Explore Sun Life Financial Worldwide

Regions

Leadership

About Us

Shariah Committee

We keep our commitment towards our shareholders and customers by ensuring compliance in the way we conduct our business with the establishment of Shariah Committee. The members play a pivotal role in our Takaful businesses and in establishing the general guideline to the way Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad conducts its businesses and activities; which include product development, operations, distribution, accounting, investment, outsourcing and other related Takaful activities.

The Shariah Committee of Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad consists of prominent Shariah scholars who specialise in Islamic knowledge and practice. The five members of the committee are:

Professor Dato’ Dr. Asmadi Mohamed Naim is a Mufti of Pahang State, Malaysia, and a Professor at Islamic Business School (IBS), UUM College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) where he started his higher education career since 1999. He has vast experiences on industry practices where he has been appointed as a member of Shariah Advisory Council, Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC) since 2014 and a member of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad’s Shariah Council from 2020, and a Chairman of Shariah Committee of Sun Life Takaful in 2021. Prior to that he was a member of Shariah Advisory Council Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) from 2013 until 31 October 2019. He was also a member of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) for Tabung Haji (TH) starting from January 2022 until July 2022. Recently, he completed his term for three years as Vice Chancellor/Chief Executive of Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Abdul Halim al-Mu’adzam Shah (UniSHAMS).

Currently, he is also a member of Fatwa Committee of the state of Kelantan (Jamaah Ulama Kelantan) since mid-2018 and a member of Shariah Expert Panel of JAKIM for 2019 till now; and Waqf Council of Pahang State since 2019, and a member for Lembaga Zakat Negeri Kedah (LZNK) from September 2021.

He was also a member of Muamalat Expert Panel JAKIM (2016 to 2018) and a board member of Sintok Agro Sdn Bhd for 2018 – 2019 term. He served as the internal consultant for Hong Leong Islamic Bank in 2008 to 2010 before becoming its Shariah Council member from 2010 to 2013. He was also a Grand Council Member of Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance Professional (CIIF) from 2018 to 2020 where previously known as Association of Chartered Islamic Finance Professional (ACIFP).

Apart from that, he was also a member of various councils such as Ministry of Higher Education Committee of Malaysia for Islamic Finance, Takaful and Muamalat Administration Curriculum in 2012 to 2014.

He graduated with Bachelor’s Degree of Shariah from University of Jordan in Fiqh and Usul fiqh specialization in 1997 before completing his Master and Phd in the same specialization in 1999 and 2005 from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). As to familiarize himself with current financial knowledge, he completed Chartered Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) in 2010 and IFP in 2012.

He has vast experiences in conducting researches and consultations either as lead researcher or as a research member, and obtained various research grants from numerous institutions globally or locally such as IRTI, IDB; MOHE, ISRA, FWD Takaful, JAKIM, etc.

He has authored few books and numerous articles (in Arabic, English and Malay) in Islamic finance and Shariah issues in reputable international publications and journals; national journals, books, magazines and newspapers. Currently he is in the Editorial Board in few local and international academic journals.
 

Sheikh Azizi Che Seman is currently a senior lecturer at the Islamic Studies Academy, University of Malaya, a position he has held since 2002. Currently, he is a Shariah Committee member of Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad, Chairman for Bank Muamalat Malaysia’s Shariah Committee and Shariah Committee member of Agrobank. He also serves as the Chairman of the Shariah Advisory Committee of the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM).

He is 49 years old and received a master’s degree in Economics from the International Islamic University of Malaysia in 2001 and a Bachelor of Shariah from Universiti Malaya in 1996. His specialization areas are in Islamic Capital Market, Islamic Economics and Fiqh Muamalat.

Professor Dr. Abdul Ghafar Ismail is an Honorary Professor of Islamic Economics at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He is Chairholder of Sheikh Abdullah Fahim, Institut Islam Hadhari, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He has been a Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad Shariah Committee member since 2021.

His experience includes Rector, Kolej Universiti Islam Johor Sultan Ibrahim; Head of Research Division, IsDB Institute, Islamic Development Bank Group; Professor of Islamic Economics, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Putra Business School and Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali; Bank Supervision Advisor of the International Monetary Fund for Djibouti; Consultant for Islamic Economy Masterplan for Indonesia; AmBank Group Resident Fellow for Perdana Leadership Foundation, Board of Trustees for Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam Malaysia; Fellow for International Research Academy for Islamic Finance; and Chairman of Shariah Committee, Citibank Malaysia.

Dr. Abdul Ghafar is 62 years old. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Economics from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Later, he obtained a PhD from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom.

Dr Ghazali Jaapar is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Islamic Law, Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He is now the Chairman of the Shariah Committee of KIBB and a member of the Shariah Committee of EXIM Bank. Prior to that, he was the Chairman of the Shariah Committee of RHB Islamic Bank and a member of HSBC Amanah Takaful and FWD Takaful until 2022.

He is 52 years old and holds a Bachelor of Shariah (Law) from the University of Malaya, a Master in Comparative Law (MCL) from International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and a PhD in Islamic Jurisprudence from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Dr. Md. Nurdin Ngadimon has vast experience in the Islamic Capital Market (ICM) in Malaysia, working for over 25 years with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). His expertise includes the field of Muamalat (Islamic Jurisprudence of Transactions), Fiqh and Usul Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence and Fundamental of Islamic Jurisprudence), Qawaid Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudential Rules), Dalalat (Semantics) and Maqasid Shariah (The Objective of Shariah Law).

Dr. Nurdin started his career in 1987 as a lecturer in the Faculty of Shariah, University of Malaya. During his academic stint, Dr. Nurdin taught subjects on Muamalat, Hadith Ahkam, Madkhal al-Fiqh al-Islami (Introduction to Islamic Law) and Fiqh al-Zakah. Dr. Nurdin has contributed immensely to the development of ICM in Malaysia, being a pioneer member of the Islamic Instrument Study Group set up by the SC in 1994. He later joined as a permanent employee in 1995 and was subsequently entrusted to hold various roles until his last position as the Deputy Director prior to retirement in 2020.

During his tenure at the SC, Dr. Nurdin was involved in numerous tasks and responsibilities, including the development of the Shariah-compliant securities screening methodology for securities listed on Bursa Malaysia which helped the growth of the Islamic fund management industry, Islamic unit trust fund, and Islamic REIT.

In addition, he was also involved as a representative of the SC to play roles in providing views and comments related to ICM and Islamic finance in general. Among others, Dr. Nurdin became a representative in the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), Malaysian Accounting Standard Board, Law Harmonization Committee, Special Committee for Islamic Finance (SCIF) under the Ministry of Finance, a member of the Islamic Consultative Council (ICC) panel under the Prime Minister's Department, Malaysia, a member of consultative representative under the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) to set a standard for Islamic Finance higher education and training programmes and a member of Association of Shariah Advisors in Islamic Finance (ASAS).

Dr. Nurdin is 61 years old and holds a Bachelor of Shariah (Shariah & Economy) from the University of Malaya, a Masters of Fiqh and Usul Fiqh from the University of Jordan and later obtained his PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Birmingham.