In a recent landmark case, JRI Resources Sdn. Bhd. v Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad, the Federal Court, the apex court in the judicial system of Malaysia, decided that the ascertainment of Islamic law by the Shariah Advisory Council of Bank Negara Malaysia (SAC) is binding on the judiciary and is not tantamount to a judicial decision. Of the nine panel judges, four judges dissented, arguing against the legality and constitutionality of the SAC. The dissenting judges argued that the SAC has been vested with judicial power by section 57 of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009; hence, this section is unconstitutional and invalid and needs to be struck down. This brief write-up will shed some light on key issues underlying this historic judgment. Before that, let us take a quick look at the impetus that spurred the establishment of the SAC.

The need for sustainable funding of institutions of higher learning led the Government of Malaysia to formulate its Universities Transformation Programme 2015-2025. This transformation agenda came out as the Purple Book which highlighted the need to address the funding gap that may occur in the education sector in the event of unexpected budget cuts. It called for the enhancement of income generation, endowments and waqf to achieve self-sustainability for higher learning institutions (Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, 2016). Based on the above premise, this research explores the viability of corporate waqf via initial public offering (IPO) as an instrument to raise funds and sustain Malaysia's higher learning institutions. Corporate waqf, as defined by the Securities Commission Malaysia, refers to: A type of corporate [financial] instrument where liquid-asset-like shares or securities [are] endowed as waqf assets and [sic] thus enabling the waqf institutions to benefit from the dividend that can finance any welfare project or initiative (Securities Commission Malaysia 2014, p. 17).

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused unprecedented upheavals to the global economy at a scale never seen before in the history of humankind. While governments around the world grappled for the right panacea to address the socio-economic disruptions faced by their nations, the pandemic uncovered new outlook and opportunities. This inevitably compelled the global economies to revisit and reshape their thinking, re-prioritize, re-plan and start implementing initiatives that are more sustainable, resilient, and social in nature. In this regard, banking system plays a vital role in strengthening and sustaining the economy of a country. In doing so, it must ensure that it facilities and supports the recovery measures as announced by its respective government for the survival of the nation particularly the bottom sector of the society during this challenging time.

Intangible assets are becoming evident in a number of Islamic financial products. Their presence in the Islamic financial market is due to their ability to address and accommodate the pressing need to diversify the asset pool in the industry. Despite their increasing presence in a number of Islamic financial products, their nature and characteristics have not been the subject of the research they deserve. Hence this research is undertaken to examine the definition, concept and legality of this class of asset: intangible assets. This paper aims to achieve the following objectives: i. To explore the definition and concept of intangible assets from Shariah, legal and accounting perspectives; and ii. To examine pertinent Shar??ah issues on intangible assets, particularly with regard to recognition and measurement, financing and trading, and zakah obligation.

Financial reporting has undergone tremendous development in the last couple of years. It traditionally discloses financial results that mainly consist of income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow. This information aids its shareholders, customers as well as the public to assess and measure the financial performance of the corporation or organization. It also informs them of the resource allocation, investment decision that affects the business operations in that particular year. However, such format of reporting has in recent years faced disruption due to the introduction of Integrated Reporting (IR). The style of reporting under IR is that it reports not only financial but non-financial information. It gives emphasis on value creation and sustainability as well as future outlook of a company via its short-, medium-, and long-term planning.

This paper aims to examine the existing practices and pertinent issues affecting Islamic banks and their customers in abandoned housing projects (AHPs) to ensure compliance with Shari'ah and statutory requirements. This study employs the qualitative research method using the inductive approach to analyze both primary and secondary data and sources. Data collection involved a series of semi-structured interviews with five volunteering Islamic banks and a representative of Abandoned Property Owners Association Malaysia (Victims). Statutory acts, regulatory policies, guidelines, directives and standards were also analyzed. The result indicates developer's default, underlying contracts, regulatory arbitrage and bureaucracy, attitudinal disposition of customers and sell-then-build approach as major factors of AHP's conundrum. This study has suggested both short- and long-term solutions based on the principles of justice, public interests and removal of hardship to resolve and effectively manage financial hardship indebtedness arising from housing abandonment. Further, part of the proposed solutions would also reshape housing development policies and home financing transactions.

