It is with great sadness that we announce the passing away of Dr. Umer Chapra on Saturday 13^th June, 2026. Dr. Chapra was a prominent economist and one of the pioneering figures who provided the intellectual leadership in the field of Islamic Economics and finance over the last several decades.

To Allah we belong and to Him we return. (Qur’an 2:156)

Born in 1933 in Mumbai, India, Dr. Chapra’s family migrated to Karachi, Pakistan. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Karachi University in 1956 and a Ph.D. at the Minnesota University in 1961. Dr. Chapra also served as a research assistant at Minnesota and associate professor of economics at the Wisconsin and Kentucky universities. He subsequently moved to Saudi Arabia to help build Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and Saudi Central Bank where he worked for approx. 50 years. Dr. Chapra served as an adviser at the Islamic Research and Training Institute of the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah. He was the first winner of the Islamic Development Bank’s prize for services to Islamic Economics in 1989 and he also won the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies in 1990.

One of his ground-breaking and visionary books, ‘Towards a Just Monetary System’ was published by the Islamic Foundation in 1985. Reviewing the book in the Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Professor Wilson of the University of Durham described it as ‘the most lucid presentation yet of the monetary theory of Islam’. He made a passionate plea to the Ummah for fresh thinking and analysis in his seminal work, ‘Muslim Civilisation: Causes of Decline and Need for Reform’, published by the Foundation in 2008.  His other widely recognised works published by the Foundation include ‘Islam and the Economic Challenge’ and ‘The Future of Economics; An Islamic Perspective’.                                                                                                             

He authored over 15 books and monographs as well as over around 100 articles and book reviews. Dr. Chapra’s books were translated into many languages and are taught in universities worldwide.

His was a close associate of our founding Chair, Prof. Khurshid Ahmad, Ustadh Khurram Murad and Zafar Ishaq Ansari. The Foundation extends its deepest sympathies to Dr. Umer Chapra’s family, colleagues, and the global academic community. We pray that Allah Almighty accepts his good works, grant him forgiveness, and place him amongst the Saliheen in Jannat ul Firdous.