which would be detrimental to living standards. i have painted a rather bleak picture that depicts the fragile state of today ’ s world. various forces at play have led us to where we are now – finance being one of them. while finance has lifted the lives of many, some argue that it has derailed from its intended objectives, leading to many economic, environmental and social problems that we face today. they argue that the global economy is very much driven by global financial capital, with most of it managed by financial entities that are attuned to financial risk and return considerations. beyond these considerations, the non - financial impacts of an investment or ‘ externalities ’, such as rain forest destruction ; water and air pollution are rarely considered and often simply ignored. i believe that the truth is more complicated than that, and that these views disregard the progress that has been made in making finance more “ ethical ” in recent years. regardless, i believe that it is timely to recalibrate our moral compass – and to explore innovative ways and solutions that finance can offer to build a more sustainable future. if i may say, to discover humanity within the world of finance. as we embark on this quest, we can consider the role that islamic finance can play in contributing towards sustainable development. with positive values and ethical considerations ingrained within islamic finance, it provides a ready and workable blueprint for finance that best works for the people and the planet. in supporting economic growth that is both inclusive and environmentally sound, islamic finance can potentially realise the promise of sustainable development – that is to not leave anyone behind. ultimately, it can help to build shared prosperity for not only the generation of today, but also the generations to come. there is already large acceptance of islamic finance in the global economy, with global assets amounting to usd1. 9 trillion in 2016. but the success of islamic finance cannot, and must not be measured solely on headline numbers such as this. in our move towards a sustainable future, the way forward for islamic finance, in my view, lies in four imperatives. first, islamic finance must prove its capacity to innovate. in these rapidly changing times, innovation has to be far from static and to continuously keep ahead of time. just as the needs of the economy and society change, islamic finance also needs to evolve to keep pace in being part of the solutions. to achieve quality growth, innovation has to focus on amplifying the positive value and impact of islamic finance to the

goods and services, and government consumption expenditures and gross investment, ” fred economic data ( accessed october 27, 2023 ), https : / / fred. stlouisfed. org / graph /? g = 1aj0j ; federal reserve bank of st. louis ( 2023 ), “ real gross domestic product, ” fred economic data ( accessed october 27, 2023 ), https : / / fred. stlouisfed. org / graph /? g = 1aj0r ; u. s. bureau of economic analysis. 3. change in payroll employment 2021 - present note : dashed line of 183, 000 is the average change in payroll employment between january 2010 and december 2019. source : federal reserve bank of st. louis ( 2023 ), “ all employees, total nonfarm and average all employees, total nonfarm from january 2010 to december 2019, ” fred economic data ( accessed november 1, 2023 ), https : / / fred. stlouisfed. org / graph /? g = 1b1n3 ; u. s. bureau of labor statistics. 4. vacancy - to - unemployment ratio note : the shaded bars indicate periods of business recession as defined by the national bureau of economic research ( nber ) : march 2001 – november 2001, december 2007 – june 2009, and february 2020 – april 2020. source : federal reserve bank of st. louis ( 2023 ), “ job openings : total nonfarm / unemployment level, ” fred economic data ( accessed october 27, 2023 ), https : / / fred. stlouisfed. org / graph /? g = 18bay ; u. s. bureau of labor statistics. 5. labor force participation rate note : the shaded bars indicate periods of business recession as defined by the national bureau of economic research ( nber ) : march 2001 – november 2001, december 2007 – june 2009, and february 2020 – april 2020. source : federal reserve bank of st. louis ( 2023 ), “ labor force participation rate, ” fred economic data ( accessed october 27, 2023 ), https : / / fred. stlouisfed. org / graph /? g = 1aj8i ; u. s. bureau of labor statistics. 6. personal consumption expenditures inflation note : dashed black line is the federal open market committee ’ s longer - run inflation objective of 2 percent. the shaded bars indicate periods of business recession as defined by the national