Recent calls for risk-sharing - as expounded in the 2012 Kuala Lumpur Declaration, the 2014 Jeddah Declaration and the 2014 International Monetary Fund statement - elucidate the present situation of Islamic banking and finance: an acknowledgement that risk sharing is a "salient characteristic" of Islamic financial transactions on the one hand and that it is "not deeply embedded" on the other. The objective of this practical evidence-based research paper is to address this schism between prescription and practice. It recapitulates the principles underpinning risk sharing and the reasons why it is integral to the Shar??ah and why (as stated in the Declaration) risk transfer and risk shifting violate a Shari'ah principle. he paper presents preliminary research utilizing empirical data from Malaysian Islamic banks and the Malaysian stock market as a proxy for the real economy. It considers newly enacted Malaysian legislation, the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA), from the perspective of its aim to more clearly define the products and activities of Islamic banks.

This paper explores the intersection of Intellectual Property (IP) and Islamic finance, proposing a policy framework to integrate IP valuation into Sharia-compliant financing. Focusing on the UK, it also extends to global markets, including ASEAN, GCC, and MENA regions. The paper identifies gaps in current practices, particularly in incorporating IP assets into Islamic financial products, highlighting untapped market potential. It emphasizes the need for regulatory compliance, Sharia board approvals, and robust audit mechanisms to ensure ethical integration. Key recommendations include developing a comprehensive IP frame work, fostering international collaboration, and capacity building through education. The framework aims to align economic growth with ethical financing, enhancing transparency and the robustness of Islamic IP financing globally.

Waqf is being introduced and implemented in a number of innovative structures with contemporary movable asset class. Despite that, there is still a demand for waqf to be more effectively organised and managed. This chapter studies the contemporary establishment of corporate waqf, as exemplified by Waqaf An-Nur Corporation Berhad, Larkin Sentral Property Berhad, and Wareef Endowment Fund. These models are analyzed from the angles of governance, sustainable investment strategy, risk management, and social impact. These mini case studies are benchmarked against the leading Harvard Endowment Fund. The analysis sheds light on their levels of efficiency and effectiveness as well as their issues and challenges. This chapter proposes recommendations for consideration, especially to policy makers and waqf market players. This chapter adopts a qualitative research methodology by using textual and documentary analysis together with semi-structured interviews and discussions with the relevant stakeholders.

The launching of Malaysia's investment account platform (IAP) in 2016 marked another important milestone in positioning Malaysia as a leader in the Islamic banking industry. For the first time in Malaysian history, six competitive Islamic banks collectively collaborated to initiate and launch the IAP. The multi-bank platform offers multiple ventures or investment avenues for investors to invest in, and financing options and opportunities for ventures to choose from, via the intermediation of the sponsoring banks. The platform that leverages on the advance and innovative financial technology system, or fintech, offers a safe and regulated investment ecosystem with better outreach and enhanced visibility to the ventures while the investors enjoy a greater transparency and disclosure on the listed ventures (Investment Account Platform, 2016). The IAP has introduced a new innovative asset class into the Islamic financial market. Its introduction has developed and strengthened the Malaysian Islamic financial market by garnering investments from institutions as well as retail, which includes high net worth individual investors (Razak, 2015).

Islamic finance is one of the prominent sectors driving the Malaysian economy. As at 2020, the market share of Islamic finance in Malaysia stood at 18.4 percent out of the total global Islamic financial assets worth USD 2.7 trillion. Among the key drivers facilitating industrial growth is its enabling legal and regulatory framework, which creates a conducive and comprehensive ecosystem. This chapter examines how the conventional legal and regulatory framework is harmonised with the Shari'ah requirements in three Islamic finance focal areas - Islamic banking, Islamic insurance (takaful), and Islamic capital market (ICM). Malaysia's harmonisation journey is not free from any legal tussles, though, in hindsight, the issues and challenges faced in the adaptation process have pushed the Islamic finance industry to be more innovative and proactive in finding solutions to remain relevant and competitive. This chapter begins with an introduction, and then it proceeds with the legal discussion on the issue of jurisdiction for Islamic banking, ICM, and Islamic insurance. The crux of this chapter is the discussion on five important subjects that depict the intriguing harmonisation development as well as the relevant issues and challenges faced in positioning the Shari'ah requirement within the conventional setting. These subjects relate to the Shariah Advisory Council (SAC), the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA), the decline of equity-based financing, conditional hibah in takaful products, and compensation for breach of wa'din Islamic profit rate swap.

