CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE

Islamic economics and finance theoretically involves not charging interest (riba) but rather favoring the sharing of profits and losses in the business and financial activities. Since the last five or six decades, it has emerged as a discipline being taught and practiced both in Muslim and non-Muslim countries. The academic contributions in this field by a number of Indian scholars are well recognized.

This seminar aims to focus on the intellectual contributions of Dr. Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, one of the brightest Indian scholars of Islamic economics and finance, who died at the age of 91 in the United States on November 12, 2022. His writings in Urdu and English and translated into several Asian languages covers diverse areas, from banking and finance, insurance to Maqasid-e-Shariah as well as in the areas of Muslim economic thinking.

Prof Siddiqi theorized convincingly perhap for the first time in mid 1960s, that equity routes of banking and investment banking without interest is possible ۔ His much scholarly theoretical discussion on Banking Without Interest carried an authority and conviction of applications of mudharabah (profit and loss sharing) as an alternative to modern commercial banking.

He was the recipient of King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies in 1982 and received Shah Waliullah Award-2001 by the Indian Institute of Objective Studies (IOS) in 2003 for his contribution in the field of Islamic Economics.

Professor Siddiqi was also associated with the Institute of Objective Studies, (IOS) since its establishment in the mid-1980s. He has inspired economists for the last five decades and has convincingly argued as to how the Islamic economic philosophy and history can be studied in the context of the present day scenarios of the global economy. His dream was to see the young researchers and scholars, madrasa students, to enquire about the area of Islamic economics and finance in the context of present economic situations.

However, the economic thinking of Prof Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi evolved with the passage of time and developed on the standard scientific pattern of conventional economics focussing on the viability of Islamic economics as an alternative to capitalism and socialism. Professor Siddiqi further refined, developed and organized his ideas in the context of the secular global environment.

While the global financial markets have greatly changed after the financial meltdown in 2008 and onwards, Prof Nejatullah Siddiqi contributions invite researchers to focus on his time and his influence on the development and evaluation of Islamic economics and finance since the second half of the twentieth century and also to highlight his important contributions and vision for the future of Islamic economics and finance.

STRUCTURE AND PROGRAMME

In its furtherance of the programmes, the Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi, will be organising a two-day online international conference on “Contribution of Prof. M. Nejatullah Siddiqi in Islamic Economics” on 27-28 April, 2024.