Islamic Finance weekend plus Monday

It was a very important occasion for me on a personal level and my legal firm as I graduated from International Center for Education of Islamic Finance ("INCEIF")on 23rd October 2010. I now can add Chartered Islamic Finance Professional at the back of my name or CIFP (INCEIF) in short. I started the part time program of this course in 2007 and now I managed to graduated with around 80 other graduands. Our names were published in the newspaper on that day.

All this week, other than the graduation ceremony of INCEIF graduands, there was a bigger event in Malaysia relating to Islamic finance. It was the Global Islamic Finance Forum or GIFF in which INCEIF played a very big role. As Islamic finance grows, these professionals are needed to fill the needs of Islamic finance institution like syariah advisory boards, takaful operators, Islamic banks, sovereign funds of Islamic countries and universities which are supplying these professionals.

On Sunday, 24th October 2010, the Association for Chartered Islamic Finance Professional was launch and it is supposed to be a platform for all CIFP members to connect with each other exchanging ideas even after they became graduates. In short, it is an association for those still studying and those who have graduated, which is most universities is known as alumni.

On Monday, 25th October 2010, it was the first day of the Global Islamic Finance Forum  (GIFF) which had the Malaysian PM, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Central Bank Governor, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar, and the patron of Malaysia Islamic Finance Center, Raja Nazrin Shah gracing the opening ceremony. At the end of it, there was the announcement of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation to manage Islamic countries the liquidity of the countries who agree such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Bahrain, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Indonesia and a few others. It was a coup by Islamic Financial Service Board as they will be managing the fund.

All this Islamic finance development is made more meaningful as I also achieved a new personal milestone and this picture is one of the best that I will treasure forever :

With the Chancellor of INCEIF and Governor of Central Bank Msia

Finally I graduated

This coming week will be another milestone for me. After studying part-time for nearly 3 years for my Certified Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) degree from International Centre of Education for Islamic Finance (INCEF). The beauty of it is that this degree is equivalent to a Masters degree which means that I can straight away apply and do a PhD study course if I choose so. I am still thinking about it as I am not sure the benefit I can gain from such study.

This CIFP will help my legal firm to do work for many of the Islamic finance institutions like Islamic banks, takaful (Islamic insurance) company and many of the companies which use Islamic finance concept in their business. Islamic finance is going big in Malaysia and there is this one interesting post-graduate scholarship which is being offered in Oxford under Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies which is fully sponsored by Khazanah Malaysia (a Malaysia government-linked company). As someone who never studied outside of Malaysia, I am actually contemplating this more for the experience.

Anyway, my graduation is on the 23rd of October, shy of 4 days of my birthday. As someone who is old as me, there is no better birthday present than this...

Breast Cancer Awareness Months

As my legal firm had contributed a bit to National Cancer Society of Malaysia ("NCSM") when they were having their Relay for Life this year, we are getting updates from them in their effort in educating and fighting the good fight against cancer. Although none of my family or close friends or our employees ever had any close brush with cancer yet, may Allah protect us from it, as you know, due to the nature of cancer being your own cell being 'bad'.

When we were promoting the Relay for Life event in Bangsar

As breast cancer is a common occurrence, October is designated by NCSM as a breast awareness month and they are having a series of talks to help people understand more and take precautions, as much as one can, against it.

Do visit the talks as they are educational and are good platforms to start understanding this killer disease :

1.    9 October 2010, MPH The Curve, 2.00pm – 4.00pm

‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ – Talk by Dr Dalilah Kamarudin, Head of Women’s Detection Centre, NCSM. Free seating. Call Meem at 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

2.    23 October 2010, NCSM (*), 10.00am – 12.00pm

‘Sex After Cancer’ – Talk by Dr Shamala Dorai, Hospital KL. Free limited seating. Call 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

3.    30 October 2010, MPH Megastore One Utama, 2.00pm – 4,00pm

‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ – Talk by Dr Dalilah Kamarudin, Head of Women’s Detection Centre, NCSM. Free seating. Call Meem at 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

(*)National Cancer Society Malaysia, 66 Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 KL – 03 2698 7300.