According to a 2017 report by the Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI), the total global wealth in 2017 reached USD280 trillion, 27% higher than a decade ago. Despite total global wealth showing an increase, the equitable distribution of wealth still remains an issue. The wealthiest 1% of the world's population now owns 50.1% of the world's wealth. Recently, a group of researchers undertook a study for the World Inequality Database (WID) to measure inequality in Middle Eastern countries. The study concluded that inequality level in Muslim countries is among the highest in the world with the top 10% of the total population holding 61% of the total income share. The question then is has Islamic banking played its role in addressing the issue of inequality?

Shari'ah compliance is the raison d’etre for the existence of Islamic banking and finance industry. A robust Shari'ah compliance can be achieved through an effective Shari'ah governance system. In view of its importance, Malaysia has in the last three decades developed robust legal and regulatory framework that aims to accommodate and facilitate the evolution of Shari'ah governance structure in its Islamic banking and finance industry. The implementation of the current Shari'ah governance framework has guided and assisted the Islamic banking and finance industry in mitigating the cost of Shari'ah risk in their operations and business. As a result, consumers' trust and confidence in the banking and finance sector is secured and sustained. Based on this background, this chapter explores the historical development of the Malaysian Shari'ah governance infrastructures that took place before and after the promulgation of the Islamic Financial Services Act in 2013 (IFSA). The implications of IFSA on the Shari'ah governance system are hereafter analyzed. In general, IFSA has shifted the Shari'ah governance landscape into a more meaningful governance through its inclusivity and uniformity approach.

The Islamic banking industry in Malaysia is governed by the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA). This legislation marks another step in the evolution of the Islamic banking industry in Malaysia. Among its unique components, it re-classifies deposittaking products into two, namely Islamic deposits and investment accounts. The distinction has brought about a significant impact on the role that Islamic banks have traditionally been playing. The move from purely a credit intermediary to a mixed credit-and-investment intermediary is expected to promote real economic growth and development. In IFSA, investment account is defined as an account under which money is paid and accepted for the purposes of investment. This must be in accordance with the Shariah on terms that there is no expressed or implied obligation for the Islamic bank to repay the money in full or with any profit. This definition is instrumental as it explicitly distinguishes the character of an investment account from an Islamic deposit account as the latter guarantees return of the capital with or without a profit. This definition embeds statutorily the true spirit of Shariah-compliant investments, namely profit and loss sharing in musharakah, profit sharing and loss bearing in mudarabah and fee-based in wakalah bil istithmar.

The historical evolution of regulated Shariah compliance in Malaysia started 32 years ago wherein the Islamic banking industry was first regulated by the Islamic Banking Act 1983 (IBA). Under the IBA, Shariah compliance became 'institutionalized' through the formation of a Shariah committee at the first Islamic bank in Malaysia, i.e. Bank Islam Malaysia. Thereafter the number of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) started to grow. This growth is followed by the growth of Shariah committees being set up in each of these IFIs. Numerous Shariah resolutions started to mushroom from these Shariah committees which at times result in duplicity and inconsistency of rulings (based on the ISRA Research Paper (No. 47/2012) titled 'The Shariah Advisory Council's Role in Resolving Islamic Banking Disputes in Malaysia: A Model to Follow?' by Mohamad, Abdul Hamid and Trakic, Adnan. (2012)). To overcome this, Malaysia's central bank (CBM) established a national reference Shariah advisory body called the Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) on the 1st May 1997. It was only in 2003 that the SAC was given due statutory recognition and empowerment through the amendment of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 1958 (CBA). The amendment that came through the Central Bank of Malaysia (Amendment) Act 2003 elevated the position of the SAC. Under the CBA, the SAC is deemed as "the authority for the ascertainment of Islamic law for the purpose of Islamic banking business, Takaful business, Islamic financial business...". However, at this stage the adherence and compliance of the resolutions issued by the SAC is only mandatory on the IFIs, Takaful operators and arbitrators.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shattered the 2020 global economic growth. Amidst lingering uncertainties of the effects of COVID-19, governments around the world have set out measures to assist its economies through economic stimulus packages and interest rate cut. At the international front, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 25 March 2020 issued a joint statement calling on all bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from International Development Association (IDA) countries that request forbearance (IMF 2020). A similar call was made by central banks around the world. On 24 March 2020, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) ordered banking institutions to grant an automatic moratorium on all loan/financing repayments/payments, principal and interest (except for credit card balances) to all individuals and SME borrowers/customers for a period of six months from 1 April 2020 (BNM 2020).

