Mr Shaifurrokhman Mahfudz

Shaifurrokhman Mahfudz is currently a PhD student in the School of Law of Western Sydney University Australia. He specializes in Islamic Law with focus on Islamic economic law. He was a senior lecturer for nearly 15 years at the  Islamic Institute of Tazkia Bogor Indonesia. Shaif has worked as a member of the Sharia Supervisory Board of PT Asia Raya Kapital, an investment management company. and as a member of the Indonesian Ulama Council. He holds a Master of Sharia degree in Islamic Political Law from the University of Malaya and a bachelors degree in Islamic Law from University of Al-Azhar in Egypt. He is also the chair of the Islamic Economic Society (MES) of Australia.

Indonesian Government Policy on Islamic Economics Fatwas

According to Law 21/2008 concerning Islamic Banking, the National Sharia Council of the Indonesian Ulama (DSN-MUI) has been authorised as fatwa (Islamic verdict) issuer to formulate fatwas of Islamic economics and finance. However, the DSN-MUI does not have binding regulatory authority to financial institutions. Moreover, there are no rules regarding the mechanism of recruitment, Code of Ethics for Sharia Supervisory Board members and other standards to evaluate their performance. Ethically, however, the article raises serious questions about the place of the DSN since it is under the MUI which is a self-supporting fatwa institution. Therefore, modernizing Islamic finance fatwa Institution become urgently needed in order to place DSN-MUI fatwas can be used as a legal umbrella and have binding regulatory authority to financial institutions.