riba" in the Quran. It is not something that you can easily isolate or quantify.

Islamic banking also suffers that perpetual problem - how do you price your Islamic banking products. The conventional banks charge 8% per annum interest on a housing loan. How will the Islamic bank derive its "profit rate" to be levied on the same house buyer?  At the end of the day, the Islamic bank also charges 8% profit rate per annum.

A spade is a spade bro, no matter what you label it.