Afkham Azeez

I am a committer & Project Management Committee (PMC) member of the Apache Web Services project. I work as a software architect at WSO2 and am the Product Manager of WSO2 Web Services Application Server (WSAS). I also lead the WSO2 Carbon framework project. My areas of interest include distributed computing, SOA, Highly Available & Highly Scalable applications & J2EE technologies. My current research area is cloud computing and am currently trying to make Web services autoscale on Amazon EC2. I am the author of the clustering implementation for Apache Axis2. I hold a B.Sc. first class honors degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and am currently reading for a Masters Degree in Computer Science specializing in Software Architecture.

The financial meltdown and its implications for Islamic banking By Roshan Madawela – Research Intelligence Unit

The mentality of reckless greed and the resulting spread of toxic financial externalities into the ‘real economy’ can be viewed as being diametrically at the opposite end of Islamic finance, in theory at least.  This year has witnessed the most serious break-down in the US financial system in some 70 years.  However it is not only the US that has …

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Impending Danger – Islamic Investments in Biotechnology By Muhammad Ibn Wazir

It was only recently that a Bahrain-based investment  firm announced the launch of a  Nanotechnology Fund, a private equity fund which will invest in shares and equity-oriented securities of companies with a particular emphasis on global nanotechnology companies including technology and biotechnology companies which benefit from nanotechnology.  Although we do not wish to deal with the issue of nanotechnology which …

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Clean finance for ‘green funds’, – by Roshan Madawela

Running parallel with the rapid growth in halal banking in recent times has been an equally swift increase in awareness on climate change and its impending consequences. Whilst the goals of ethical financing that is Shari’ah compliant and efforts to shift development and economic growth onto a more environmentally friendly path are compatible, sufficient collaboration is yet to take place.  …

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Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Islamic Finance By MKV Nair – Researcher, Monash University Malaysia

Introduction The subprime mortgage crisis, popularly known as the “mortgage mess” or “mortgage meltdown”, came to the world’s attention when a surge in US home foreclosures (repossessions) started in 2006 and spiralled seemingly out of control in 2007 and 2008. It triggered a national financial crisis that went global within two years. It has caused billions of dollars losses to …

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