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.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest Islamic finance markets in the world and therefore holds a position of special importance in the study of Islamic finance as well as in the study of shari'ah governance in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs). Saudi Arabia is the largest Islamic banking market in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by market share; its Islamic banking assets accounted for 51.5 per cent of the domestic banking sector as at 2Q2017. Globally, Saudi Arabia ranked second after Iran among twelve jurisdictions where Islamic banking is systematically important. It accounted for 20.4 per cent of global Islamic banking assets in 2017 as compared to Iran, which accounted for 34.4 per cent. Even in the development of other segments of Islamic finance, Saudi Arabia holds a significant position. It ia active in the sukuk market, with its issuances - including those by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) - representing 33 per cent of total global issuances in 2017, thus ranking after Malaysia, which registered 38 per cent of total issuances. Saudi Arabia also accounted for 37 per cent of total Islamic funds in 2017, while 32 per cent of Islamic funds were domiciled in Malaysia. Moreover, it is the largest takaful market registering 38 per cent of global takaful contributions, followed by Iran (34 per cent), Malaysia (7 per cent) and the United Arab Emirates (6 per cent).

Islamic finance operates under varied legal and regulatory frameworks in various jurisdictions that reflect differing regulatory approaches to the introduction and supervision of Islamic banks. This seems logical if viewed from the perspective that the countries where Islamic banks operate are not at the same level of development; some are advanced, a few have just embarked on their journey of introducing Islamic banking and finance, while others are somewhere in the middle. Thus, one should naturally expect that reaching a certain level of consensus in regulating and supervising Islamic banks will take considerable time. The current research looks into one area of contention in Islamic banking regulation. It explores the different types of Islamic banking structures that prevail in general while it specifically evaluates subsidiary Islamic banks of conventional banks versus full-fledged Islamic banking structures. The advantages and disadvantages of both structures are discussed, followed by an evaluation of the unique challenges posed by the combination of these two in the context of Malaysia.

Wealth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has mostly been fuelled by oil and gas revenues. These petrodollar flows have been increasing over the long term particularly with the rising oil prices. Based on average crude oil prices of USD 70 per barrel, it is estimated that the amount of oil revenue profits of the six GCC states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - will tripple over the next 14 years (Farrell, 2005). How the GCC deploys this increasing wealth is of high interest to the world. Historically, the GCC has relied on the financial markets of the United States and Europe to manage their investments.

The book presents the various aspects of the theory of Islamic capital markets (ICM) and its operations by starting with the simplest ideas and moving on to the complex applied issues. The topics covered include: an overview of ICM and its development; Shari'ah principles, contracts and issues; regulatory and governance frameworks; risk management, accounting and taxation issues; details on different segments of the ICM, including sukuk, Shari'ah-compliant stocks, Islamic fund management, Islamic private equity and venture capital, Islamic derivatives and Islamic structures investment products; and future directions for the ICM.

Islamic banks provide similar trade finance facilities to those of conventional banks. They intermediate between buyers (i.e., importers) and sellers (i.e., exporters), act as a custodian of documents, and provide means to reduce payment risks via different payment terms (e.g., open account, documentary collection and letter of credit (LC)). They also provide financing - as need be - to help with working capital tied to the trade transactions. This research focuses only on financing by Islamic banks to importers that involve LCs. Different underlying Shari'ah contracts are used for import financing facilities under LC, the most common being the murabahah contract. At the time of sale, the existence of the subject matter and its ownership by the seller are the key requirements for the validity of a murabahah contract. In the absence of either of these requirements, the contract is considered null and void.

