Jointly with the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS) of the Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and the International Association of Islamic Economics (IAIE), SESRIC has organized the 9th International Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance (9ICIEF). The Conference was held in WoW Convention Centre in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey, on 9-10 September 2013 under the theme “Growth, Equity and Stability: An Islamic Perspective”.

The Conference provided a distinct opportunity to discuss many and various pressing issues in Islamic economics and finance through plenary sessions as well as parallel sessions where more 133 papers (86 in English and 47 in Arabic) were presented and discussed. The authors of these papers are academicians and post-graduate students from 32 countries around the world. The Conference included 30 parallel sessions (20 in English and 10 in Arabic), two plenary sessions, one symposium on “Islamic Economics and Finance Education” and one workshop on “Integration of Waqf and Islamic Microfinance Institutions for Poverty Reduction”.

Over the last four decades, since 1976 where the 1st ICIEF was held in Makkah al-Mukarramah, the series of this Conference played a significant role in enriching the literature and the agenda for contemporary research in Islamic economics and finance and thus promotes the official global recognition of Islamic economics and finance as a modern scientific discipline. As a modern scientific discipline, Islamic economics and finance has recently showed a high potential as a new paradigm, particularly in the aftermath of the latest global financial crisis and given the current economic and political changing environment in the Muslim countries.

In this connection, the Conference is considered as a platform for dialogue and discussions between academics, researchers, graduate students, policy-makers, and practitioners, with a view to contribute to the process of mobilizing quality policy-oriented and basic research in the field of Islamic economics, banking and finance, focusing on issues related to inclusive economic growth, equity, poverty alleviation and macroeconomic stability.

While a significant progress has been made over the last four decades, the focus of research has moved primarily to Islamic banking and finance, and there is a need to work more on economic theory and its applied and practical applications from an Islamic perspective. In this connection, the Conference emphasised the role of educational institutions in enriching the literature and the agenda for contemporary research in Islamic economics, as well as their role in promoting and enhancing the production of basic and applied research to support the Islamic financial industry. The Conference also underlined the need to highlight the role of Islamic finance in economic development and the potential of zakat, awqaf and voluntary sectors in promoting financial inclusion and contributing to policy discourse on poverty alleviation.

On the other hand, the Conference emphasised that, in practice, serious efforts should be made to ensure the realization of the institutional and policy aspirations of the original Islamic economic thinking. In particular, to ensure that the basic fundamentals of Islamic economics and finance support the process of mobilisation and allocation of funds to generate productive real economic activity based on the profit-loss sharing principle.

The participants welcomed the offer of the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies (QFIS) of the Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and the International Association of Islamic Economics (IAIE) to organize and host the 10th ICIEF in Doha during December, 2014.

For more information please visit the official website through: http://9icief.sesric.org/

Statement

Welcome Speech of Prof. Savaş Alpay, Director General of SESRIC (English)

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