Mufti Faraz Adam
Executive Director and Head of Sharia Advisory
Mufti Faraz Adam is a well known UK-based Islamic Finance & Fintech consultant and heads the global Shariah advisory firm Amanah Advisors. He is advising several global Islamic financial institutions spread across the UK, US, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, UAE and other countries. He is passionate about the development of the Islamic economy and serves across its various sectors such as Islamic banking, Islamic capital markets, Takaful, SME financing and Islamic social finance.
Mufti Faraz completed a six-year Alimiyyah program (Islamic Studies) in the UK after which he went on to specialise in Islamic law and finished a Mufti course in Durban, South Africa. He holds a Master’s Degree in Islamic Finance, Banking and Management from Newman University, UK. He qualified with an MBA Diploma from the International Business Management Institute and successfully accomplished a Fintech Specialisation course from the University of Michigan. He recently achieved the ACCA Level 4 Qualification in Accounting and Business.
In addition to the above, he has attained various Islamic Finance-industry qualifications such as the IFQ, CIFE and is a Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor (CSAA).
He has an interest in writing, researching and reading. He recently authored a book on Islamic Fintech called ‘Introduction to Islamic Fintech’, and has written several research papers on Islamic Finance and complexed products.
Aysh Ahmed Chaudhry
Legal Advisory Counsel
Aysh is an English-qualified Corporate Finance lawyer specialising in M&A, Private Equity, Joint Ventures, Investment Projects and Capital Markets (including Islamic Finance).
Aysh advises sovereign entities, multinationals, high net worth individuals and start-ups across various sectors including Real Estate, Energy & Infrastructure and Telecoms, Media and Technology.
He is based across London and Casablanca and has worked in the Middle East and Spain previously.
He is also a co-founder of Al Mudaraba, a Real Estate Development company in London focussing on residential and commercial developments.
He read Law at SOAS, University of London where he graduated with a First-Class honours degree in 2013.
He also graduated from the Al-Salam Institute, UK, with a Licence in Islamic Scholarship (grade First-Class honours) in 2020.
Aysh speaks English and Urdu natively and is an intermediate speaker of Arabic. He is currently learning French and Spanish.
Mufti Irshad Ahmad Aijaz
Sharia Advisor
Mufti Irshad Ahmad Aijaz is the Chairman of the Shariah Supervisory Board of Bank Islami in Pakistan. He is also Chairman and Shari’ah Scholar of Shari’ah Advisory Committee of State Bank of Pakistan. He graduated from Jamiat-ul-Uloom Islamiyyah, Binnori Town, Karachi and obtained his Shahadat-ul-Aalamia (Masters in Arabic and Islamic Studies) from there. Afterwards, he completed his Takhassus fi al-Iftaa (Specialization in Islamic Jurisprudence and Fatwa) from Jamia Dar-ul-Uloom, Karachi. He has also completed his PhD in Islamic Sciences from Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre. We got an opportunity to get his insights on Islamic economics and finance and hope that these insights will introduce new ways of thinking for young economists and social scientists aspiring to contribute in this field.
Dr Aznan Hasan
Sharia Advisor
Dr Aznan Hasan is an Associate Professor in Shariah at Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF), IIUM, Founding President, Association of Shariah Advisors in Islamic Finance (ASAS) and the Deputy Chairman, Shariah Advisory Council, Securities Commission. Dr. Aznan also sits on Shariah boards of various regulatory bodies including AAOIFI, Bahrain and Higher Shariah Authority, Central Bank of UAE. Due to his experience and expertise, Dr. Aznan also serves on Shari’a boards of various regional and international financial institutions including FNB Bank (South Africa), HSBC Amanah (UAE), Standard Chartered Bank (DIFC, UAE), ABSA Islamic Bank (South Africa), Yasaar Limited (UK), Khalij Group (UK), Bank Nizwa (Oman), Employee Provident Fund (Malaysia), Amanah Raya Asset Management (Malaysia) and Waqf Foundation (Malaysia). Dr. Aznan is a registered Shariah Advisor for the Islamic Unit Trust Schemes and Islamic securities (Sukuk) with Securities Commission of Malaysia and is also invited by several Zakat Centres in Malaysia to give advice on zakat matters.
Dr Aznan has conducted and published more than 50 researches and is a regular speaker and presenter at Islamic finance conferences and seminars.
Dr Aznan Hasan received his first Degree in Shariah from University of Al-Azhar (1994), successfully completed his Master degree in Shariah from Cairo University (1998) with distinction (his thesis was recommended for publication) and obtained his Ph.D from University of Wales, Lampeter, United Kingdom (2003).
Fahad Ahmed Siddiqui
Fintech Consultant
Fahad is a Digital Transformation specialist. He oversees the Amanah’s offerings in Islamic FinTech Services including Artificial intelligence, Analytics, Automation, Cloud Computing, and Digital Technology services. He has a successful track of implementing Sharia Compliant Core Banking System, Branch Transformation, CRM, ERP, Payment Switch, and completely cloud-native Artificial-intelligence-enabled platforms for various Islamic and Conventional Financial Institutions in North America, MENA, and the Asia-Pacific region delivering Industry-leading Governance, Integration, and Orchestration Capabilities across their digitally-enabled operations. Recently, He has also co-founded TAIF Digital Institute for Islamic Finance.
Before joining Amanah, for most of his career, Fahad has worked for Dubai Islamic Bank as VP International Business and had helped the bank to set up Five fully commercial Operations from the scratch in Subcontinent, Africa, and Far East region including leading the technology stack, building teams and rolling out Sharia-compliant Financial products. Fahad also held senior operating leadership roles in other large corporations including Scotiabank Canada, and Diebold Nixdorf North America where he oversaw Product management, Engineering (R&D), and Client services businesses.
Fahad received his graduate degree from Hamdard University, Karachi, and is PMP, DevOps, CXP, COMPTIA+ and AWS certified.
Suleman Muhammad Ali
Head of Product development and Structuring
An experienced Islamic Banking professional having a proven track record in leading product innovation, development and Shariah compliance at Islamic Financial Institutions in Pakistan and the GCC. During his career he has enabled Banks and financial institutions to develop and deliver profitable Shariah compliant financial products and solutions related to Retail, Corporate, Treasury, Trade, and Structured Finance.
Shaykh Muhammad Emamally
Head of Corporate Shariah Services
Muhammad is a fellow member of the Chartered Certified Accountants with 10 years+ relevant sector experience including Practice, Commerce & Industry and Financial Services namely Investment Banking & Insurance. He has worked for several multinational banks in the city of London and Canary Wharf. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sharia from the Islamic University of Madina and has studied for the CSAA programme from AAOIFI.