Cooperation Urged for Muslims’ Greater Share in Islamic Economy Market
A failure to cooperate with one another will give non-Muslims the chance to grab a significant share of the Islamic economy market, which would run counter to the Quran’s injunctions, Hamid Saber Farzam said Thursday in an address to the second annual Global Islamic Economy Entrepreneurship Convention (GIEEC).
The convention is underway in the Malaysian capital of Kuala
Lumpur with the participation of some 500 industry experts from across the
global Islamic economy – including entrepreneurs, investors, consultants,
ecosystem supporters, bankers and up-and-coming startups from different
countries.
Following is the full text of Mr Farzam’s address at the convention:
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As-Salamu Alaykum
I would like to thank the organizers and you, dear brothers and sisters, for holding this exceptional gathering.
I am Hamid Saber Farzam addressing this gathering on behalf of a group of Iranian youths and entrepreneurs involved in creation of Quranic and Islamic products.
The Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR) is the biggest NGO in Iran which, in addition to educational and research activities in medical and technical fields and in humanities, has held numerous Quranic programs at the national and international levels since 1980.
They include holding the international Quran competition for Muslim world students, organizing Quranic programs in universities across Iran via the Iranian Students’ Quranic Activities Center (ISQA), gathering, production and dissemination of news about Quranic and Islamic topics in 17 languages via the International Quran News agency (IQNA), providing specialized and profession-based education in specialized education centers, and conducting research and organizing scholarly conferences in the field of interdisciplinary Quranic studies.
What was lacking until recently, though, was a specialized center for supporting Quranic startups. We managed to establish such a center last year under the name of the Quranic Technologies and Arts Incubator Center.
It is a specialized incubator center focusing on development
of Quranic and Islamic technological businesses.
Run by expert professionals, it prepares the ground for creation and development of Quranic and Islamic businesses by providing constant accessible support services and necessary consultations.
Here are some of the center’s activities since its establishment:
- Organizing national and international exhibitions of Quranic and Islamic products
- Planning and holding entrepreneurial events under the title of Tolu-e Barekat (rise of blessing) focusing on Islamic entrepreneurship
- Receiving and supporting innovative Quranic-Islamic ideas
- Organizing specialized forums and workshops on Islamic entrepreneurship
Thank God, today, due to these efforts, we have better conditions in Iran in terms of production of innovative Quranic products and intend to improve the conditions further with the help of you dear friends, God Willing.
Dear brothers and sisters,
As you know, the total volume of Islamic economy trade is estimated to reach $3
trillion by 2021 and the Islamic finance’s total global assets by that year are
expected to grow to 3.5 trillion.
In order for innovative Muslims to play a greater role in this huge and developing economy, further cooperation among Muslims is needed. If, just because of certain differences, we neglect the opportunities of this economy and fail to cooperate with one another for better using them, it will give non-Muslims or non-Muslim countries the chance to grab a significant share of the Islamic economy market, which would run counter to the Quran’s unequivocal statement that "… Allah will by no means give the unbelievers a way against the believers.” (Surah Nisa, Verse 141). It should be remembered as an example that non-Muslim countries have a significant share in the Islamic clothing, Halal food and ICT markets.
I believe ethnic dissimilarities, political differences, and disputes among governments should by no means be an obstacle to economic cooperation. The Islamic economy sector is growing and, therefore, it is necessary that creative Muslims have more collaborations in this field than ever.
In the field of Quranic products, in particular, there is a long way to go despite all the endeavors made so far. The number of Qurans printed in the world is much less than that of the Bible. While the Bible has been translated into over 2000 languages, there are Quran renderings in about 400 languages. In such fields as cinema, videogames, toys, e-learning, and Quranic arts products we are behind others and need more and better works.
Dear brothers and sisters,
With a population of 80 million, Iran is the six most populous Muslim country with a young and creative population. There is also a big market for Islamic and Quranic products. Of course, a large portion of this market is mostly traditional. But, given the considerable cultural-Islamic content available and the educated and enthusiastic human resources, there are innovative examples ready for cooperation at the international level. Some of them have been presented in our pavilion.
According to a report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Iran, there are good conditions in terms of physical infrastructure and internal market dynamics while the conditions regarding government policies: support and relevance and entrepreneurial education are also improving.
Moreover, the trend of fledging entrepreneurship in Iran is moving upward and there are many youths seeking new opportunities at the international level and in the Muslim world to create startups.
Currently, there are many incubator centers, accelerators and entrepreneurship events in Iran and we have startups valued at millions of dollars according to international sources.
In the field of Islamic economy, Iran has very good capacities in Halal food, Islamic finance, Halal tourism, Islamic clothing, games, animation and health. For instance, Iran is a major destination for Muslim tourists because of its significant historical and Islamic sites and some 60 percent of foreign tourists visit the country for religious purposes. Also, Iran has the largest financial market among Islamic countries and issuance of Islamic securities in 2016 rose by 100% compared to 2015.
In Iran, there are more than 5,000 Quranic institutes. Some of them are involved in production of products related to the Quran and every year take part in national and international exhibitions. The top ones participate in one of the biggest Quran exhibitions in the Muslims world held in Tehran every year during the holy month of Ramadan.
In conclusion, I would like to say that we are ready for supporting plans and implementing joint global projects related to production of innovative Quranic products. We also hope conditions will be provided so that we can host this convention in Iran in comping years.
In this trip, I am accompanied by a team of entrepreneurs and we are ready for talks on developing cooperation.
Dear friends. In the field of sports, we have the Islamic Solidarity Games whose fourth edition will kick off tomorrow. I hope we will soon have a union of solidarity of Islamic startups and entrepreneurship support institutions.
Thank you for your attention.
