Islam acknowledges the right of individuals to own wealth and rights of community members and family to get a portion of the wealth. The distribution of wealth is through the system of Charity, Zakat, Hibah and Inheritance (Fara’id/ Mirath). As large numbers of Muslims reside in non-Muslim countries, they have to accept the Civil Law as the paramount law of the country. As such, the distribution of inheritance has caused controversies and fervent debates over the years when the Civil Law takes precedence over Shariah law. Consequently, the problem statement of this paper is to identify the different issues and restrictions in wealth distribution faced by Muslims and reverts living in Muslim and non-Muslim countries in upholding the Islamic Inheritance Law and how those issues are resolved. The objectives of this paper include to provide a better understanding of Islamic Inheritance Law; its current situation and practice standards on Muslims living in Muslim and non-Muslim countries; to understand the difficulties faced by Muslims in applying Fara’id due to the restrictions imposed by Civil/ Common law and finally, to suggest the harmonisation of estate distribution under the Islamic Inheritance Law and Civil/ Common Law. The findings of this paper have suggested that wills are being widely used in cases on intestacy. The wills can be accepted in full or even challenged depending on the circumstances such as one of the beneficiaries was left out. Once the will is challenged the cases are subjected to adjudication in the civil courts of the country. Challenges could be in the form of validity of a will on the grounds of incapacity, fraud, broken promises and non-performance of a contract. Under civil rule, an illegitimate child or even a live-in partner has a right to make a claim. There is actually no iron clad protection for Muslim in non-Muslim countries in practising Islamic law of inheritance. The only avenue would be the beneficiaries among themselves consented to abide by the Islamic law of inheritance.

On average the Islamic finance industry has grown by almost 20% per annum, a compound annual growth rate of 17% from 2009 to 2013 (IFSB, 2013) with its current assets estimated to be worth USD 2 trillion and is set to reach USD 5 trillion in year 2020. This paper aims to analyse three Shari'ah screening methodologies namely Securities Commission (Malaysia), FTSE NASDAQ Dubai Shari'ah Index Series and the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indices. A sample of 30 companies comprising Shari'ah and non-Shari'ah stocks invested by the Malaysian institutional funds were analysed. Our analysis shows that out of the 30 samples stocks, only eight companies passed the screening using the criteria of the three providers. The limitations of the study is the non-availability of detailed information such as type of bank accounts and debts, hence assumption made is that the cash are placed in conventional accounts unless indicated.

This paper examines the determinants of bank margins' in the Yemeni banking sector for Islamic and conventional banks. The first objective is to investigate whether there is a significant difference between the margins of conventional and Islamic banks. The second objective is to examine whether efficiency represents an influential factor in determining bank margins for Islamic and conventional banks controlling for other micro and macro variables. The study finds that the overall bank margin in Yemen has steadily decreased during the observation period with the exception of the year 2011. The parametric and non parametric results show that the bank margins are significantly higher for conventional banks than for Islamic banks. The results provide evidence that bank margins are related to neither types of efficiency, but are affected by capitalisation, size, the opportunity cost of the reserve, and liquidity, although the impact is shaped differently for Islamic and conventional banks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the banking industry’s efficiency using the case of Yemen. The paper utilises two-stage analysis to evaluate the efficiency adopting Data Envelopment Window Analysis (DEWA) in the first stage for the period 1996-2011. Furthermore, the paper addresses, in two-dimensional matrix, the stability and efficiency of the banking sector in order to assess their ability for survival. In the second stage, panel data analysis is applied to regress a set of bank-specific and macro-economic variables on the efficiency of the banking sector in Yemen in a comparative fashion between Islamic and conventional banks. The findings of the investigation indicate that the Yemeni banking industry in general was on a declining efficiency’s trend with increased instability during the later period of the investigation. In addition, the study shows that most conventional banks were relatively stable, though inefficient, while Islamic banks were more efficient over the time. The results of panel data regression further suggest that efficiency is related to a number of determinants. Loan/financing, and profitability are the common key determinants of efficiency for both Islamic and conventional banks. However, other determinants have impacted differently for Islamic and conventional banks, which could reflect the uniqueness of their operation and structure. The present study provides a basis for the regulators and bankers to assess the viability of the banking sector and proposes policies to restructure the industry in order to enhance the performance of the whole industry. The paper presents new empirical findings on the efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks in Yemen.

The study investigates the relationships between supervisory influence, role ambiguity and sales target on intention to perform unethical behavior. It also examines how attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and moral obligation mediates the relationship of supervisory influence, role ambiguity and sales target on intention to perform unethical behavior. The respondents of the study comprise 246 individual insurance agents. The result of the study shows that there is a relationship between supervisory influence, role ambiguity and sales target on intention to perform unethical behavior. The study found that attitude partially mediates the relationship between supervisory influence, role ambiguity and sales target on intention to perform unethical behavior. Subjective norm and moral obligation was found to partially mediate the relationship of supervisory influence and role ambiguity on intention to perform unethical behavior. The implication from this study shows that there is a need for constant monitoring, support and encouragement and making sure clear roles are presented and sales targets sets are achievable to the insurance agents in order to minimize their unethical behavior.

