Secondary markets are vital for the development of Islamic capital markets (ICMs) (Aziz, 2007). They facilitate the reselling of securities among investors, thus adding liquidity to these instruments (Mishkin, 2004: 26-27). Besides this basic role, secondary markets assist in reducing average cost of capital; bringing about a rational representation of the pricing of securities in primary as well as secondary markets; facilitating the exchange of investment risks; evaluating the performance of private and public sector, and mitigating information asymmetry (Ahmed, 1995; Al-Eshkar, 1995; El-Gari, 1993; Mishkin, 2004). However, secondary market trading of Islamic securities involves various issues. One of the greatest concerns is the lack of standardization, or at least harmonization, of ICM products. There are also conflicting resolutions, standards and individual fatwas (Islamic legal opinions) on the tradability of Islamic securities within the industry. It is feared that this creates confusion in the industry and may hinder the overall development of the ICM (Cox, 2005; Shaharuddin et al., 2012). Given the importance and concerns regarding the ICM, this study aims at investigating the vital issue of tradability of Islamic securities from the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) perspective.

The fundamental of Islamic finance industry is where its operations need to comply with Shari’ah principles. There is an underlying Shari’ah-complaint contract for every product offered by financial institutions. Islamic banking today is dealing with a lot of contracts in daily transactions with regard to the financing, deposit and investment products. A contract can be regarded as the root of an Islamic business as it determines the components of a business transaction.

This research will look at the reasons for the civil courts being the preferred mode of dispute resolution for Islamic finance disputes in Malaysia and how arbitration, based on the shari'ah can play an active role to resolve disputes in Islamic finance cases. Various features of arbitration in general and Islamic arbitration in particular will be looked into, followed by a study of the arbitration rules under two arbitration centres to find the common themes of these centres and the differences in their approach, if any ...

Beneficial ownership is applied in the modern Islamic financial contracts such as financing and sukuk structure, especially in countries where common law is dominant. It has been recognized by some scholars and rejected by others. In this regard, the concept of beneficial ownership in Shari'ah should be analysed to develop a clear interpretation of the concept of beneficial ownership from the Shari'ah perspective. The purpose of this study is to examine the meaning of beneficial ownership in Common Law system and its recognition from the Shari’ah point of view. It begins with identifying the meaning of milkiyyah (ownership) and its characteristics in the Islamic law and followed by the analysis of beneficial ownership in the current practice of Islamic finance as to whether it fulfils the Shari’ah requirements. The approach that is applied in this study is qualitative research in nature, with regards to documentation and secondary sources by reviewing and analysing the application of beneficial ownership in Islamic banking; in addition, some interview sessions were conducted with practitioners involved in the financial industry. The findings of the research are that the transfer of ownership in Shari’ah immediately occurs after the execution of ijāb and qabūl and interestingly, this idea is also shared by the Common law, which actually borrowed it from the Islamic law.

This paper is a preliminary research on studying the application of beneficial ownership in Islamic financial products. It aims at investigating the meaning of beneficial ownership and its recognition in the Shari'ah perspective. This paper starts with identifying the meaning of milkiyyah (ownership) and its characteristics in the Islamic law and followed by the discussion on beneficial ownership from legal perspective. The study emphasizes on the historical and theoretical aspects of beneficial ownership. It then critically elucidates the meaning of beneficial ownership and its use in commercial transaction as to ascertain whether its use is in compliance with the requirements of ownership in Shari'ah. Analysis is done via the method of takyif fiqhi (fiqh characterisation) on the use of beneficial ownership. Some Shari'ah issues would be examined carefully by comparing the views of classical jurists and then supported by modern jurists. Finally, the study suggests that the beneficial ownership should be considered as real ownership since it is exclusively used in registration and legal documentation because Shari'ah has allowed the transfer of ownership based on a sole basis of contract.

