Dr. Yahia ABDUL-RAHMAN

Dr. Yahia was born in Cairo, Egypt and immigrated to the US in 1968. He studied Chemical Engineering (M.S. & Ph.D., U. Of Wisconsin, Madison, 1971) and International Finance (MA, U. Of Texas, Dallas, 1976) with emphasis on International Monetary Theory.

He authored two books and many patents. The most recent book is an Amazon.com best seller. It was published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in January 2010 and was one of the top 10% best sellers on Amazon list in its category. Two printings were sold out and a new Second Edition was released in November 2014: The Art of RF (Riba Free) Islamic Banking and Finance.

Dr. Yahia is known as the Father of Islamic Banking in North America. He started LARIBA in 1987. Now, and since 1998, the LARIBA shareholders also own the first full service RF (Riba-Free) National Bank in America’s history: LARIBA Bank of Whittier, NA.  The LARIBA effort - capital and assets – are from the American community. LARIBA and LARIBA Bank of Whittier have proven that RF (Riba-Free) banking delivers superior results as it was tested in the 2008 financial and monetary meltdown. He was an advisor of the AL-Baraka Chairman. He served as a member of a prestigious jury to elect the best Islamic Banker in the world to receive the Global Royal Award in Islamic Finance in 2010, 2012 & 2014. He invested 18 years (1986 – 2003) in the investment banking industry with CitiGroup / Smith Barney where he started (1988) and managed the first ever Shari’aa compliant stock portfolio ($250 million) that achieved superior performance. 

Dr. Yahia was a member of the team that started the Industrial Bank of Kuwait (1974-1975.) In 1984-1986 he returned to help restructure it after the Kuwaiti stock market crash.   His group started banks in Houston, Texas (1982) and LARIBA Bank of Kazakhstan, Almaty (1998.)

Dr. Yahia spent 15 years in the Oil and Gas Industry in Production, Engineering, Corporate Strategic Planning and International Finance in a major American Oil Company and refineries.

He is a prolific speaker, lecturer and author of papers on RF (Riba-Free) finance throughout the world since 1987. Please visit: www.LARIBA.com and www.WhittierBank.com.

Dr. Yahia is a distinguished Imam and Community leader in North America. He was an invited Jum’aa Imam in most US states, Canada, India, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad-Tobago and the UK. Please visit his site: www.Islam-In-America.com

He participated in the start-up and operation of many Islamic Centers and Schools in the US and Canada. He was the founding Chairman of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California; an umbrella organization that represents over 76 masjids and Islamic Centers in Southern California