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.

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).

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.

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 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).

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.

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.

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).

The COVID-19 pandemic continues wrecking global economies on an unprecedented scale. Despite its socio-economic damage, the pandemic has triggered a significant acceleration in Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) and Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) uptake, including a mainstreaming and maturing of responsible investment philosophies and practices. According to Morningstar, the first three months of 2021 saw US$21.5 billion of net inflows into ESG funds. This was more than the previous record of US$20.5 billion set in the fourth quarter of 2020 and more than double the US$10.4 billion seen one year ago in the first quarter of 2020. Blackrock reported that 88% of sustainable funds in their analysis outperformed their non-sustainable counterparts in the period 1 January to 30 April 2020.

The United Nations (UN) latest report issued in January 2016 entitled "Too Important to Fail-Addressing the Humanitarian Financing Gap" showed a huge jump in the number of people seeking humanitarian aid. At present, US$25 billion has been spent to provide life-saving assistance to 125 million people affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises. However, the amount spent is still insufficient. There still remains an estimated funding gap of US$15 billion. The United Nations is appealing to more countries and communities to come forward to help fund the aid needed; namely food, clean water, shelter, health care, education and protection (United Nations, 2015). This article takes a look at how waqf sukuk can be a possible panacea in addressing the humanitarian funding gap, focusing on two successful waqf sukuk issued in Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Waqf is an Arabic word meaning to restrain (al-habs) and to prohibit (al-man'). Legally speaking, waqf means to prevent something from becoming the property of a third person (Al-Sarakhsi, 1986). In English, waqf can be translated as 'religious endowment'. However, such translation may not convey the sense of devotion and grace with which waqf is associated with in Islam (Mohsin, 2009). Waqf has a long history in the Muslim civilization where it started since the 7th century AD (Kholid, Sukmana & Hassan, 2007). The first well-known waqf at the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Quba Mosque in Madinah in 622 C.E. The building of the mosque fulfilled communal religious needs as well as lessened the direct cost of providing religious services for the future generation (Kahf, 2003).