Sheikh Prof. Dr. Nazih Hammad — Islamicly Shariah Advisor

In the world of Islamic finance, there are scholars who advise institutions and there are scholars who shape the intellectual foundations upon which the entire discipline is built. Sheikh Prof. Dr. Nazih Hammad belongs firmly to the second category.

For more than five decades, Sheikh Nazih Hammad has dedicated his life to one of the most consequential questions in contemporary Islamic thought: how do the timeless laws of Shariah govern the contracts, transactions, and financial relationships of the modern world? His answer to that question — expressed through 25 books, more than 50 research papers, and a lifetime of rulings at the world's most respected Islamic financial institutions — has helped define what Halal finance looks like in practice, from Sydney, Bahrain, Turkey, London, US to Canada.

An Academic Foundation Built at Islam's Greatest Institutions

Sheikh Nazih Hammad's scholarly credentials trace a remarkable arc across the Arab world's finest centres of Islamic learning. He began with a Bachelor's in Shariah from the University of Damascus in 1967 — one of the oldest and most respected seats of Islamic scholarship in the Levant. He then deepened his expertise with a Master's from Baghdad University in 1970, before earning his Doctorate with First Class Honours from the Faculty of Dar al-Ulum at Cairo University, Egypt, in 1973.

His doctoral specialisation was not a coincidence — it was a calling. He focused on Contracts and Financial Transactions in Comparative Islamic Jurisprudence, with a thesis examining the provisions of possession in contracts under Islamic law. This was not merely an academic exercise. It was the precise scholarly foundation that would make him, decades later, one of the most authoritative voices on whether a financial product — a fund, a bond, a savings instrument — conforms to Shariah. When Sheikh Hammad evaluates a financial contract, he does so with the depth of a jurist who has spent a lifetime studying exactly this question.

A Teacher Who Shaped Generations

From 1973 to 1990, Sheikh Prof. Dr. Hammad served as a Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence and its Fundamentals at the Faculty of Shariah, Umm al-Qura University in Makkah — the university regarded as the highest seat of Islamic academic learning in Saudi Arabia, situated in the holiest city in Islam. For seventeen years, he taught the next generation of Islamic scholars at the institution that sits in the shadow of the Masjid al-Haram.

During this period and beyond, he supervised more than 25 Master's and Doctoral theses in Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Economics — meaning his intellectual legacy lives not only in his own writings, but in the careers of dozens of scholars who studied under him and carry his methodology forward.

A Permanent Voice at the Highest Levels of Islamic Scholarship

Sheikh Prof. Dr. Nazih Hammad holds two of the most prestigious permanent appointments in contemporary Islamic scholarly life. He is a Permanent Member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah — the body that brings together the leading Shariah scholars from across the 57-member-state OIC to issue collective rulings on contemporary issues facing the Muslim world. Consensus rulings from this body carry authority across the entirety of the global Muslim community.

He is also a Designated Member of the Islamic Fiqh Council of the Muslim World League in Makkah — one of the most authoritative Shariah bodies in existence, whose rulings are followed by Muslim communities worldwide. Together, these two appointments place Sheikh Prof. Dr. Nazih Hammad among a small and distinguished group of scholars whose opinions carry weight not just in one institution or one country, but across the breadth of the global Islamic scholarly tradition.

Trusted by the World's Most Sophisticated Financial Institutions

The practical test of a Shariah scholar's authority is whether the world's most rigorous financial institutions — institutions with their own legal teams, compliance departments, and reputational standards — trust that scholar to govern their Islamic products. By this test, Sheikh Prof. Dr. Hammad has passed at the highest level.

He has served as Head of the Shariah Board of Citi Islamic Investment Bank in Bahrain — part of Citigroup, one of the world's largest financial institutions. He has also led the Shariah governance of the Islamic Investment Fund of Credit Suisse in Guernsey — one of the world's most prestigious private banks. His board memberships span institutions across Bahrain, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Dubai, Australia, and the Channel Islands, covering Takaful (Islamic insurance), Islamic equity funds, Islamic leasing funds, and Islamic advisory services. Among these are FWU Takaful GmbH in Dubai, the Oasis Islamic Fund in the UK, the Citi Islamic Global Equity Fund in Luxembourg, the Islamic Leasing Fund structured with Australia and New Zealand Bank, and Ratings Intelligence in the United Kingdom.

When Citigroup and Credit Suisse needed a Shariah scholar they could trust with products sold to Muslim investors worldwide, they chose Sheikh Prof. Dr. Nazih Hammad.

A Prolific Author and Researcher

Sheikh Prof. Hammad has authored more than 25 books and over 50 research papers on Islamic jurisprudence, financial contracts, and Islamic economics. His written work constitutes a significant contribution to the body of contemporary Islamic legal scholarship, providing practitioners, academics, and students with authoritative references on the jurisprudential foundations of Islamic finance. He is a regular keynote speaker at international Islamic finance seminars, including the annual Future of Business Islamic Bank conference organised by the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah — one of the most important annual gatherings in Islamic banking.

Why His Presence on Our Shariah Board Matters

Sheikh Prof. Dr. Nazih Hammad's specific area of mastery — the jurisprudence of contracts and financial transactions — is directly and precisely relevant to what Gold by Islamicly App does. Every time you purchase gold, sell silver, set up a savings goal, or gift precious metals to a loved one, you are entering into a financial contract. The question of whether that contract is Halal — whether ownership is properly transferred, whether there is any element of Gharar or ambiguity, whether the structure respects the Islamic rules of possession — is exactly the question that Sheikh Prof. Dr. Hammad has spent fifty years answering.

Having him on the Shariah board of Gold by Islamicly App is not ceremonial. It is having the world's leading expert on the precise jurisprudential questions that our platform raises review every aspect of how we operate.

At a Glance