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The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Islamic Finance According to the Dinar Standard Report 2021/2022
Author : Dr. Safwan Odaybat
Date Added : 11-09-2022

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Islamic Finance According to the Dinar Standard Report 2021/2022

 

COVID-19 pandemic had an evident impact on the economic, social, and political sectors of life. The Islamic finance sector is a key contributor to economic life worldwide, given its development and incremental aspects of growth in recent years.

Amongst the most important and precise technical studies indicating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Islamic finance (2021/2022) in numbers is the report prepared by Dinar Standard in partnership with Salam Gateway with the support of DIEDC. This report was published by the International Islamic Center for Reconciliation and Arbitration (IICRA) in Dubai, Edition No. (19), 4rth quarter, 1443 H/June 2022.

The key points of this report are:

First: The value of Islamic finance assets in 2019 has risen from 2.52 trillion US dollars to 2.88 trillion US dollars amounting to 13.9%. The report expected this sector to recover over the coming five years with an overall growth by 5%.

Second: The rapid growth of the Islamic Takaful insurance, especially in the Gulf countries and Indonesia.

Third: 2020 witnessed a large number of initiatives and measures that help enhance the growth of Islamic finance, particularly in the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. In addition, it was decided to establish new Islamic banks in countries such as Tajikistan, Uganda and the Philippines, in addition to digital banks in Kazakhstan and Malaysia.

Fourth: The investment of Islamic Financial Technology as well as the combination Islamic financial institutions through out possession and combination that reached 4.93bn. in 2019 to 2020.

Fifth: The activity of the Islamic Sukuk decreased but didn`t stop where it was announced that new Sukuk were issued in south Africa, Nigeria, Britain, Gulf and south east Asia countries.

Sixth: Developing the sector of social finance through collective funding, fostering partnerships between the private and public sectors or supporting small and medium-sized finance institutions. 

Based on the above notes, the following can be noticed:

  1. Despite the fact that the report was prepared during the COVID-19 pandemic, Islamic finance has witnessed an evident growth and recovery is expected in the coming years. In the same year of preparing this report, the number of the Islamic finance institutions has reached 1462.
  2. Adopting social finance that rests on Takaful and cooperation between people to ease their problems, as is the case with Zakah (Alms giving) and Sadqah (Voluntary charity) and providing financial support to small and medium-sized financial institutions. Moreover, partnership between the private and public sectors is an example of this form of finance. New platforms have been established for collective funding between counterparts in Britain and Malaysia, and an initiative was launched to benefit from social Islamic finance in the UN in partnership with the Islamic Bank for Development in 2021 (news.UN.org).
  3. The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged Islamic finance to develop financial technology through modern electronic platforms, digital banks, and distinguished services of digital banking.
  4. Islami Sukuk have witnessed a remarkable growth within the recent years. As indicated by the report, this product hasn`t stopped despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic where their issuance was resumed in several countries. Here, it is worth pointing that later in the year 2021, the fourth issuance of the Sukuk for the Murabah to the purchase orderer were issued in favor of the Jordan National Electricity Company to fund the energy sector with a total value of 225 million JDs by an annual Murabaha percentage of 3.55% over five years.

Unequivocally, these notes indicate that the Islamic finance sector is replete with Sharia, technical, and legal competencies enabling it to face difficult situations, such as COVID-19 pandemic to create an opportunity to keep abreast with developments, innovate new products to address the needs of the people, and continue Islamic finance services.  

 

The published article reflects the opinion of its author

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is the ruling on deliberately breaking the fast while being capable of fasting?

Whoever intentionally breaks their fast in Ramadan without a valid excuse has committed a major sin and bears great guilt. They must repent, seek forgiveness, refrain from eating and drinking for the rest of the day, and make up for that day after Ramadan.
They have lost an immense reward, which cannot be compensated even by fasting an entire lifetime as a voluntary act, because an obligatory fast cannot be equaled by voluntary fasting.
If the fast was broken through sexual intercourse, the person must:
● Make up for the missed fast (qada), and
● Perform kaffarah by fasting two consecutive months.
● If they are unable to do so, they must feed sixty needy people.

Should the Zakah (obligatory charity) giver tell the poor recipient that this is the Zakah of his money?

No, he shouldn`t. But, the Zakah giver should make an intention in his heart that it is the Zakah of his money when paying it to the poor. And Allah Knows Best.

Does undergoing surgery under anesthesia break the fast?

Anesthesia itself does not break the fast because anesthetic gases have no physical substance (jirm), and subcutaneous anesthesia injections do not reach the body cavity (jauf). However, this is on condition that the person is conscious at some point during the fasting hours:
● If they were awake at the beginning of the day, their fast remains valid.
● If they wake up even for a moment before sunset, their fast is also valid.
However, if the surgery involves the entry of foreign substances into the body cavity, their fast is invalidated, and they must make up for that day later.

What is the ruling on forgetting an integral of the prayer?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
Whoever forgets an integral (Rukn) of the prayer and remembers it before reaching the equivalent point in the subsequent unit (Rak'ah), must return to it (i.e., perform it) and complete his prayer, then perform the prostration of forgetfulness (Sujud al-Sahw) at the end of his prayer. However, if he remembers it after reaching the equivalent point in the subsequent unit, the Rak'ah in which the integral was forgotten is invalidated, and the current unit takes its place; he then completes a full Rak'ah to compensate and performs the prostration of forgetfulness.
 
It is stated in Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj (Vol.1/P.543): 'If he becomes certain at the end of his prayer, or after the Salam—provided the interval is not long according to custom and he has not stepped on an impurity—that he omitted a prostration from the final Rak'ah, he must perform it and repeat the Tashahhud, as his previous Tashahhud occurred before its proper place. If the omission was from a Rak'ah other than the final one, he must perform a full Rak'ah, because the deficient unit was completed by a prostration from the subsequent one, rendering the rest of that subsequent unit void.' And Allah the Exalted knows best.