Wealth management, both conventional and Islamic, is usually associated with private banking that serves the financial needs of the relatively wealthy. Maude (2006) defines it as "financial services provided to wealthy clients, mainly individuals and their families", while Mindel and Sleight (2010) look at four key areas of wealth management, namely investments and wealth accumulation, retirement and retirement income, wealth and lifestyle protection, and wealth inheritance ... Available in physical copy only (Call Number: HG 3368 A6 I82Mo)

The slides highlight on: 1) the takaful business in Malaysia; 2) methodology used in the study; 3) the results and findings of the study.

The public lecture highlights on overall global weatlh, Islamic wealth, product offering by Islamic financial institutions, takaful, estate planning (fara'id), and waqf.

The ultimately concern of Islamic Financial Institutions is the conduct of their business in accordance to the principles of Shariah. In light of this concern, The Shariah Governance Framework was introduced into the system. The framework outlines the establishment of the Shariah Review, Shariah Risk Management, and Shariah Audit as well as strengthening the roles and responsibilities of Board, Management and the Shariah Committee. The Shariah governance established in an Islamic Financial Institutions adds an additional layer of governance to the existing corporate governance structure of the Institutions. The present article discusses the industry gaps and issues in implementing the Shariah Governance Framework by Islamic Financial Institution with suggestions on addressing these issues from interviews and discussions of relevant industry practitioners.The findings of the interview reflected differences in implementation adopted by the financial institutions, the lack of experience of Shariah officers in various areas and, also the Shariah Committees members.

Mutual help and guarantee have been the ordinary practice of tribal Arabs even before the advent of Islam in Arabia. A similar but refined concept was reinforced by the Qur'an to be adopted by Muslims. It was widely applied in their daily lives. When the Muslims extended their trade by sea to the Far East, the concept of mutual assistance became more prominent and organised to protect their ships, merchandise and even lives from all sorts of dangers and mishaps. The practice by these merchants to put aside a sum of money before setting sail to the Far East for trade as a fund to compensate any loss incurred by any of them became the most prominent practice that led to the birth of what is today known as marine insurance. To circumvent some of the shari'ah non-compliant practices of mainstream insurance is the introduction of the concept of donating part of the participants' contribution which forms the special fund to compensate losses. From then on, the takaful operators started to emerge, first in Sudan and later in other parts of the Muslim world. Several models have been formulated, namely mudharabah, modified mudharabah, wakala and wakala-waqf. The success of the takaful companies around the world has also been strongly influenced by the recent upsurge in the petroleum price that has led to the unprecedented increase in sovereign and private wealth. The recent emergence of re-takaful companies add up further to the rapid growth in takaful operators and funds. Despite the success stories, there are a number of serious challenges facing takaful and retakaful operators which are worth noting.

Mutual help and guarantee have been the ordinary practice of tribal Arabs even before the advent of Islam in Arabia. A similar but refined concept was reinforced by the Qur'an to be adopted by Muslims. It was widely applied in their daily lives. When the Muslims extended their trade by sea to the Far East, the concept of mutual assistance became more prominent and organised to protect their ships, merchandise and even lives from all sorts of dangers and mishaps. The practice by these merchants to put aside a sum of money before setting sail to the Far East for trade as a fund to compensate any loss incurred by any of them became the most prominent practice that led to the birth of what is today known as marine insurance. To circumvent some of the shari'ah non-compliant practices of mainstream insurance is the introduction of the concept of donating part of the participants' contribution which forms the special fund to compensate losses. From then on, the takaful operators started to emerge, first in Sudan and later in other parts of the Muslim world. Several models have been formulated, namely mudarabah, modified mudarabah, wakalah and wakalah-waqf. The success of the takaful companies around the world has also been strongly influenced by the recent upsurge in the petroleum price that has led to the unprecedented increase in sovereign and private wealth. The recent emergence of "re-takaful" companies add up further to the rapid growth in takaful operators and funds. Despite the success stories, there are a number of serious challenges facing takaful and "re-takaful" operators which are worth noting.

The institution of waqf played a major role in early Islamic civilization it involves every aspect of socio-economic life in the Muslim world for 1300 years. Even though, the last century witnessed its destruction where its role becomes idle, undeveloped and unproductive in almost all Muslim countries, yet its recent revival shows optimism approached in galvanizing its socio-economic role. Through adopting new financial modes it manages to redevelop the old waqf properties into huge towers and buildings an innovation which succeeded inmultiplying the number of the beneficiaries of the old waqf properties.

The institution of waqf played a major role in early Islamic civilization as it involved every aspects of socio-economic life in the Muslim world for 1300 years. Nonetheless, the last century witnessed its destruction where its role becomes idle, undeveloped and unproductive in almost all Muslim countries, yet its recent revival shows optimism in the approach in galvanizing its socio-economic role. Through adopting traditional and new financial modes of finance, the old and idle waqf properties have been successfully redeveloped into modern buildings, an innovation which not only multiply the rewards for the founders but it multiplies the number of beneficiaries who benefited from such revival.