Your Questions Answered
Yousuf Sultan is a Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor (CSAA) from Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), Bahrain and an AAOIFI Master Trainer. He holds an MSc degree in Islamic Finance from INCEIF, Malaysia. Earlier, he graduated as a Mufti in Shari’ah and Islamic Jurisprudence from Jamia Shariyyah Malibag, Dhaka. He is also a Registered Shariah Adviser with the Securities Commission of Malaysia, and a Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE) from Ethica, Dubai.
Yousuf is the Founder & CEO of Adl Advisory in Malaysia, which provides shariah advisory, consultancy and training services to various industries. Yousuf also co-founded IFA Consultancy in Bangladesh, a pioneer institution promoting Islamic Finance to the mass through training, workshops, seminars, and consultancy.
Yousuf has long professional experience with teaching, training and advisory on Shariah and Islamic Finance, with specific exposure to Islamic Fintech. He held various leadership positions at Ethis – an Islamic Fintech Group based in Malaysia that pioneered several award-winning Islamic Crowdfunding platforms for investment and charity in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Yousuf advises institutions in several countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, UAE & Bangladesh. He is also a member of two Working Groups for the Governance Standard Committee at AAOIFI. He holds professional membership with the Association of Shariah Advisors in Islamic Finance (ASAS) and the Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals (CIIF).
Yousuf has been invited to speak in events organized by institutions and universities, including the Central Bank of Malaysia, Securities Commission of Malaysia, AAOIFI, INCEIF, the World Bank, Cagamas, ISRA, ASAS, MATA, Bangsamoro Government, Nadil Iqtisad Kuwait etc.
Yousuf conducted various researches and reports on Islamic Finance; of which the most notable one is titled “Responsible Finance – Ethical and Islamic Finance: Meeting the Global Agenda” – published by RFI Foundation and IFSB, co-authored with Tan Sri Dr Zeti, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia.
Our shariah adviser conducts both business activity screening and financial screening on the Issuer, per the AAOIFI Shariah Standards and the resolutions of the Shariah Advisory Council of the Securities Commission of Malaysia. In addition, the Shariah Adviser also analyzes some key documents, as mentioned below, received from Ethis and Issuer to complete the qualitative shariah review on the fundraising campaign.
Below is a table showing some of the documents that are generally assessed. Some campaigns require additional or less documents. In those cases investors should review the Shariah Pronouncement.
An overview of the Issuer’s business model, products offered and key financials
Most recent financial statements
Checklist to facilitate comprehensive qualitative & quantitative Shariah assessment
The core contract that is called Musharakah is an agreement between two or more parties to combine their assets, labor or liabilities for the purpose of making profits.The agreement between the two parties does not guarantee a profit or the capital. The profit made from the venture then is divided among the shareholders based on the agreed profit-sharing-ratio (PSR). This is done through either our ʿAdi (ordinary) or our Saʿda shares which are similar to ʿAdi shares with the additional process of an independent undertaking. For more information on our contracts please refer to the downloadable file at the bottom of the page.
Our shariah advisor, after approving the campaign, issues a shariah pronouncement recounting the campaign details, process of screening, as well as any other relevant information. The pronouncement can be seen on the individual campaign pages.
Our Advisor at this time assesses initial compliance. In terms of ongoing compliance, we maintain the same requisites as the initial compliance. Issuers are held to these standards for the entirety of the campaign process. Per campaign, we may have additional requirements or insights. In such a case please refer to the respective campaign’s pronouncement.
We do not usually expect things to change. However if such a case is found or brought up we resort back to our advisor who then assesses the situation. According to their findings we take the necessary steps to maintain compliance. Concerned parties are always welcome to reach out to our teams for questions or concerns.
We believe that zakat is a private matter that an investor should have autonomy in its distribution.. This also accommodates a wider base of investors with different beliefs and backgrounds. As for the issuers we heavily insist on them sharing the relevant information and to declare their zakat ratios for their investors as it is their right.