Islamic microfinance provides an alternative model for a significant number of underprivileged people who are not served by conventional microfinance. In order to give access to sustainable services to a greater extent, the Islamic microfinance is in paramount need of the adoption of innovative business models and sound practices into the industry. To this end, the research seeks to provide theoretical basis, operational framework, and empirical support for the establishment of Islamic microfinance institutions. The theoretical discussions and empirical evidence will emphasize on the importance of social financial intermediation to finance microenterprises and a need to develop specialized model to do the same. Problems facing by conventional micro finance institutions include non-graduation from poverty, debt trap, high dropout rate, asymmetric information and economic visibility of the project. The study finds that waqf based microfinance institutions can play an important tole inter alia in financial inclusion and developing socio-economic conditions of the poor and underprivileged people in society.

This study examines the concept of combination of contracts in Islamic commercial law and its application in the Malaysian Islamic financial services. Combination of contracts encounters some juridical issues by virtue of the three prohibiting ahadith mentioned by the Prophet (s.a.w.). The ahadith stated that the Prophet (s.a.w.) prohibited combining two sales in one sale, loan and sale, as well as two transactions in one transaction. Many debates have been raised among classical and contemporary Shari'ah scholars regarding the interpretation of these ahadith and the types of contracts that are combinable or non-combinable. Given the fact that these issues remain obfuscated, therefore this study is commenced. In so doing, this study employs two research methodologies; content analysis of Islamic jurisprudence's sources and case studies. The result of the study demonstrates that combination of contracts is generally permitted in Islamic commercial law, as long as there is no Quranic verse or Prophetic tradition that prohibits the combination. Concerning the understanding of three ahadith reported, they must be interpreted within specific context ...

The research is an attempt to have an overview of the need for derivatives and their possible role in Islamic finance, stressing on the Shariah qualification and prohibitions on the controversial conventional derivative products. This research focuses on the derivative products and their role in risk management measures. Islamic financial industry has shown tremendous growth over the past decade but the management of risk is still an unresolved issue in the trillion-dollar Shariah-compliant industry. This paper attempts at having a continuous elaboration on the derivatives from a conventional perspective and closest alternatives that are available in Islamic finance. The findings suggest that conventional derivatives in their original form do not comply with Shariah norms and parameters. But in contemporary literature and thought, there exist Shariah-compliant mechanisms and instruments which provide similar risk management measures for Islamic financial markets.

The slides highlight the issue facing in Islamic finance industry, limited liability in Islamic law, and discussion and analysis of the study.

As the appetite for family takaful grows, its underwriting principles and conventions are facing closer scrutiny. Mr Ezamshah Ismail and Dr Ahcene Lahsasna, both council members of the Shariah Advisory Council of the RGA Global Reinsurance Co Ltd Labuan Branch Retakaful Window, examine family takaful’s strengths, and how it can serve its core market while continuing to evolve to serve a broader constituency.

This dissertation examines financial crimes from a Shari'ah perspective by looking at the specific offences of illegal deposit taking and criminal breach of trust in Malaysia. The underlying principles of criminal law in Islam is espoused to give rise to the nomenclature of financial crimes within the Shari'ah by exposing elements of criminal activities that are acted in the realm of finance. The elements of offences for Illegal Deposit Taking and Criminal Breach of Trust are examined through statutes and case laws and compared to the elements of crime available in the Shari'ah ...

Due to the fact that Islamic financial securities may consist of ribawi (cash and debt) underlying assets, it is crucially important to discern whether or not the trading of these securities is subject to the Shari'ah rules for bay' al-sarf and bay' al-dayn. If they do not then what criterion is pertinent to their secondary trading; and on what jurisprudential basis? In answer to that question, the current scholarly views and suggested Shari'ah criteria for tradability of Islamic securities are not only diverse, but also at times incongruous with one another. Based on the qualitative approach of text analysis and semi-structured-interviews, this study critically analyse this issue ...

