Lanai Kijang, Kuala Lumpur – 2 & 3 October 2013- ISRA International Colloqium was organised around the theme of Socio-Ethical Dimensions of Islamic Finance: Between the Ideals and Realities.

Islamic banking practice must be supported with ethical and moral values and not merely the technical Shari’ah and legal aspects of the contracts. IF has a responsibility to adhere to higher moral standards and greater transparency as compared to conventional finance, which is concerned only with maximizing shareholder returns. IF was established with an explicit acknowledgement of responsibility towards the Creator and to human beings. If Islamic banks narrowly focus on the legality of transactions, that can lead to unethical outcomes. There is a need to have a mechanism to ensure that Islamic banking practices are ethical by not contradicting the moral teachings of Islam.

The main objectives of this intellectual forum were as follows:

1. To gather Muslim scholars including academics, students and industry practitioners, from all over the world
2. To provide a platform for better cooperation and collaboration among Shari’ah scholars, academics and students in Islamic finance especially with respect to the knowledge creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge;
3. To address the pertinent issues in Islamic finance;
4. To become the research bridge institution between academics and the industry.
5. To recognise the research undertake by universities around the world and in Malaysia particularly.
6. To become a platform of interaction between the industry, students and academics order to creat strong relationships with the goal of realizing the full potential of the Islamic banking sector, internationally.

This event was co-organised with seven (7) public universities in Malaysia:

• University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
• University of Malaya (UM)
• University of Islamic Science Malaysia (USIM)
• Institute of MARA Technology (UITM)
• International Islaic University of Malaysia (IIUM)
• INCEIF
• University of North Malaysia(UUM).

There were 37 papers presented from the unievrsities, academicians and students. The award for best paper in English was given to Adam Ng for “Contextualizing social capital in risk sharing”. The Best Paper in Arabic was awarded to Ibrahim Yusuf al-Quraani. IIUM was awarded for the Best Academic Paper (University Category). The paper was jointly written by Norsuria Binte Jani, Mustapha Hamat & Rusni Hassan from IIUM Institute of Islamic banking and Finance (IIiBF) International Islamic University Malaysia. Congratulations to all the winners and keep up the good work!.