The contemporary landscape of global finance is witnessing a paradigm shift towards ethical practices, and tayyib stands as the Islamic finance industry's answer to this call. With an increasing global focus on sustainability, the tayyib concept positions itself as the pathway through which Islamic finance expands beyond Shariah compliance (halal), to reach the heights of socially, environmentally, and economically beneficial (tayyib). It not only answers the need for ethical financing but sets a precedent for the Islamic finance industry to emerge as a global leader in responsible financial practices. The tayyib concept emerges as a timely response to the global imperative for the Islamic finance industry to pivot towards ethical financing, aligning seamlessly with the growing interest in sustainability. Positioned as a catalyst for Malaysia to take a global lead in the Islamic finance sector, tayyib serves as a unifying force for countries and jurisdictions engaged in Islamic finance.

The term gig economy was first coined in 2009 by Tina Brown, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast, an online news magazine. At the time of her writing, the world was bearing the brunt of the global economic recession. The ensuing economic woes accelerated the proliferation of gig workers who made a living by taking on on-demand jobs as part-timers, freelancers, independent contractors and project-based workers. Fast forward eleven years to 2020, the economic downturn from massive layoffs and business closures triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing the spur of worldwide gig economic activities. The widespread use of the Internet and the rise of digital platforms have helped those who lost their jobs to use them to make a living, sparking the popularity and exponential growth of this sector. The gig economy, also dubbed the 'sharing economy', 'collaborative economy', 'digital economy', 'crowd economy', and 'peer economy', is recognised as a new economic source of revenue across the globe and in Malaysia too. With close to four million freelance workers in Malaysia, and increasing by the day, the gig economy forms a key part of the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) (Lim, 2021).

Shariah compliance is the raison d'etre for the existence of the Islamic banking and finance industry. Shariah compliance is achieved by meeting not only the prerequisites of the pillars and conditions of the Shariah contract used, but ensuring that the underlying asset as well as the underlying purpose of entering into such a contract is in compliance with the Shariah. Compliance with Shariah ensures that the rights of the contractual parties are protected and contractual obligations are met out in a responsible and lawful manner. The advent of financial technology (fintech) introduces important innovative infrastructure into the realm of Islamic finance. The recent Ernst & Young report on Banking in Emerging Markets (2017) acknowledged the importance and need for the Islamic banking and finance industry to adapt and embrace the Fintech revolution. The report noted that the impact of Fintech could potentially draw an additional 150 million customers to the Islamic banking sector by 2021.

Intangible assets are regarded as one of the most important asset classes for financial institutions, and their importance and consideration is rapidly increasing. There are existing, well established conventional standards on intangible assets (IA); however the Shariah standard on IA is discussed rather minimally. Thus, this paper attempts to discuss the vital issues related to intangible assets: recognition and measurement, financing and trading, and zakah, which represents a grey area for the Islamic finance industry. The research employs critical analysis. It aims to provide clarification on the concept of intangible assets from the point of view of the Shariah as well as an analysis of pertinent Shariah issues on IA. This research explores the following: (i) there is an issue of gharar in the identification and determination of IA due to non-existence of any physical substance and due to future benefit being a probabilistic matter; (ii) it is generally permissible to finance and trade IA and (iii) zakah is obligatory on IA if the intention is to trade them either at sale price if they are sold or at market price if they are owned by a trader.

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has estimated that the financing gap of member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is about USD1 trillion per year, of which USD700 billion is earmarked for infrastructure. Even though 40% of world poor live in OIC countries earning the equivalent of USD1.25 a day or less, as of 2017, the world's 14 development banks including those of Asia and Africa have offered no more than USD175 billion to address the gap. Dr. Banda Hajjar, the IDB President, aptly described the available amount "represents only a drop in the sea compared to the size of this gap" (Moqana 2019).1 To meet the expectation of the SDG, the amount estimated is in the range of USD5-7 billion each year. The difficult task of achieving SDG calls for meaningful collaboration and mobilization of all key stakeholders - individual governments, multilateral agencies as well as private funding sectors (UNDP, IICPSD and IDB 2017). This will be met through high-level discussions, studies and researches, dialogues centred on the existing available infrastructure and capabilities, highlighting challenges that hinder progress and crafting realistic means and ways to address this critical gap.