Islamic Digital Finance Products and Shariah Controls Training Course

Course overview

Islamic digital finance teams must turn Shariah principles into controls that work inside mobile onboarding, payment journeys, financing engines, APIs, automated decisioning and third-party platforms. A product can have an approved contract structure yet still create Shariah, conduct or reputational exposure when the digital workflow changes the sequence of offer and acceptance, commingles funds, applies late-payment charges incorrectly, automates prohibited conditions or leaves inadequate evidence for Shariah review. This course addresses the practical gap between product approval and controlled digital execution.

Participants examine how Islamic finance structures such as Murabaha, Ijarah, Wakalah, Qard, Musharakah and commodity-based Tawarruq are adapted for digital channels. They learn to map an end-to-end customer journey against Shariah requirements; identify control points in onboarding, contract generation, asset purchase, disbursement, collections and settlement; assess fintech partnership models; and document exceptions, audit trails and Shariah governance evidence. Sessions also address digital wallets, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer platforms, embedded finance, robo-advisory and smart-contract use cases.

The programme is delivered through instructor-led analysis, workflow design workshops and sector case studies drawn from Islamic banking and fintech operations. Participants work in teams to review a digital product proposition, build a Shariah control matrix, define ownership and escalation routes, and test selected scenarios for control failure. Each participant leaves with a practical Digital Islamic Finance Product Control Pack containing a customer-journey map, Shariah risk register, control matrix and implementation action plan suitable for adaptation in their organisation.

The course is designed for professionals who already work with Islamic banking products, digital channels, risk, compliance, operations, technology delivery or Shariah governance and need a structured method for approving and controlling digital finance propositions.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Map a digital Islamic finance customer journey against contract, ownership, possession and disclosure requirements
• Translate Murabaha, Ijarah, Wakalah, Qard and Musharakah structures into system workflow requirements
• Build a Shariah control matrix linking risks, preventive controls, evidence, owners and escalation actions
• Assess digital onboarding and e-contracting flows for valid offer, acceptance, agency and customer consent
• Test payment, settlement and wallet processes for fund segregation, fee treatment and prohibited income risks
• Evaluate fintech partnership and embedded-finance models using a Shariah governance due-diligence checklist
• Design exception-handling and audit-trail requirements for automated Islamic finance transactions
• Produce a digital product Shariah implementation plan for review by business, technology and Shariah stakeholders

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Islamic Banking Product Managers — who must convert approved product structures into viable digital propositions
• Shariah Compliance Officers — who need evidence-based controls for digital products and outsourced fintech services
• Digital Transformation Managers — who configure customer journeys and must preserve Shariah requirements in delivery
• Fintech Partnership Managers — who assess platform providers, embedded-finance arrangements and operating responsibilities
• Operational Risk and Internal Audit Professionals — who test whether automated Islamic finance processes operate as intended
• Business Analysts and Technology Delivery Leads — who translate Shariah requirements into system rules, user stories and acceptance criteria

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand the basic commercial purpose of Islamic banking and be familiar with at least several common structures, including Murabaha, Ijarah, Wakalah, Qard, Musharakah or Tawarruq. Experience in a bank, Islamic fintech, product, operations, risk, compliance, technology or Shariah governance function is expected. Participants should be comfortable reading process maps, product terms and simple control documentation. A laptop with Microsoft Excel is useful for workshop templates. Prior coding, smart-contract programming, legal drafting and specialist accounting knowledge are not required; the course focuses on product workflow and control design rather than software development.

Training methodology

The instructor uses short technical briefings to establish the applicable Shariah and governance concepts, followed by guided analysis of digital product flows. Participants annotate onboarding screens, e-contract sequences, payment journeys and exception scenarios to identify where controls must operate. Small groups work through Islamic digital-wallet, Murabaha financing and fintech-partnership cases, using control-matrix and risk-register templates in Microsoft Excel. Daily debriefs compare design choices against AAOIFI and IFSB expectations. The final workshop converts learning into an organisation-specific implementation plan with owners, evidence requirements and priority actions.

Course outline

Day 1: Islamic digital finance architecture and Shariah foundations

• Islamic digital finance ecosystem: banks, fintechs, platforms and outsourced service providers
• Shariah governance roles across product approval, implementation, monitoring and remediation
• AAOIFI Shariah Standards relevant to digital product structures
• Contract essentials in digitised transactions: parties, subject matter, price, consent and sequence
• Digital evidence for offer, acceptance, agency appointment and customer disclosure
• Customer-journey mapping from acquisition through servicing and closure
• Shariah risk taxonomy for automated and platform-based finance

Workshop: Participants map a mobile Islamic financing journey and identify the contractual events and evidence required at each stage.

Day 2: Digitalising Islamic finance contracts

• Murabaha workflow controls for purchase order, promise, asset acquisition and resale
• Ijarah digital servicing controls for asset ownership, rental calculation and maintenance responsibility
• Wakalah and Qard structures in digital wallets and account products
• Musharakah and Mudarabah platform considerations for profit allocation and loss treatment
• Commodity Tawarruq sequencing, agency arrangements and transaction evidence
• E-signature, click-wrap consent and electronic contract-document retention
• Business rules and acceptance criteria for Shariah-compliant system configuration

Workshop: Teams convert a Murabaha product paper into a system workflow specification with Shariah acceptance criteria.

Day 3: Controls for payments, platforms and automated decisions

• Digital wallet fund flows, safeguarding and segregation of customer balances
• Fee design, late-payment treatment and charitable-payment controls
• Payment gateways, settlement accounts and reconciliation evidence
• Peer-to-peer financing and crowdfunding platform governance models
• Embedded finance and banking-as-a-service responsibility allocation
• Automated credit decisioning, affordability rules and prohibited-condition screening
• API controls, data hand-offs and third-party service-level obligations

Workshop: Participants review a digital-wallet and embedded-finance case, then produce a fund-flow control diagram and issue log.

Day 4: Shariah governance, assurance and incident response

• Shariah control matrix design: risks, controls, owners, frequency and evidence
• First-line, second-line and Shariah review responsibilities under IFSB governance principles
• Pre-launch Shariah readiness assessments and go-live approval gates
• Continuous monitoring indicators for digital transaction exceptions
• Testing transaction sequence, consent records, pricing logic and ledger entries
• Non-compliance identification, rectification, purification and customer remediation
• Vendor due diligence and audit rights for fintech and cloud-service arrangements

Workshop: Participants build a Shariah control matrix and monitoring plan for a proposed Islamic buy-now-pay-later product.

Day 5: Product review workshop and implementation planning

• Robo-advisory and digital investment-platform Shariah screening considerations
• Smart contracts and distributed-ledger use cases: governance limits and control evidence
• Digital product approval-pack structure for Shariah committee review
• Translating Shariah findings into technology backlog items and remediation actions
• Risk-based prioritisation of control gaps using impact and likelihood criteria
• Stakeholder communication with product, engineering, operations and Shariah teams
• Ninety-day implementation roadmap and post-launch review planning

Workshop: Participants complete and present a Digital Islamic Finance Product Control Pack for a selected product, including prioritised implementation actions.

Tools & standards covered

AAOIFI Shari'ah Standards, IFSB-10 Guiding Principles on Shariah Governance Systems, Microsoft Excel, Miro

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions