Dr. Salehabadi, Chairman of the Iranian Association of Islamic Finance and CEO of the Export Development Bank, pointed out the need to establish the Sharia Council in the country's banks and financial institutions, saying the need to establish the Sharia Council in banks is now felt more than ever, because today the use of new financial techniques and instruments is a priority.

He stated the establishment of the Sharia Committee occurred under my presidency in the Securities and Exchange Organization, when the market needed the new trading instruments such as futures and sukuk to be introduced. Therefore, with the development of the Sharia Committee in the Exchange Organization, the Central Bank decided to establish the Sharia Committee, too.

Since there is a need for jurisprudential opinions in monetary and financial markets to coordinate the use of new financial instruments and the principles of Sharia, the Iranian Association of Islamic Finance has been established since 2013, and now it is the first session which is being held and specialized sessions are supposed to be convened regularly and monthly.

Salehabadi mentioned the necessity of establishing a Sharia Council in the country's banks and financial institutions is on the agenda of the first session of the Iranian Association of Islamic Finance to create a situation to decrease or minimize the Sharia risks with the use of activities, measures, principles and methods in the banking system; moreover, to ensures that the activities of the Islamic Financial Institution comply with the principles of Sharia.

He added there are three general approaches in examining the experience of countries in the field of Sharia supervision of countries. A minimum approach considers the principle of sharia supervision over Islamic banks and financial institutions as a necessary task, believing that this supervision should be minimum. The next approach is the maximum approach. In this approach, the legislatures believe that it is necessary to have maximum supervision on activities of Islamic financial institutions to know if they are in compliance with Sharia or not. The middle approach is the interval between the previous two approaches and is used in some countries, such as Kuwait and Qatar.

The level of sharia supervision includes 4 levels; central bank, government, financial institutions or a combination. Some countries pursue sharia supervision only at the level of institutions, and there is no central sharia supervision, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, there are countries where sharia supervision is pursued both through the central bank and financial institutions. In these countries, the Sharia Committee of the Central Bank acts as the reference committee. Like Malaysia and Indonesia. At the level of other countries, sharia supervision is pursued both through the government and financial institutions. The Sharia Committee of the government is also as the reference committee in the field of sharia supervision, like the UAE.

In the second step, the authority of the Sharia Committees of Islamic financial institutions is examined, which can be advisory, supervisory or executive-control. Those countries have established the Sharia Committee at the level of financial institutions, this committees has advisory, supervisory and executive aspects. The opinions of this committee are only a guide for financial market practitioners, but in Iran the opinions of the Sharia Committee are mandatory.

The third step is the selection authority of the members of the Sharia Committee of financial institutions. In some countries, such as Malaysia and Bahrain, only the board of directors is responsible for electing members of the Sharia Committee. In countries such as the UAE, Qatar and the United Kingdom, the board or general assembly is responsible for this task. In countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the election of members of the Sharia Committee is the responsibility of the General Assembly of Institutions. Also, in the major countries where there is a reference sharia committee, it is necessary for the qualifications of the members of all sharia committees to be approved by the reference sharia committee. In Iran, there is only a reference sharia committee.

He went on to say that the fourth step is the supreme authority for resolving disputes between members of sharia committees in an institution. Countries with a reference sharia committee, the issue of resolving disputes between the sharia committees of financial institutions is within the scope of the duties of the reference sharia committee, like Malaysia. Those countries have not established a reference sharia committee, special councils have been established to resolve disputes, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Also in some countries, such a dispute resolution authority has not been defined at all, like England.

He added the Sharia Council of the Central Bank consists of the Governor of the Central Bank, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, the Deputy Supervisor of the Central Bank, four general managers of the Central Bank, four scholars from seminaries and familiar with monetary and banking issues, two CEOs of private and public banks and two experts in the field of Islamic banking. The mission of this council is to analyze and provide suggestions and advice on banking issues from the perspective of the sharia.

The specialized sharia committee of the Securities and Exchange Organization has a specific advisory and supervisory position in the structure of the Exchange Organization. Of course, it is legally permissible to monitor the performance of the relevant stakeholders and to stop the operation if it is found to be incompatible with the principles of Sharia. The mission of this committee is to review and present the Sharia opinion on financial instruments, markets and institutions in the country's financial markets and to present corrective proposals.

The tasks of this committee are to evaluate the proposed new financial instruments for use in the stock market and over-the-counter markets from the sharia point of view, to examine sharia doubts about financial instruments and providing appropriate solutions, to asses financial instruments in practice to ensure their proper implementation, to design Islamic financial instruments for the country's capital market and proposing them to the board of directors of the organization, to cooperate with similar committees and councils in other domestic and foreign organizations, to cooperate in the development and expansion of educational programs and scientific publications in the field of finance Islamic and to collaborate in holding specialized sessions in the field of Islamic finance.