Abdulkader Thomas

After a career of more than forty years in international finance, Abdulkader has returned for his doctorate at SOAS. An established author in the field of Islamic finance, Abdulkader has engaged in the process of applying fiqh to solve contemporary financial problems. Among the key areas that he has found concerns yet to be addressed effectively is the consolidation of fiqh principles for insolvency resolution. Abdulkader’s roles combine applied research, market regulation, and financial problem solving. These find a new application away from the business sector and in academia.

Fellowship

• Securities Commission Visiting Fellow for Islamic Finance at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Research: Bankruptcy, Policy & Maqasid Al Shariah. 2020 - 21. Sponsor: Mohammad Meki.

Expert witness

• Her Majesty The Queen -and- Omar Kalair and Yusuf Panchbhaya Defendants, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, 2018
• In re: Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c), et al., Debtors. Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of  Arcapita Bank B.S.C.(c), et al., Plaintiff v. Tadhamon Capital B.S.C., Defendant; and v. Bahrain Islamic Bank B.S.C., Defendant. United States Bankrupcy Court Southern District of New York, 2018

Shariah advisory

• Chairman of Shariah Board Algbra. Since 2021.
• Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Experts of Sterling Bank PLC (Nigeria) since 2013.
• Member International Advisory Council, Securities Commission Malaysia since 2008.
• Technical Member of Shariah Supervisory Board of Bank Muscat Meethaq (Oman) 2013 - 2017.
• Shariah consultant to University Bank (Michigan) 2006 - 2022.

Teaching positions

• IE Business School (Madrid) 2015 - present. Granted 1st Award for Teaching Excellence Executive Education 2021-22 on December 12, 2022. Adjunct Professor, Islamic Finance.
• Informa / Middlesex University 2022. Distance learning instructor.
• DePaul University (Chicago) 2009 - 2017. Delivered at Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance. Adjunct Professor, Islamic Finance.

• The Origins of Contemporary Sukuk. Academia Letters, Article 1292, published 2021. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1292.
• Bankruptcy in Shariah & Civil Law: Policy Implications for Sukuk and the Islamic Capital Markets in the State of Kuwait presented at Gulf Research Meeting, Cambridge University, 2016.
• Co-author with Shabnam Mokhtar & Ihsan Gonsalves, Product Development: FX Hedging and Promissory Hedging presented at The Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference, University of California, Berkeley 2016.
• Lead author, Managing Fund Flows, Risks and Derivatives: Applications in Islamic Institutions (Kuala Lumpur: Sweet & Maxwell, 2012).
• Contributing editor, Sukuk (Kuala Lumpur: Sweet & Maxwell, 2009).
• Supporting Translator, Hammad, Nazih (2007) Compensation for an Obligation to Sell Currency in the Future (Hedging), Chicago Journal of International Law: Vol. 7: No. 2, Article 9. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cjil/vol7/iss2/9.
• Contributing editor, Interest in Islamic Economics (Oxford: Routledge, 2005).
• Co-author with Stella Cox, Lawrence Oliver, Bryan Kraty, Structuring Islamic Finance Transactions (London: Euromoney Books, 2005).
• Co-author with Nathif Adam, Islamic Bonds: Your Guide to Issuing, Structuring and Investing in Sukuk (London: Euromoney Books, 2004).

Insolvency resolution, applied usul al fiqh, comparative law, corporate governance, finance, financial sector regulation, and Islamic finance