Shariah Board Member Network

Shariah Supervisory Boards (SSBs) are independent bodies of Islamic jurisprudence scholars who certify that a company's financial products and activities comply with Shariah principles. Under AAOIFI Governance Standard No. 1, every Islamic financial institution must maintain an SSB of at least three members.

Independence requirements: SSB members must be qualified in fiqh al-muamalat (Islamic commercial jurisprudence) and operate independently from the institution's management. Many GCC regulators cap the number of concurrent SSB seats a scholar may hold to mitigate conflicts of interest.

Interlock significance: When the same scholar sits on multiple Shariah boards, it can promote consistency in fatwa rulings across institutions. However, excessive interlocks raise concerns about scholar bandwidth, independence, and concentration of interpretive authority within a small pool of experts.

Data is sourced from company annual reports, governance disclosures, and regulatory filings across GCC exchanges.