A near three-year protracted COVID-19 pandemic since the 2019 first outbreak in Wuhan, China, has hugely impacted all the basic economic units: the household, the firm and the government. Over the two-year period from 2 January 2020 to 15 January 2022, the following five industries: airlines; hotels, restaurants and leisure; energy equipment and services; automobiles, and specialty retail were most affected by lockdowns and social distancing intended to curtail the spread of COVID-19 (S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2022). Many of these industries are small businesses requiring a longer period to recover and return to their pre-pandemic state. One of these businesses' immediate measures was retrenching a certain percentage of employees to reduce operational costs. For the retrenched employees who need to find other sources of income to survive, the gig economy, which had gained attention after the global financial crisis in 2008, is an attractive alternative for them to earn a living. This article sheds light on the growth drivers of gig workforce after the COVID-19 pandemic and how advantageous this new economic trend is to the Islamic finance industry.

Pada Januari 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto telah menghasilkan mata wang kripto pertama yang dikenali sebagai bitcoin. Pada peringkat awalnya, mata wang kripto ini kurang mendapat sambutan meskipun teknologi yang mendasarinya amat berinovasi dan berdaya maju. Bitcoin (menggunakan simbol BTC) ini hanya mula menarik minat pengguna selepas nilainya melonjak sebanyak 600 peratus bagi BTC1 dalam masa kurang daripada setahun; iaitu BTC1 bersamaan dengan nilai USD1,000 pada 1 Januari 2017 kepada USD7,000 pada 3 November 2017. Kejayaan besar yang dicapai bitcoin ini telah menyumbang kepada penghasilan lebih banyak mata wang kripto seumpamanya dicipta dan dilancarkan. Sehingga 7 Januari 2018, lebih daripada 1,284 mata wang kripto telah dibangunkan dan bilangan ini dijangka akan terus meningkat.

This research aims to compare the regulatory capital instruments for Islamic banking institutions (IBIs) - in particular the qualifying Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital instruments - as defined by Basel III, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and IFSB-15 (issued by the Islamic Financial Services Board). Principally, the research examines the Shari'ah issues, especially related to subordination, arising in equity-based contracts when used for structuring AT1 capital instruments. In particular, it examines the mudarabah sukuk issued by the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) in 2012. The study finds that the most appropriate Shari'ah contract that would be suitable for structuring AT1 capital instruments would be musharakah. The present study is considered an original attempt in examining an under-researched topic relating to Basel III and its Shari'ah perspective. The study will be an important reference point to Islamic banks when structuring AT1 capital instruments.

As the Islamic finance industry continues to gain popularity in the financial sphere, the number of faithful investors who are interested in Shari'ah-compliant avenues for their investments also continues to increase. One of the most important of these is the equity market. However, it is evident in today's world that it is hard to find a joint stock company whose activities are completely compliant to Shari'ah principles and rulings. As a share of a company represents all the activities and underlying assets of the company, the Shari'ah noncompliance issue can emerge in the share. While the primary activities of a company are Shari'ah-compliant, its peripheral activities may be impermissible from the Shari'ah viewpoint. Meanwhile, the assets of the company can also be in the form of cash, debt, goods, usufruct or rights, which can raise the issue of trading ribawi (interest-based) items. Thus, the study addresses the issue of Shari'ah compliance and tradability of shares that represent a mixture of halal (permissible in Islamic law) and haram (impermissible in Islamic law) activities and assets.

Ever since the success of GoFundMe, an American charity- or donation-based online crowdfunding launched in 2010, this platform has become popular among not-for-profit organizations to raise funds to support their social activities and projects. However, the use of this online platform within the Islamic social finance domain, particularly by the government bodies is very limited. Hence, this paper provides a case study of Asnaf Care, a charity crowdfunding platform that was launched by a state zakat authority in Malaysia, i.e., Lembaga Zakat Negeri Kedah (LZNK) to specifically assist eligible beneficiaries who are affected by the global pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19). The case study aims to assess the effectiveness of this platform in raising funds to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on the affected zakat recipients. In this discourse, key features of Asnaf Care, its campaigns or projects, and the total collected funds since its launch in March 2020 until December 2020 are highlighted. The case study is hoped to pave the way for any zakat authorities in Malaysia or worldwide in exploring an alternative digital platform to raise additional funds during financial crises due to pandemics, calamities, or natural disasters.