PhD

Consumer protection has never been more needed now as financial products and services are widely available. Due to information asymmetries, consumers often have lower bargaining power when using financial products and services. The concept of consumer protection is not directly found in classical Islamic writings. However, it is part and parcel of the Maqasid al-Shariah and evidenced in the Qur’an and Prophetic traditions. This study focuses on the issue of consumer protection in Islamic home financing from the Shariah perspective and related specifically to abandoned housing projects in Malaysia. It is an endeavour to find out the extent of protection consumers get when their homes financed from Islamic financial institutions end up abandoned. It is a qualitative study based on primary Shariah sources, analyses of legal documentation/structural operations of BBA, ijarah muntahiyyyah bi al-tamlik, musharakah mutanaqisah and tawarruq) and information gathered from interviews. Content analysis was applied to analyze all relevant information leading to the findings. The review of legal documentation found that there are no clauses, terms and conditions that protect consumers as most of the clauses appear to be in favour of the bank in the event the project is abandoned. Operationally, regardless of the contract, the study found that they do not reflect the inherent rights of protection especially for homebuyers in case of abandonment. The products are structured that all risks and liabilities are transferred to customers and the use of standard legal documentation has seen to this.