International Program for Accounting (IPAcc) of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) has been established for a year. To encourage students’ learning process, the program parties invited Dr. Hafas Furqani, M.Ec., a lecturer at Faculty of Islam Economics and Business of UIN Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, to give a public lecture on ‘sukuk’ (Islamic bonds).

In the lecture, Dr. Hafas explained a lot of ins and outs of Islamic bonds. “Islamic bonds is one of the innovative instruments in sharia capital market to fund long term financing based on Islamic rules. The Islamic bonds provide an alternative for a company and government to fund national and international projects with a bond instrument as securities of equal denomination,” he told.

Hafis inserted that the Islamic bonds can be used to pay infrastructure development such as the construction of airports, railways, and hospitals. Thus, the Islamic bounds are considered to be able to reduce public expenses or government’s debt. Indeed, dealing with sharia economy, the Islamic bounds possess several criteria.

“As the primary assets, the Islamic bonds should be in line with Islamic law. First, the Islamic bonds have to meet a criterion of mal al-taqawwim or valuable properties. Second, the Islamic bonds should be productive assets or can yield income. In fact, the assets can be in term of tangible assets such as land, buildings, companies, airports, and others, or intangible assets such as services, copyrights, trademarks, and license. Besides, they can be in term of future assets such as ijarah mawsudah fi zimah,” mentioned Hafas.