About Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf

Consultant/Trainer/Lecturer, Islamic banking, finance and economics: Private practice, California, USA, 1999 to present.

Consultations include: drafting and reviewing Shari’ah contents of Islamic finance agreements, by-laws and operational systems for Islamic financial institutions in the USA, Canada, Trinidad, Nigeria and Guyana, consultations to lawyers, companies and individuals on Islamic aspects of financial transactions, Islamic wealth management and estate planning, providing expert opinion to courts on matters related to Islamic laws for financing, banking and Awqaf, etc.

Training includes: directing and implementing training courses that are offered either directly to financial institutions or through reputed international training companies. I have developed several copyrighted modules in Islamic Banking and finance that include: “Islamic Sukuk and capital markets,” “risk management and compliance with Basel II Accord,” “Shari’ah-based wealth management,” “financial engineering in accordance with Shari’ah,” “conversion of conventional securities into Islamic securities,” “structuring Islamic financial products,” “fundamentals of Islamic banking and finance,” “Islamic estate planning,” “Islamic Leasing,” Takaful and Insurance,” “Islamic Wealth Management,” Islamic Estate Planning,” etc. I give training in cooperation with several companies such as Euromoney, and directly to Islamic and conventional financial institutions.

Lecturing on Islamic Financial laws and regulations and on Islamic economic and finance at conferences and community seminars in the USA, Canada, the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean Countries, South East Asia and Africa.
Professor: Islamic Economics and Banking in the graduate program of Islamic economics and banking, School of Shari’ah, Yarmouk University, Jordan, 2004-2005.
Writer: Several books on Awqaf, Zakah, Islamic finance and banking and other areas of Islamic economics.
Senior Research Economist: Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1995 – 1999.
Responsibilities included organizing and conducting training courses in Islamic Banking and Islamic Economics, evaluating papers, writing original research as well as other papers and reports, and generating ideas for research projects.
Research Economist: Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1985 – 1999.
Head of Research Division: IRTI of IDB, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1989 – 1991.
Responsibilities included supervising seventeen Ph.D. and M.A. research officers, preparing research plans, evaluating research works, organizing seminars on Islamic economics, banking and finance, coordinating with other departments, and networking with other research organizations having similar objectives.
Private Business: New York, NY, 1981 – 1985. Financial and investment consultant working in close contact with the stock, commodities and financial and exchange markets.
Director of Finance: Islamic Society of North America, Plainfield, Indiana, 1975 – 1981.
Responsibilities included planning and executing the budget for a national, non-profit organization, fundraising, evaluating requests for financial assistance from charitable funds based on Islamic religious law, writing guidelines to assist Muslim individuals and mosques of North America in coordinating religious and civil law on inheritance, almsgiving, and trust endowment.
Teaching Assistant: Department of Economics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1971 – 1975.
Auditor: Government State Audit Office, Damascus, Syria. 1963 – 1971.
Instructor: School of Business, University of Damascus, Damascus, Syria. 1962 – 1963.

Lecturing: For more than 34 years, Dr. Kahf has been touring the Muslim communities in North America and overseas and lecturing on a variety of issues of community concern especially in the financial and economic areas. He gives lectures in conferences, seminars, meetings and gatherings on the theory of Islamic finance and its practices in North America and the rest of the world, Islamic economics and banking, Awqaf, Islamic Trusts, Islamic estate planning, charities in the Islamic Religion (Zakah), Friday Sermons in mosques and Islamic centers, etc.

Internet and Email Services: Shari’ah-based finance and economic opinions: Since 1999 Dr. Kahf has been an English-speaking resource person for Islam-On-Line Website and dialogue. He gives Shari’ah opinions on Islamic finance, banking and other issues of Islamic economics and financial transactions. He answers questions from English speaking individual Muslims in the US and in other parts of the world. Dr. Kahf has his own website that provides information to US and Canadian Muslims on issues of property and ownership, Trusts, family financial relations and responsibilities, estate planning, charity giving and Awqaf (Islamic charitable foundations).

