Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Speakers at a recent economic seminar said that Islamic micro-finance is the best option to eradicate poverty and improve the living conditions of Muslims, especially those in poor countries.



They are of the view that the interest-free and profit sharing Islamic micro-finance will help bolster social bonds and achieve self-reliance.



The seminar was conducted by the Indian Forum for Interest-Free Banking (IFIB) at Seagulls Seaview restaurant auditorium here.



Mamoon Al-Azami, senior community development researcher at Islamic Development Bank (IDB), inaugurated the seminar.



In his speech, Al-Azami drew attention to the success of Islamic micro-finance in Bangladesh and some African countries.



“This system, which can play a vital role in alleviating poverty, could be a role model for Muslim communities in other countries like India,” he said while explaining the salient features of the Islamic micro-finance, which was successfully introduced by the Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus through his Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.



In his presentation on the participatory micro-finance scheme, IFIB Secretary General V.K. Abdul Aziz emphasized the need for concerted joint efforts to introduce interest-free financing systems in countries like India after taking into confidence of other segments of the pluralist society.



He highlighted that the Islamic micro-finance focuses mainly on yielding social benefits rather than simply profit-making.



Abdul Aziz also spoke about the viability of the goat rearing project, introduced by IFIB in India, on the basis of interest-free financing.



“The Rs1.2 million project was introduced to show that Islamic finance is a good solution for eradicating poverty,” he said.



Addressing the gathering, Advocate S. Mammu, coordinator of the project, said that the pilot project had a good start with distribution of a total of 250 goats among poor farmers in Naduwil town and Chuzhali Pollayad village.



“Under the scheme, each family has been given five goats and the beneficiaries will return three goats and their kids to the facilitator, who will sell them at local market price and distribute 33 percent of the profit to the financier, 33 percent to the farmer, 23 percent to management and 11 percent to the monitoring committee,” he said, adding that the project would not only solve financial problems and earn profits but also strengthen bonds of mutual cooperation among followers of different religions.



P.K. Abdul Ghafour presided over the function in which K.T.A Muneer delivered welcome speech and K.A Abdul Rasheed proposed the vote of thanks.