Imams critical for successful rollout of Islamic Finance in Ghana – Researcher

Director General of the Islamic Finance Research Institute of Ghana, IFRIG, Shaibu Ali has underscored the need to widen the web of advocacy in the drive to incrementally establish Islamic Finance in Ghana.

According to Ali, whos is currently a PHD fellow with the Jiangsu University in China; a key stakeholder population that needed to be roped in from the early stages was the Ulamaa – Muslim clergy.

Ali spoke during a specialized training program for selected members of the Muslim clergy from across the Greater Accra Region. The event took place at the Cantonments Police Mosque with over 50 participants in attendance.

“The need to get our Ulamaa on board the journey to establish Islamic Finance in Ghana is absolutely of the essence. The time is now and we will need to take them along this journey till the dream materializes insha Allah – God willing.

“It is these Imams and other opinion leaders whose words go down to the Muslim population through the pulpits and other social platforms. It is for this reason that we are holding this training program,” he told GhanaWeb in an interview.

During the training program, the IFRIG DG presented nationwide research the Institute had conducted on the level of information that Muslims and non-Muslims alike had on the subject of Islamic Finance.

The findings indicated that there still existed a very wide advocacy gap, which gap he said IFRIG was doing well to bridge by interfacing with different stakeholders at different levels.

Even though participants were predominantly members of the Muslim clergy, other professionals from within the conventional finance system also participated in the program.



A number of the participants who spoke after the session described the training as an important first step to learning more about Islamic finance and insurance. Imam Abass, the deputy Imam of the mosque tasked IFRIG to not relent in their advocacy but to stay the course for all it is worth.

This is the second in IFRIG’s training series this year. The first took place at the Durra Institute in Abelemkpe, where participants were taken through ways to undertake scientific research.

IFRIG says it is in line to hold other training programs including a planned training for the Christian clergy, officials of national financial sector regulatory bodies like the Bank of Ghana and the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC.

Aside its national collaborations, IFRIG has also established continental and global partnerships to leverage expertise and experience to accelerate their efforts.