Abdulkader Thomas - Interest in Islamic Economics: Understanding Riba

Abdulkader Thomas is the publisher of the American Journal of Islamic Finance http://www.ajif.org/ and a leading practitioner of Islamic finance. As the authorized translator of the memoirs of Dr Ahmed Elnaggar he holds his primary degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago. Mr Thomas is widely published in the field of Islamic banking and finance.

M.Akram Khan is one of the pioneers of Islamic Economics and Finance. He has published widely on various aspects of Islamic economics including Routledges Glossary of Islamic Economics and Finance. He was Deputy Auditor General of Pakistan until 2003 when he joined the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight. He is currently Chief Auditor in the United Nation Mission in the Congo.

Vincent J.Cornell is Professor of History and Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. He also serves as Chair of Studies in the Religious Studies Program at the University of Arkansas. Dr Cornell is a noted author and lecturer on Islamic studies. His major works include The Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism (Austin, TX: University of Texas 1998) and The Way of Ab Madyan: Doctrinal andPoetic Works (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1996). Dr Cornell is one of the leading contemporary Islamic thinkers in North America.

Emad H.Khalil is a partner in the law firm of Jones Day resident in the Singapore office, where he co-chairs the Firms Global Projects practice and the Asia Lending/Structured Finance practice. Mr Khalil has extensive experience with global Islamic financial transactions.

Iman Abdul Rahim is a professional translator based in Damascus.

Mahmoud A.El-Gamal is Professor of Economics and Statistics at Rice University, where he holds the endowed Chair in Islamic Economics, Finance, and Management. In the latter part of 2004, he served as the first Scholar-in-Residence on Islamic Finance at the US Department of Treasury. More information about him is available at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~elgamal

Najwa Abdel Hadi is a professional Arabic instructor based in Fairfax, Virginia.

Ruba Alfattouh holds her degree in English from Brigham Young University and teaches English in Abu Dhabi.

M.Umer Chapra is one of the leading authorities on Islamic Economics. His career includes serving as an advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and the Islamic Development Bank. His published work includes the Islamic Foundations Towards aJust Monetary System which is one of the primary resources in the field.

Sh. Wahba Al Zuhayli is the Dean of the College of Sharia'a at Damascus University and a member of numerous Sharia'a supervisory boards governing Islamic banks. His work Fiqh As Sunnah wa Adalatiha is one of the leading and most widely relied upon manuals of modern Islamic Jurisprudence.

Sh. Yusuf Talal DeLorenzoSh. DeLorenzo is a widely respected scholar of Islamic finance. He is a director of Yasaar Ltd, a Sharia'aadvisory body, as well as the Sharia'asupervisory panels of financial institutions worldwide, including the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes. He has translated numerous classical Islamic fiqh works from Arabic, Persian, and Urdu into English and provided commentary thereon.

During the mid 1980s, I first researched the question of riba in our modern financial world. Somewhat instantly, I understood that the classical texts of fiqh do not use this term in the same way that some modern financiers and their regulators sometimes apply it. More confusingly, I understood with clarity that the broad Muslim public did not have a clear idea of the term. For years, English speaking Muslims were informed by an obscure footnote in the Yusuf Ali interpretation of the meaning of the