Despite the huge potential on both the demand and supply sides of the sukuk market, the current sukukstructures fall short of adequately meeting the market’s needs as the Shari'ah compliance of many of them and/or their economic efficiency are questionable. Even though partnership-based sukuk are claimed to reflect the true spirit of Islamic finance, their underuse as a financing instrument is a notable fact. Such a situation, if not addressed, will impede the development of the sukuk market in the future. This paper proposes an innovative sukuk musharakah model for consideration by companies and revenue generating infrastructure projects. The model has an incentive-compatible feature by making the share of the issuing entity in the profit positively related to its performance in addition to a convertibility clause. The sector Return on Equity (ROE), adjusted with the firm beta, is considered a benchmark for measuring the performance of the firm. The paper examines the design of the model, its risk return profile as well as its pricing for secondary market trading.

Like many other financial institutions, Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank operating in the United States was hit hard by the Eurozne crisis that followed the global financial crisis. Unable to restructure its $1.1 billion debt obligations due in March 2013, the bank decided to file for Chapter 11 protection in the US Bankruptcy Court. This case study introduces Arcapita and its operations, explains the US Chapter 11 and its important aspects like debtor in possession (DIP) financing, highlights the most significant episodes of the Arcapita case, and concludes with important lessons embedded in the proceedings. Available in physical copy only (Call Number: HG 3368 A6 I82Na)

Islamic estate planning is an important aspect of wealth management and financial planning. Currently, Islamic estate planning, which makes up a part of Islamic financial planing, is not well-developed and needs further enhancement and improvement for it to flourish so that every Muslim can benefit from it. The important components of Islamic estate planning include hiba, wasiyya, waqf, takaful and fara'id (Islamic law of inheritance), among others. This chapter discusses some of the major issues pertaining to theses components and offers recommendations to resolve them.

Tertiary education plays crucial role in building a robust human capital base within a knowledge driven global economy. As such, tertiary education policy is increasingly becoming a significant national agenda in order to raise higher level employment skills in order to sustain a globally competitive research base as well as to improve knowledge dissemination to the benefit of society (OECD, 2008). Malaysia's education system has gone through an expansion in its various segments especially in the its higher education segment where it is to now focus on developing young talents. Malaysian higher education system was initially built under the Government's sponsorship before the entrance of private education institutions offering tertiary education. Nevertheless, given the unhealthy global economic state, this has imposed fiscal pressure on the Government.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning, nature and measurement of Shariah non-compliant risk faced by Islamic banks. Al-bai-bithaman ajil (BBA) contract documentation is analyzed in the light of the legal environment in Malaysia and measurement of Shariah non-compliant risk based on constructed or hypothetical cases. Shariah non-compliant risk will adversely affect bank's earnings when BBA contracts are deemed invalid in the court of law, either in a foreclosure or ruling via court declaration. The paper is written based on content analysis, Malaysian legal cases with hypothetical examples for better understanding. Islamic banking should be able to use the findings to estimate potential loss from Shariah non-compliant risk and make the necessary provisions. This paper provides new insights of risks faced by credit-intensive Islamic banks, that when relinquishing critical requirement of Islamic contract such as ownership risk will suffer loss.

Every human needs a good and quality life. A quality living is essential to ensure positive physical, mental as well as spiritual development in an individual. This balanced individual will form a stable family unit and later on contribute to a progressive community in a bigger social entity. A comfortable life is usually challenged by indispensable social ill called poverty. It is a global phenomenon that has challenged the economic, social and political landscape of every society in the world including Malaysia ...

This research aims to look into nomination practice and its issue for takaful operators and social takaful (takaful Ijtima'i) from Shariah perspective. The major issue is to what extent the takaful benefit is the estate of participants. Various practices by takaful operators has established few perspectives on the matter. By adopting the qualitative research method specifically through content analysis, this research will begin with the review on fundamental concepts of insurance and takaful based on the opinions of scholars from various schools of jurisprudence ...

An effective and universally acceptable legal, regulatory, and insolvency framework for Islamic finance in general and sukuk in particular is currenly lacking. Of particular concern is the question of how a secular court may protect the rights of sukuk holders. East Cameron Partner (ECP) sukuk is an interesting case where many of issues in sukuk insolvencies have been highlighted. The current study is concerned with the background of ECP sukuk issuance, its insolvency, its filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States' Bankruptcy Code and the behaviour of the US bankruptcy court towards the issue of the ownership of the sukuk holders...