Students praise Islamic Economics Institute

A youth immersion program at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) concluded last week with a successful introduction to Islamic economics, finance and the Saudi banking system.
The Saudi-Spanish Center for Islamic Economics and Finance (SCIEF) organized the event to promote Islamic economics and finance for the students of Islamic economics at the University of Madrid.
Abul Raheem Al-Saati, a professor at the Islamic Economics Institute introduced the basics of Islamic economics and explained the Islamic worldview and its economic paradigms.
“In Islam, we require a balance of both material and spiritual needs. Money is a means and not a commodity and has to be combined with real assets and economic activity to grow,” he said. “You must remember: no gain without risk. The risk factor has to be associated with a financer.”
Ibrahim Aboulola gave an overview of where Islamic financial institutions stand today. “From one institution in 1975 to 700 today, Islamic economics has spread to over 90 countries with total assets of $ 1.1 trillion. The Islamic finance volume equals $ 276 billion and the Islamic investment market sits at $ 500 billion with average growth in deposits at Islamic banks equal to 15 percent,” he said.
Candice Liao from the IE University in Taiwan said, “The SCIEF youth immersion program gave me a unique exposure to humane consideration behind Islamic finance.”
Dr. Faisal Atbani, vice dean of the Islamic Economics Institute spoke about the basics of Takaful and general insurance concepts.
“I was impressed with the depth of insight KAU provided and the evolving pace of innovation. I had a very different picture of Saudi Arabia and found the people to be very friendly,” said Mortiz Heck from the IE University of Germany.
Fritjof Franz of the German IE University said he thought Islam was a very rigid religion and innovation in Islamic finance was not possible, but after visiting various banks, he was surprised to learn about innovative financial products available in compliance with shariah.
David Lillu from the IE University of Sweden, a lawyer and a new Muslim said, “After visiting financial institutions, he could see there is the difference between the theoreticians and practitioners of Islamic finance.”
Participants came from Germany, France, Brazil, Sweden, Lebanon, and Singapore to visit the Islamic Economics Institute and the Faculty of Economics and Administration at KAU.
As part of the program, the students visited IEI-KAU, Al Khabeer Capital, Bank Al Jazeera (BAJ), National Commercial Bank (NCB), Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI – IDB group), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI).