Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Director of Dow Jones Islamic Market Index Group, has been awarded the American Muslim Achievement Award, which was presented to him yesterday by the revered Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC), at a prestigious gala dinner in Los Angeles.
The purpose of the annual awards program is to acknowledge members of the American Muslim community, who have made outstanding contributions in their fields of work and to the Muslim community at large.
Dr. Tanveer Hussain, Chairman of the ICSC nominating committee commented, “Throughout his successful career, Rushdi has shown that American Muslims can excel in any profession and that they can significantly contribute towards Muslim society and indeed the wider global community. We are very proud to honor him in this way he is a role model for young aspiring Muslims both here and abroad.”
The award is structured so that nominees are introduced by a peer or colleague who can provide insight, in layman’s terms, regarding the scale of their contribution to their area of expertise or industry. Previous winners have included Dr. Ahmed Zewail, the Linus Pauling Professor of Physical Chemistry at CalTech and 1999 Nobel Laureate; Mr. Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, President and CEO of Ethan Allen, Inc.; Professor Ahmed K. Noor, Director of the Center for the Advanced Engineering Environment’s NASA Langley Research Center; and Mr. Sohaib Abbasi, Senior VP of Oracle Corp.
Rushdi Siddiqui, was the principal founder of the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index, a Shari’ah compliant financial index. He has been with Dow Jones Indexes, New York, since 1998 and has assisted in creating over 65 Islamic indexes, Sukuk Index (with Citigroup), Sustainability Index, and recently launched the latest addition to that portfolio, The Dow Jones-JS Pakistan Islamic Index. He works closely with six international Shari’ah scholars and promotes Islamic finance by media interviews, seminars, presenting at conferences around the world, etc.
“I am humbled to be recognised by such a respected Islamic body. This important Award is a recognition of the hard work of my colleagues at Dow Jones Indexes, our six member Shari’ah Board, and our licensees. I hope this Award will encourage the Muslims, especially in the west, to start the process of financial empowerment in a Shariah complaint manner,” claimed Rushdi Siddiqui.
Siddiqui’s achievements have been recognised on several occasions in the past, he was honoured twice with the Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid bin Al Maktoum Award for innovation and Contribution to Islamic Finance, CERT Award (Malaysia) for Excellence in Islamic Finance, Islamic Finance Forum Award (Dubai) for Contribution to Islamic finance, and others. Earlier this year, he was appointed as a member of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Islamic Finance Advisory Council, which provides strategic advice on Islamic finance.
About The Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC)
Formed in 1953, the ICSC has been providing religious, educational and recreational facilities for the Muslim community. The ICSC offers services such as celebration of Islamic holidays, the establishment of Islamic elementary schools, the dissemination of the Islamic views on society, religion and politics to the community and to the media, active participation in interfaith relations and dialogue and the presentation of the Annual American Muslim Achievement Award. The ICSC is a nonprofit organisation with participation of thousands of Muslims from all nations, independent of colour, gender or race.
