Dr Engku Rabiah Adawiah has officially retired from IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIiBF), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), on 1 January 2024.  She obtained her LLB (first class honors), LLB (Shari’ah) (first class honors) and Masters of Comparative Laws (MCL) from the IIUM.  In 1998, she was conferred with PhD in law from the University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. In her last job as a professor at IIUM, she taught Masters and PhD students at IIiBF.

Her research interest is in Islamic capital market, Islamic banking and finance, Islamic insurance or takaful and Islamic law of transaction.  Her publications include books, articles in local and international journals and periodicals; and chapters in books and proceedings.  She has presented in various conferences, seminars, workshops and in-house trainings on Islamic Banking, Finance and Capital Market.  She had also served as a member of Shari’ah Committee to many financial institutions in the past.  Currently, she is a member of the Syariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia), Securities Commission Malaysia, Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA), Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Bursa Malaysia, Pernas, Tabung Haji and an independent Shari’ah Advisor for Islamic securities (sukuk) issuance, approved by and registered with the Malaysian Securities Commission.

In addition, she is a member of the Shari`ah Board of Xeraya Capital, Labuan Re and Gen Re. She is also a member of the Shari`ah Board to Khazanah in relation to four of its exchangeable sukuk, a board member of AWQAF Holdings and a council member of Khadijah International Waqf Foundation.  

In recognizance of her works and contributions to Islamic Finance, she has been twice awarded with the Most Outstanding Individual Contribution to Islamic Finance by Deloitte in 2004 and again in 2014 in Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum (KLIFF 2014). Being the pioneer lady Shariah scholar in Islamic finance, locally and globally, she has also been listed numerous times in the list of influential women in Islamic finance, including: Top 10 Women in Islamic Finance (2014 and 2017); Top 20 Women in Islamic Finance (2017); and Top 10 Most Influential Women in Finance (2017), where she was ranked No. 4. She has been ranked twice as 3rd Most Influential Women in Islamic Finance 2018 and 2019 during the WOMANi Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony by Cambridge IF Analytica Limited; and 2nd Most Influential Women in Islamic Finance 2020 and 2021.