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Welcome to the Certified Islamic Finance Executive (CIFE) program, trusted by more professionals for Islamic finance, with 10,000+ learners now working in over 160 financial institutions in 65 countries around the world.
START YOUR CIFE NOW…FIRST 7 DAYS FREE.
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What makes Islamic finance different from conventional finance? And what makes it better?
Is Islamic banking a viable alternative to interest-based conventional banking? Is it really any different from conventional finance?
How does Islamic leasing — or Ijarah — work? Learn here, along with step-by-step practical explanations.
Learn the rights and obligations of the lessor and the lessee and try your hand at the quiz.
How do Islamic banks calculate leases? In these two teaser modules from the ACIFE program you find out. We hold your hand through calculations, tables, and formulas.
You continue learning about Islamic leases with more practical information from this ACIFE module along with a quiz.
Ethica’s most popular article: 20 of the most commonly asked questions about conventional home mortgages.
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Ethica's award-winning CIFE™ Islamic finance certification, officially recognized by AAOIFI, the world’s leading Islamic finance standard-setting body, is an accelerated training and certification program designed to take complete newcomers to an advanced level of understanding in Islamic finance 100% online. Conveniently self-paced, you complete this Islamic finance certification in 3 weeks or 3 months. We give you 10 months of easy access.
The Islamic finance certification fee is $1,495 (or $149.5/month), paid online (Visa, Mastercard), PayPal or by wire transfer. When you sign up you get:
Does the CIFE™ Islamic finance certification have any prerequisites?
There are no prerequisites for Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification and if you have no prior knowledge of finance, you've come to the right place. We designed the material specifically for newcomers seeking a high level of proficiency in the practical aspects of Islamic finance in a very short amount of time.
When can I start and when will I finish this Islamic finance certification?There are no fixed dates for the Islamic finance certification program. Start whenever you like. Once you understand the core modules listed below that comprise the testable material, you are ready to take the 90-minute online CIFE™ examination. You can take the Islamic finance certification exam as soon as you are ready; for some that's 3 months, for others it's less than 1 month: you choose your pace. The recommended study schedule shows you how to comfortably finish the Islamic finance certification program in the allotted 8 month period with an investment of as little as 1 hour per week.
If I have any questions about the study material, who do I ask?Ethica's team of Islamic finance certification experts are here for you. We hold your hand every step of the way from the day you enroll, through your entire CIFE™, and beyond certification as you develop your career. Email us at [email protected]. . We are passionately dedicated to serving you. And there is always Ethica's Q&A database - the largest collection of scholar-approved Islamic finance Q&As available online to our knowledge.
When do I receive my study package?The CIFE™ Islamic finance certification study package you receive immediately upon enrollment consists of two parts: 1) the mandatory part comprises the online training videos and the certification exam; and 2) the optional part contains over 400 pages of premium Islamic finance certification material including CIFE™ Study Notes, sample Islamic finance contracts, informative articles, recommended reading lists for Islamic finance practitioners and entrepreneurs, a glossary of commonly used industry terminology, and over 1,000 scholar-approved Q&As.
What does the CIFE™ Islamic finance certification curriculum include?The CIFE™ Islamic finance certification comprises 22 core modules. One module consists of an approximately 20 minute training video which includes a variety of exercises, case studies, and quizzes, along with which you do your self-study. Experience with hundreds of other learners shows that the CIFE™ Islamic finance certification program is comfortably manageable in about 1 to 3 months of training and about 1 month or less of studying for the examination, enabling most users to complete the program in less than the 8 month study period. Explore the full CIFE™ Islamic finance certification curriculum here.
How does the CIFE™ Islamic finance certification exam work?The CIFE™ Islamic finance certification examination is a 90 minute exam of 100 multiple choice questions. The pass mark is 70%. You can take the CIFE™ Islamic finance certification examination from your home, office or university. We also provide organizations the ability to conduct closed-door exams at their respective locations.
