Ahmad is the Head of Shariah Research at the Central Bank of Malaysia and a Secretariat member of its Shariah Advisory Council. With over 11 years at BNM, his work spans Shariah policy, standards, and research on modern money, CBDCs, liquidity instruments, and financial innovation.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is a statutory body which started operations in 1959 and governed by the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009. The role of BNM is to promote monetary and financial stability, in order to provide a conducive environment for the sustainable growth of the Malaysian economy.

Fundamentals of Modern Money and its Application to CBDC: An Exploratory Shariah Analysis

This presentation provides a foundational analysis of the nature of modern money and its Shariah implications, serving as a basis for determining appropriate Shariah rulings on contemporary monetary instruments, including Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). It  presents three key insights: (1) Modern money fundamentally operates as credit-money; (2) Classical Shariah conceptions of money — rooted in commodity-based views of the nature of money — are limited in addressing the realities of today’s monetary system;  and (3) A renewed Shariah approach is essential to support the application of Islamic principles to emerging innovations such as stablecoins and CBDC.