Skip to content
Al-Ershaad Consultancy Al-Ershaad Consultancy Shariah Advisory · Est. 2009

Al-Ershaad Consultancy · Est. 2009 · Dubai

Al-Ershaad translates complex fiqh al-muamalat into board-ready Shariah advisory for visionary institutions.

A boutique firm of resident scholars and chartered analysts structuring, reviewing, and certifying Shariah-compliant transactions across the GCC, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Schedule a Confidential Consultation Review the Practice
Headline figure
$14.2B structured · 180+ institutions · 14 countries
Recognition
Islamic Finance Advisory of the Year — MENA, GIFA 2022 & 2024
Senior Shariah advisors reviewing a sukuk prospectus in a Gulf financial district boardroom
Senior Advisory review, Gate Village 10, DIFC.

I. The Practice

Al-Ershaad is a dual-licensed external Shariah review firm advising Islamic banks, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and Shariah-compliant corporates on structuring, governance, and product certification.

We are retained when the matter in front of the Shariah committee cannot be reduced to a precedent — when the structure is novel, the jurisdiction is untested, or the governance line between product, treasury, and the board must be drawn with precision. Our opinions arrive in Arabic and English, simultaneously, drafted in-house by a team of nine resident Shariah scholars and seventeen chartered financial analysts who have sat on the AAOIFI, IFSB, and Bahrain Shari'a Review Bureau panels.

Since founding in Dubai in 2009, we have completed 1,240 Shariah compliance reviews and product certifications for 180 institutional clients across fourteen countries. The firm's average client tenure now stands at 6.8 years, with a 91% annual retention rate across advisory mandates — a record we attribute to a single discipline: we never sign an opinion we would not put our name behind in front of a regulator.

II. Track Record

Fifteen years, measured in numbers a Shariah committee chair can benchmark.

  1. $14.2B in Shariah-compliant sukuk, Ijarah, Musharakah, and Mudarabah structures certified or reviewed since 2009.
  2. 180+ institutional clients across 14 countries, including sovereign-linked entities and tier-one GCC Islamic banks.
  3. 6.8 yrs average client tenure across active advisory mandates, with a 91% annual retention rate.
  4. 6 days average Shariah review turnaround — benchmarked at 3.4× faster than the GCC boutique advisory median by IFAAS 2023.

Zero Shariah non-compliance events reported to any regulator across all active mandates since founding.

III. Scope of Engagement

Six boardroom deliverables most commonly commissioned by our senior clients.

  1. 01

    Sukuk Structuring & Issuance Certification

    End-to-end Shariah certification for sovereign, supranational, and corporate sukuk programmes — including Ijarah, Murabahah, Wakalah-Istisna, and hybrid structures across GCC, UK, Malaysian, and Indonesian regulatory frameworks.

  2. 02

    Ijarah, Musharakah & Mudarabah Certification

    Independent Shariah review and ongoing monitoring for operating leases, diminishing partnership structures, and profit-sharing investment vehicles — with quarterly compliance attestation and asset-level documentation.

  3. 03

    Shariah Review for Islamic Windows

    Conversion roadmaps and Shariah control framework design for conventional banks and asset managers establishing Islamic windows — covering product gating, segregation policies, and Shariah committee charter drafting.

  4. 04

    Fintech, Tokenisation & Digital Asset Certification

    Shariah opinions for tokenised sukuk, Shariah-compliant DeFi protocols, robo-advisory portfolios, and embedded finance products — leveraging our proprietary 312-point Shariah Screening & Structuring Framework.

  5. 05

    Waqf, Zakat & Family Office Succession

    Structuring advisory for philanthropic endowments, Zakat governance frameworks, and multi-generational wealth transfer — coordinated with private counsel to ensure Shariah and civil-law alignment across jurisdictions.

  6. 06

    Second-Opinion & Committee Rescue Reviews

    Independent re-review of opinions issued by incumbent advisors, including reconstruction of Shariah control environments following committee turnover, regulatory intervention, or contested fatwa.

IV. Scholarly Authority

The Senior Advisory Board is chaired by Mufti Dr. Yusuf Al-Karim, former member of the AAOIFI Shariah Board (2014–2021) and author of four fiqh standards adopted by Bahrain and Malaysian regulators.

The opinions that leave this firm are signed by scholars who have written the standards, not merely cited them. Our 38-person team includes nine resident scholars whose collective publication record spans 47 peer-reviewed papers in the Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research and the Islamic Economic Studies journal. Al-Ershaad maintains active panel listings with AAOIFI, IFSB, and the Bahrain Shari'a Review Bureau, and is dual-licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority and the Central Bank of Bahrain as an external Shariah review firm.

  • AAOIFI Shariah Board membership, 2014–2021
  • Four fiqh standards adopted by Bahrain and Malaysian regulators
  • DFSA and Central Bank of Bahrain dual-licensure as external Shariah review firm
  • 47 peer-reviewed publications across two indexed journals
  • 47-peer-reviewed publications across two indexed journals
Meet the Advisory Board
Mufti Dr. Yusuf Al-Karim, Chair of the Senior Advisory Board
Mufti Dr. Yusuf Al-Karim · Chair, Senior Advisory Board.

V. Recognition

“Recognised as Islamic Finance Advisory of the Year — MENA at the Global Islamic Finance Awards, in both 2022 and 2024.”

— Global Islamic Finance Awards · 2022, 2024

Schedule a Confidential Consultation

A 45-minute conversation with a Senior Shariah Advisor. Strictly confidential. Conducted under our standard NDA.