What happens if I fail?If you do not pass the first time, you pay $175 for the re-attempt.
How is Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification program the 'fastest way to learn Islamic finance guaranteed'?Just as 20% of your clothes get worn 80% of the time and 20% of your effort yields 80% of the results, the 80-20 principle teaches us that there is an essential core at the heart of everything. We give you the 80-20 of the Islamic finance world. When you sign up for Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification you get only the most essential, practical knowledge distilled into an accelerated program. Dynamic and up-to-date material 24 hours a day, rather than waiting around for outdated guidebooks, CDs, and distance learning emails. Our Islamic finance certification is designed for maximum knowledge transfer without burdening you with more information than you require. All the information, including spreadsheets, case studies, questions, exercises, and quizzes is contained in the Islamic finance certification training videos
Is the Islamic finance certification recognized? Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification is accredited by leading Islamic finance scholars and bankers. Ethica's clients include several banking giants with some institutions training over 1,000 bankers across 100+ branches. Ethica has won the following awards:
Is the Islamic finance certification standardized? Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification is third-party certified to conform to AAOIFI, the industry's most widely-accepted standard. Following AAOIFI leads to greater transparency, governance, an convergence. Read Ethica's article, "Fiqh or Fiction," on the need for standardized, AAOIFI-compliant training below.
Is the Islamic finance certification up-to-date? Workbooks, CDs, and distance-learning courses grow old fast. Can you really be sure that your 3-year old workbook or last year's CD is up-to-date? With Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification, when Islamic finance innovates, our online content innovates right there with it. So you can be sure that you're never left behind.
Is the Islamic finance certification prepared by professors or bankers? Ethica's CIFE™ Islamic finance certification is rigorously prepared by a team of bankers and scholars, not professors. Ethica delivers practical, usable knowledge that replicates what Islamic bankers need to know on the job.
What happens after this Islamic finance certification? When your resume reads 'Ethica CIFE Graduate,' recruiters know that you bring more Islamic finance know-how to the job than most around. Simply search Ethica or CIFE on LinkedIn to see the diversity of Ethica's CIFE graduates and the organizations they work for.
Can we afford your Islamic finance certification? Our individual, group and corporate Islamic finance certification rates are designed to rapidly and cost-effectively train and certify users in less than 10 months at competitive rates.
Where is the institute based? We are based in the United States, which has one of the world's best e-learning delivery technologies, and have a team of bankers and scholars spread across the globe, with real world Islamic finance experience.
What makes Islamic finance different from conventional finance? And what makes it better? We look at 3 real- world examples and find out. We also introduce you to the 4 principles that guide Islamic finance transactions.
Have you ever wanted to change the world? Have you ever wanted to figure out the one thing that could change the world more than anything else? Start by reading this manifesto.
You've heard of joint-stock companies. Now learn about the Islamic variation. We look at Musharakah, the Islamic business partnership where partners pool together capital, expertise or goodwill to conduct business or trade. We look at the basic features of a Musharakah and its types, their mode of operation, duration and the various forms of capital contribution.
We discuss the management of the Musharakah business and take you through some practical applications of how Islamic banks use Musharakah. We also look at profit and loss sharing ahead of the subsequent module's profit calculation exercises.
We complete our discussion on general aspects of Musharakah, including how banks handle negligence, termination, and constructive liquidation. We round our discussion with some practical examples of Musharakah calculation, a quick review of financial statements and how exactly profit gets calculated.
This article will not only allow you to confidently handle that awkward question clients and colleagues love to ask: “Isn’t Islamic finance just dressed up conventional finance?” but also sharpen your ability to sniff out non Shariah-compliant products.
Where Islamic banks meet conventional private equity type investing. Here you learn Mudarabahs, the Islamic business partnership where one partner supplies capital for the business and the other provides management expertise. We explain the Mudarabah structure and contrast it with Musharakah and Wakalah, explaining how they differ in banking practice.
