KUALA LUMPUR - The engagement between Maqasid al-Syariah and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is significant to empower the Islamic finance, says Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar.
He said the engagement was needed to empower communities through targeted funding based on measurable outcomes.
"We need to ensure that we develop mechanisms to measure our progress against our goals. The Islamicity Index is an interesting example.
"It shows several critical goals that we should be aiming for based on several human development parameters,” he said.
Noh made the suggestions following several new emerging challenges that came along with the developments in Islamic finance due to not only the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the climate change which were the outcomes of the global financial paradigm.
The new development and challenges, he said were like opportunities to incorporate the perspective of beliefs in the financial discourse.
"Hence, the Islamic financial institution’s vision and mandate need to be properly evaluated so that countries can be supported in undertaking the transformative agenda.
"Another development worth mentioning is the increase in the issuance of green sukuk (bond), as seen in Malaysia and several other countries. These are not large issuance, but still good beginnings.
"We have to embed Maqasid al-Syariah into the design of sukuk to ensure that they can fulfil their objectives,” he said.
He said this when officiating the 4th International Syariah Scholars Roundtable (iSHAR) 2022, hosted by Bank Rakyat in partnership with the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (Inceif) and Derasat for Research and Consulting Islamic Banking (Derasat), at Grand Hyatt Hotel, here, today.
This roundtable involved more than 35 prominent Syariah scholars and leading experts from Malaysia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Algeria.
Apart from the iSHAR, this event also witnessed the exchange of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between Bank Rakyat, Inceif, Derasat and the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) which possessed areas of expertise and knowledge in the Islamic banking and finance industry.
Noh said he hoped that this initiative will succeed internationally and will obtain more input from the iSHAR 2022.
Asked about Selangor Barisan Nasional's (BN) preparation for the 15th General Election (GE15) and if the election would be held during the monsoon season, he said he has no comments.