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COVID-19 is a pandemic that is a black swan event that has disrupted the economic activities in the whole world. Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the second largest international organization that unites Muslims to collectively protect their interest by having a global platform to voice out their concerns. This is an exploratory research of which the objective is to understand the implication of this pandemic on OIC countries to suggest ways in which pandemic related economic challenges facing these countries could be resolved. This research identifies four key economic challenges faced by the OIC countries: challenges in adapting to new normal in in re-starting the economic activities; issues in formulating effective plans for economic recovery; increase in poverty, unemployment and inequality in societies; and disruption to global economy chains. To overcome these economic challenges identified, fives recommendations are proposed via which OIC could play the leading role in ensuring that OIC countries could leverage each other to rebound the respective economies in the shortest possible time. The recommendations proposed are made not to gain short term benefits; but they are proposed considering the long-term benefits it will give to the economies of member countries of OIC. The recommendations proposed are: creating a fintech ecosystem for financial services and introducing OIC electronic commerce market; formulating strategies to implement shared prosperity via effective implementation of Islamic social finance; adopting Blue Ocean Strategy; promoting Islamic economic principles; and implementing circular economy concept. It is anticipated that through this research the economic challenges faced by Muslim countries due to the pandemic can be understood and the recommendations proposed could be utilized by the government and policymakers of the respective countries to resolve the challenges identified.

Purpose – Entrepreneurship development has become a goal of many countries to achieve economic development. Islamic economics is concerned with marketing, trading, business and entrepreneurship activities. This chapter examines the role of entrepreneurship development in Islamic economics.

Methodology/approach – This chapter is purely theoretical in nature. Thus, the Glorious Qur’an, Hadith and other related documents are its major sources.

Findings – The discussion reveals that entrepreneurship development has the potential to promote economic growth and development, employment, self-reliance and national growth. The discussion identifies a lack of capital and financial support as a principal obstacle to the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. This chapter further reveals that the success of entrepreneurship development and other commercial activities requires organisation in terms of coordination, networking and sharing of resources, as well as cooperation between government, public sector, private sector and enterprise.

Originality/value –The chapter is original in its form and arrangement having emerged as a novel attempt and the first of its kind. The chapter has a pearl of value to the Islamic economists, entrepreneurs, academic circle, and all those who may consider it relevant for application in their desirable business and cherish the value of its standing.

In considering the role of ethics in Islamic economic and finance theory, it is necessary to understand the nature of ethics as human behavior derived from the foundation of Tawhid (oneness of Allah=unity of the divine law) through the transmission medium of the Sunnah (guidance of the Prophet Muhammad). These are together taken up as the basis of spiritual guidance in Islam – hudal il-mutaqqin (Qur'an, 2:2). This foundation of Islamic epistemology in concert with the medium of epistemological discourse among the learned participants establishes the idea of a System and its embedded circular causation relations in view of the ethics in the Qur'anic world-system. It is also necessary to understand how ethics, as so derived from the epistemological roots and processed through the ontological investigation of values and directions for rule setting pertaining to given issues at hand, establish the premise of the shari'ah along with its ijtihadi (foundational Islamic investigation for rule setting) extensions.

The chapter aims to examine the challenges and the opportunities for the development of Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia.

The chapter adopts library research to discuss the concept of Islamic stockbroking. It also employs a semi-structured interview with industry players to prognosticate the future development of Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia.

The study concludes that the future of Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia is very promising, triggered by drivers on both the supply side and the demand side. The large Muslim population, wealth and economic growth are among the key factors for the development of Islamic stockbroking from the demand side. On the other hand, the Shari’ah compliance of 89% of Malaysian stocks, Malaysia’s position as an Islamic finance hub and the natural progression of Islamic finance are all factors underpinning the future of Islamic stockbroking from the supply side. However, lack of qualified human resources, political inconsistency, information technology infrastructure, product innovation as well as public perception are obstacles to its development.

This chapter will add new literature in contemporary Islamic finance, as not many studies have been done on the subject.

For over 2000 years, Iran was dominated by different religions, and hence, religious texts constructed identity, status, and rights for women. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Islamists attacked “Iranian identity,” and tried to replace it with the “Islamic identity,” fearing that Iranians could undermine the legitimacy of their Islamic identity. The purpose of this discursive psychological research is to find out the level of faith development and religious identity among a sample of Iranian women. Due to the Iranian distinct politics and its young population, the Iranian women’s movement is one of the most important movements in the Muslim world. Findings of my inquiry indicate that a contradiction has been imposed on Iranian women since the revolution. Religious beliefs and practices based on Islamic laws and identities that are enforced by the government generate a traditional atmosphere in the society. Consequently, some Iranian women believe in inevitable destiny and admit that anything that happens is God’s will. They believe that an ideal woman must act according to the cultural and religious norms and traditions. Such women strongly internalize these values and have become a source of control and restriction over the activities of other women. On the other hand, many women attempts to become Westernized (modern) women, far from religious beliefs. This qualitative research provides us with rich detailed data and information about a sample of participants, so any generalizations made from the findings must be applied cautiously.

The purpose of this chapter is to shed light on humanistic knowledge traditions and highlight their value in informing educational administration and leadership curricula designed for graduate students. We argue that, despite their distinctive features, humanist traditions such as the Confucian, Buddhist, Islamic and European share many core values and practices that should be incorporated into the educational administration and leadership curricula. However, these traditions tend to be overlooked or marginalised by curriculum designers. We argue that incorporating these traditions into educational administration and leadership curricula can contribute to greater internationalisation and achieve a greater diversity. The chapter starts with an exploration of the origins, nature and definitions of humanism. The following parts discuss Confucian, Buddhist, Islamic and European humanist traditions and examine how they can contribute to shaping educational administration and leadership curricula.