How is an investment partnership different from an agency contract? We discuss the relative merits of the Mudarabah and the Wakalah structure in different situations. We also describe the Mudarib's role, the duration of Mudarabahs and the forms of capital contribution by the investor and in some cases even the Mudarib.
We discuss the Mudarabah's management and the rules for sharing profit and loss. We also look at some practical examples showing how Islamic banks use Mudarabahs.
A handy reference to the most common questions.
What's an Islamic lease? This module helps you find out. We introduce Ijarah, the Islamic lease, and look at pre-requisites for their execution, legal title, possession, maintenance, earnest money, default, and insurance. We begin answering the question "How does an Ijarah work?" with step-by-step practical explanations.
You learn the rights and obligations of the lessor and the lessee and focus on defective assets, sub-leases, extensions and renewals, transfer of ownership, and termination.
We speak to bankers, both Islamic and conventional, and laymen, both sincere and cynical, and compile twenty-one of the most commonly asked questions about riba and mortgages.
Learn about the most widely used Islamic finance product: buy an asset for the customer; sell the asset at a premium in installments to the customer. That's a Murabaha. In these modules we introduce Murabahas and walk you through the first 5 of the 7 important steps necessary for a Murabaha's valid execution.
Wrap up the 7 steps to executing a Murabaha: we cover steps 6 and 7 and go on to discuss common mistakes bankers make when executing Murabahas and how to avoid them. We also look at risk management, default, early repayment, and profit calculation in Murabahas.
So how does it work in the real world? We look at 6 practical examples of Murabahas based on installment repayments, bullet repayments, advance payments, and credit and import Murabaha.
What makes a forward contract Islamic? Learn here. In this module on Salam, the Islamic forward sale, and Istisna, the Islamic manufacturing contract, we begin with Salam. We look at the goods for which a Salam may be executed, the pre-requisites, and the use of a Parallel Salam.
Ethica sits down with Shariah department experts to identify industry best practices for Shariah compliance at the bank.
We discuss security, replacement, and default before explaining how its pricing is calculated. We then look at Istisna and discuss the major differences between it and the Salam.
In this final module we discuss delivery, default, and the termination of Istisna. We conclude the 3 module series with a practical product structuring exercise where you get to choose the appropriate financing tools in a given scenario.
You learn the difference between Islamic and conventional insurance and the essentials that make Islamic insurance unique. You walk through a numerical example before taking the Self-Assessment Quiz.
The primacy of a fatwa when accrediting an Islamic finance training program, and why Islamic finance scholars, not academic and professional bodies, should certify training programs for authenticity.
You've read about them. Now learn about them. Sukuks are Islamic shares and we show you the main features walking you through the 8 step structuring process concluding with a study of Ijarah Sukuk.
We continue our discussion on Sukuk with a look at Musharakah and Mudarabah, Sukuk and the limitations of issuing using Murabaha, Salam and Istisna. We close with a case study of the IDB Sukuk.
What do Islamic banks do with excess capital in the short-term? How do they access capital for the long-term? You learn the answers to these and other questions in this module. We discuss how Islamic banks manage liquidity and begin by explaining an inter-bank Mudarabah, walking you through how a weightage table works; useful information for other Islamic banking products. We close the module with a look at the application of Sukuk in liquidity management.
You look at filters for stocks, shares, Musharakah investment pools, and the use of agency contracts to manage liquidity. We also look at local and the foreign currency Commodity Murabahas and walk you through the steps for executing each.
Some have said "Banking is risk management." If you don't know anything about risk management this is the module for you. You learn the basics about risk management in Islamic finance and discuss the most common risks facing Islamic banks and the mitigation techniques used to address them.
Now you learn about how risk relates to each specific Islamic finance product. We go through each major Islamic banking product, namely Murabaha, Salam, Istisna, Ijarah, Musharakah and Mudarabah, and explain the specific risks associated with each.
Each question is reviewed by an Islamic finance expert and approved by a scholar.
Browse one of the world's largest database of Islamic finance Q&As available online.
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