CSE exam preparation

The Certified Shari'ah Expert (CSE) is an AAOIFI fellowship that builds the knowledge and professional skills needed to advise whether contracts, products and profit-and-loss mechanisms comply with the AAOIFI Shari'ah standards. Beyond Shari'ah, it covers product development, accounting, risk management and governance, with a practical experience requirement in Shari'ah board, compliance and product development work. AAOIFI's materials have presented the CSE both as a fellowship and as a component of its Shari'ah adviser and auditor pathway.

This program is built on its own dedicated course, CSE exam preparation: study modules, organised in ten modules: the Shari'ah expert's role, methodology and the fatwa process in finance; islamic product development: from concept to Shari'ah approval; structuring retail financing: murabahah, tawarruq, ijarah and diminishing musharakah; structuring corporate, project and trade finance; deposits, investment accounts and profit-and-loss sharing mechanisms; sukuk and capital-market products; treasury, liquidity management and hedging; takaful, zakah, waqf and social finance products; accounting, risk management and income purification for Shari'ah experts; shari'ah governance, board resolutions, fintech products and ethics. Each module has exam-focused notes, worked scenarios analysed step by step, slides and a scenario quiz.

To test your readiness, the program adds three mock exams of 40 questions each, with 60 minutes per exam, and a final mock of 100 questions in 150 minutes, drawn from a larger bank. Every exam on this program follows the same demanding pattern: 70% scenario questions, each a realistic case that asks for the ruling or treatment and the reason for it; 20% knowledge checks on precise rules, conditions and distinctions; and 10% rapid true/false or permissible/impermissible judgements. These are among the most demanding questions on ifSPACE.

This program is independent preparation material written by ifSPACE. ifSPACE is not AAOIFI and is not an AAOIFI-authorised training provider, and the program is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by AAOIFI. Completing it does not confer any AAOIFI qualification. All questions are written by ifSPACE; they are not official AAOIFI exam questions and do not reproduce them. AAOIFI may change a qualification's structure, modules and exam format, so check AAOIFI's current requirements before you register. Candidates register for and sit the CSE exam directly with AAOIFI.