We can learn valuable lessons from the practices of great Muslim thinkers of the past such as Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina who drew strong influences from the writings of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle, but revolutionised and updated the knowledge into the context of Islam and their contemporary times. The benefits are immense. It allows knowledge to thrive and develop further as it becomes more applicable and easier to grasp. It is therefore wise for us to widen our "peripheral vision" to encompass business considerations in interpreting and applying the principles of Shariah. This is essential, if we aspire to break away from a compliance-based mentality into an outcome-based worldview. The mental shift would position Shariah scholars as not merely the leaders in Shariah knowledge, but also as the catalyst for business innovations. It is in this spirit that Bank Negara Malaysia is enhancing the Shariah Governance Framework for Islamic financial institutions. The new framework calls upon the Shariah Committees to integrate relevant business and risk considerations in Shariah decisions. Our aim is to position these committees as an enabler and catalyst in supporting the board and senior management. One that drives innovation by providing practical, actionable and impactful Shariah advice. By capturing multifaceted challenges faced by the industry, this framework ensures an ongoing support to Shariah advice amid the fast-changing business environment. Second is the pursuit of lifelong learning. It is through the relentless quest for knowledge that the great scholars of the past have left a lasting impact on our world.
It is this intellectual and cultural freedom that has characterised the long line of great Islamic traditions throughout history; from Ibn Battutta who traveled the world and eventually produced his famous work the “Rihlah”, to Ibn Khaldun who challenged the existing traditions and wrote the acclaimed “Muqaddimah”. Hundreds of years after they were written, these works are still revered and widely used as a reference today. Speaking of freedom allowed in Islam, I am reminded of a famous episode in the early days of Islam during the Battle of Khandak. It was during the eve of the battle when the Prophet received a suggestion from one of his companions1 to employ a novel battle strategy – one that is, as 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  many of you know, based on digging trenches around the city. This new strategy, generally unheard of among the Muslims and Arabs at the time, was in fact, borrowed and imitated from the Persians2. Regardless, the Prophet agreed to and pushed for the unconventional strategy and as a result, secured an emphatic victory. In line with the significant flexibility afforded in Islam, I believe that Shariah must not be confined to a rigid framework. The way I see it, Shariah should not and cannot, be applied in a vacuum. Rather, it has to be contextualised and applied into business realities.