- Members of the Sharia Supervisory Board
- Sharia Supervision Department (Sharia Controller)
- Sharia Supervisory Board at SHARQ Yemeni Bank for Islamic Microfinance
Sharia Supervisory Board at the Bank
Since their inception, banks and financial institutions have been the backbone of global economies. “Islamic Banks” have proven to everyone that Islam is not just a religion of worship in the mosque, but a religion of work and conduct as well. It encompasses economic rules that enable it to build a strong Islamic economy that stands as a competitor to prevailing global economic systems.
The experience of Islamic banks and financial institutions globally, and in Yemen specifically, is relatively modern, emerging over a century after the birth of banks in their modern sense. Sharia supervision models began to coincide with the rise of Islamic banking in the 1970s. Sharia Supervisory Boards have kept pace with the growth and development of the Islamic banking and financial institution movement, fulfilling the role of issuance of fatwas (religious rulings) and Sharia oversight, despite the varying banking, legal, and jurisprudential environments in which Islamic banks have operated.
Sharia Supervisory Board at SHARQ Yemeni Bank for Islamic Microfinance
Based on a resolution by the Board of Directors of SHARQ Yemeni Bank for Islamic Microfinance, the Sharia Supervisory Board was appointed by the General Assembly, ensuring it remains completely independent from the bank’s management, with no entity within the bank having any authority over it of any kind.
The General Assembly, representing all bank shareholders, selected three members for the Sharia Supervisory Board from among esteemed scholars and specialists in Islamic finance, who have made significant contributions to:
Studying the bank’s transactions and activities and issuing necessary rulings regarding them.
Monitoring the decisions issued by it in all internal and external bank operations.
Developing formats and contracts in light of the provisions of Islamic Sharia.
Spreading awareness of the Islamic economy inside and outside the bank.
Developing methods and means necessary to execute various tasks.
Framework of the Sharia Supervisory Board for SHARQ Yemeni Bank for Islamic Microfinance:
Achieving the bank’s commitment to Sharia provisions and principles.
Creating Sharia-approved formats, contracts, and templates, and ensuring that the design of systems, forms, records, cards, etc., is done in accordance with the provisions and principles of Islamic Sharia.
Enriching the jurisprudence of financial transactions by developing known formats and introducing new formats and products, and developing research in the Islamic economy and Islamic banking work.
Obligating bank employees to adhere to Sharia provisions required to be observed in Islamic banking activity, while contributing to the qualification and training of employees.
Reassuring the public dealing with the bank and others about the legitimacy of the activity carried out by Islamic banks and financial institutions.
Board Meetings:
The Sharia Fatwa and Supervisory Board holds at least 12 meetings per year. In these meetings, topics on the Board’s meeting agenda are discussed, most notably:
Approving and amending banking contracts, terms, and templates related to investment formats and banking operations.
Responding to inquiries received regarding transactions according to the investment formats applied at the bank.
Approving annual profit distribution, and proposing and developing banking products compatible with the tolerant Sharia, including solutions to problems related to liquidity, debt default, or the investment and employment of frozen funds due to the country’s situation.
Making decisions and issuing fatwas and recommendations aimed at regulating the dealings of executive management in a way that enhances the entrenchment of banking practices according to the provisions and controls of Islamic Sharia at all supervisory and executive levels of the bank.
Members of the Sharia Supervisory Board at the Bank
Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim Aidarous
Member and Secretary of the Board and Sharia Controller
Tasks and Description of the Sharia Controller
Sharia Controller:
The link or bridge between the Sharia Board on one hand and the executive departments of the bank on the other.
Appointment of the Sharia Controller:
A qualified cadre is appointed as the bank’s Sharia Controller, possessing knowledge—even if basic—of science and practical experience in Sharia contracts, investment and banking business, and economic systems. They are appointed by the Board of Directors based on a nomination from the Sharia Supervisory Board.
Tasks of the Sharia Controller:
Under the supervision of the Chairman of the Sharia Supervisory Board, the Sharia Controller undertakes the following tasks:
Acting as the Board’s secretary, including preparing for its periodic meetings, setting its agenda, and writing its meeting minutes.
Communicating the results reached by the Board on topics presented to it and the fatwas it issued to the Executive Management Director and following up on their implementation.
Preparing reports on the bank’s work and visiting branches regarding the overall operations of the bank from a Sharia perspective, completing technical report requirements, and submitting them to the Chairman of the Sharia Supervisory Board for approval.
Following up on the bank’s workflow, ensuring full investigation of the sound application of Sharia rules in its various operations, and alerting executive management to any breach or violation of Islamic Sharia rules. In the event of persistence in the error or disregard for warnings, the Sharia Controller counts those violations, collects their data and documents, and presents them to the Chairman of the Sharia Supervisory Board to be presented to the Board to decide what it deems appropriate.
Collecting contracts and data on new operations at the bank for which no Sharia fatwa has previously been issued, and presenting them to the Board at its first meeting to study them and issue a fatwa regarding them.
Conducting visits to ensure the integrity of the bank’s work path from a Sharia perspective for the departments and divisions belonging to the bank and its various branches, and submitting a detailed report on these visits including the results reached.
Proposing a training plan for employees in Sharia aspects and presenting it to executive management for implementation.
Classifying, arranging, and indexing all decisions, recommendations, and fatwas of the Sharia Supervisory Board to facilitate access and utilization, and preparing those suitable for printing and publishing and presenting them to the Board Chairman for approval.
Providing Sharia opinions on urgent inquiries, responding to Sharia questions received from both employees inside the bank or customers, and what requires presentation to the Board; the controller records, collects, and presents it to the Sharia Supervisory Board at its next meeting to deliberate and clarify.
Preparing the draft of the annual report issued by the Board to be submitted to the General Assembly.
Preparing the draft of Sharia circulars and directives that are necessary to guide bank employees and presenting them to the Board for approval, as well as circulating forms related to Sharia aspects and sending them to the relevant departments in the bank to clarify the issues that the Board deems necessary to verify and ensure their legitimacy.
Reviewing the contractual terms added to standard contracts and ensuring their compliance and alignment with the requirements of the contract.