Ph.D, Economics: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, March 1975.
High Diplome in Social and Economic Planning: UN Institute of Planning, Damascus, Syria, 1967
B.A, Busniess: University of Damascus, Damascus, Syria, June 1962. Graduated with high honors awarded by the President of Syria.
Strong training and knowledge of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Islamic Studies.
Certified Public Accountant in Syria since 1968.

• Trainer, Islamic Banking and Finance: Organized and conducted many training courses at IDB, IRTI, commercial Islamic banks, and other banking institutions in the Middle East, South and South East Asia, West Africa and the United States.
• Trainer, Islamic Economics, Zakah and Awqaf. Organized and conducted many training courses in numerous countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America..
• Lecturer/Trainer in Islamic Banking, Finance and Economics. Invited by numerous teaching institutions at the national and international levels to give training courses and lectures is the area of my specialty.
• Collaborating Expert at the Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and member of several of its technical and methodological committees on Shari’ah (Islamic law) and finance and economics.
• Providing expert opinions at courts and legal disputes in the USA on matters of Islamic laws related to Islamic banking, finance, Awqaf, inheritance, etc.
• Organizing and conducting international seminars and conferences on Islamic Economics in the USA, Asia and Africa from 1975 to present.
• Preparing and reviewing detailed curricula and research plans for studies of Islamic Economics and Finance.
• Presenting scores of papers and lectures at professional seminars and conferences on Islamic banking and finance, Islamic economics, Zakah and Awqaf. See Publications page for complete information.
• Serving as a discussant, reviewer, panel chair, and moderator in numerous seminars, conferences and Ph.D. and MA supervising committees on Islamic economics, Zakah, Awqaf, Islamic financing, etc.
• Providing countless consultations to Ph.D. and M. A. students in universities in Europe, North America, East Asia and the Middle East in the course of preparing their dissertation proposals and during their research work.
• Preparing formal samples of Islamic last will, living trust, other charitable and religious trusts and Zakah calculation for Muslim in North America.

• External reviewer on tenure and promotion committees evaluating the performance of professors at their universities.
• Manager, National Zakah Fund and Islamic Cooperative Fund for Muslims in North America, July 1975-Sept.1981.
• Consultant on a regular basis to individuals referred to Dr. Kahf by the Islamic Society of North America and mosques in the United States and Canada, on matters of Islamic law relating to properties at marriage, inheritance, last wills and living trusts.
• Founder of The Indiana state licensed Muslim Students Association’s Credit Union and the Islamic Housing Cooperative of Indiana, both in 1980. Though brief lived, these early experiments helped lead to the establishment of other such cooperatives and credit unions in the USA and Canada.
• Consultant, Islamic Housing Cooperative, Toronto, Canada. Advised and helped the IHC set up its articles of incorporation and initial work procedures.
• Speaker and resource scholar in two programs of IslamOnline.net: Live Fatwa and Live Dialogue in special sessions on Islamic banking, finance, Zakah and Awqaf.
• Contest judge of studies submitted for prizes in Islamic financial jurisprudence and evaluator of scientific contributions for promotion of professors at universities of Yarmuk in Jordan and IIUM in Malaysia.

• Books and booklets: 28 books and booklets in English and Arabic, on Islamic banking and finance, Islamic economics, Zakah, Awqaf, including some which have become the standard reference manuals in the field. (See Publications page for complete information). Some of Dr. Kahf’s books are translated to Indonesian, Turkish and Korean languages.
• Articles and encyclopedia entries and conference papers:  more than 100 articles, in English and Arabic, on Islamic economics, Islamic public and private finance, Islamic banking, Zakah, Awqaf, including entries for the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World. (See Publications page for complete information).

• IDB Prize for Islamic Economics, 2001.
• President of Syria Award for best University Graduating Student, July 1962.

• English: reading, writing and lecturing: excellent.
• Arabic: reading, writing and lecturing: excellent.
• French: reading: good.

• International Association of Islamic Economics, founding member.
• Association of Muslim Social Scientists of the United States and Canada, founding member.
• American Economic Association, 1974-1999.

• Citizenship: US
• Marital Status: Married with one dependent child.

• “Theory of Islamic Banking: A New Approach”
• “The Paradigm of Islamic finance”
• “Provision of Goods by the Public Sector: An Islamic Perspective”