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The purpose of this study is to propose a contemporary human resource management (HRM) framework by zakat institutions, which collect and manage religious alms, both obligatory (zakat) and voluntary (ṣadaqah), in Malaysia.

In doing so, discussions pertaining to the key elements of zakat institutions’ HRM including recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, training and development and compensation are gathered from the existing literature and other sources of information such as zakat institutions’ websites and publications. In addition, zakat officers’ insight on how HRM is practiced at their institutions is gathered through a series of semi-structured interviews and incorporated in the findings of this study.

The paper finds that the state government, by virtue of the State Islamic Religious Council (SIRC), which is the sole trustee of all waqf properties in Malaysia, may have significant influence in formulating the human resource strategies and policies in zakat institutions.

The proposed HRM model can be a useful reference for SIRC in enhancing the current human resource practice in its respective zakat institutions.

The novelty of this study lies in the proposed HRM model applicable to zakat institutions. The model emphasizes the alignment between the zakat institutions’ HRM practice and their zakat collection and distribution goals, as well as zakat management objectives in general.

This study aims to explore the potentials of adopting salam-based crowdfunding for financing the agricultural sector in Afghanistan.

It adopts a triangulation approach, consisting of a number of methods used in gathering relevant information about Afghanistan’s agricultural sector, the concept of crowdfunding and salam (forward sale) contract. These methods include library research, reviewing documents provided by Afghanistan’s banks and semi-structured interviews with Islamic finance experts.

This study finds that salam-based crowdfunding is a viable Sharīʿah-compliant investment platform, which may offer some advantages for both potential investors and farmers or entrepreneurs.

The novelty of this paper lies in the proposed structure of salam-based crowdfunding.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on management of waqf institutions by developing a contingency framework and outlining approaches that can be followed to instigate a comprehensive performance measurement system (PMS).

It conducts a thorough and critical review of the literature on relevant performance measurement literature of third sector organizations and waqf institutions.

The findings suggest that an effective PMS is undoubtedly significant in promoting good governance and ethical management of waqf institutions. However, the current practice of performance measurement in waqf institutions is less standardized and does not cover its entire aspects of performance as a religious as well as a voluntary organization. It is also found that most waqf institutions’ management and researchers primarily rely on financial reporting and economic indicators to report to the stakeholders about the performance of waqf institutions.

The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, the authors develop a contingency framework for assessing performance of waqf institutions. Second, the authors outline eight necessary steps that can serve as guidelines for waqf institutions in designing their own comprehensive PMS.

The novelty of this paper lies in highlighting the feasibility of adopting qualitative approaches by waqf institutions. This study hopes to shed light on a standard measurement system that can be adopted by the waqf institutions to ensure efficiency and sustainability of the waqf institutions, not just in Malaysia but in the Muslim world.

This paper aims to present the viability of unit trust waqf (Islamic endowment) as an alternative asset class for waqf creation.

This paper starts with the conceptual exploration of the literature in the areas of waqf. The sources of the literature cover authentic sources of the Qurʾān and ḥadīth, as well as secondary sources such as books, journal articles and online resources.

This paper provides the conceptual framework of five models of unit trust waqf and their investment management parameters.

The novelty of this paper lies in its attempt to highlight the importance of waqf investment strategy in ensuring sustainable returns for waqf. It does so by introducing the conceptual models of unit trust waqf as viable mechanisms to pool more cash waqf from individual investors. The sustainability of the capital waqf assets in the form of unit trusts is maintained through the parameters for its application proposed towards the end of the paper.

The purpose of this study is to provide a critical review on how the Khazanah’s Sukuk Ihsan was structured in compliance with the requirements for issuance of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) sukuk set by the Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia.

To explain the structures and features of the Sukuk Ihsan, this study extracted important information from the sukuk’s Principle Terms and Conditions and Information Memorandum and presented them in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Next, this study refers to Part D: Requirement for Issuance, Offering or Invitation to Subscribe or Purchase Sustainable and Responsible Investment Sukuk of the SC’s Guidelines on Sukuk (revised edition: 28 August 2014) to assess the compliance of the sukuk in terms of eligibility of SRI sukuk issuer and SRI projects, use of proceeds, reporting and disclosure and independent assessment on SRI programmes. In addition, this study then compares the requirements stated in the SC’s SRI Sukuk Framework with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the USA’s Social Impact Bond (SIB) Act 2014.

The present study finds that the definition of eligible SRI sukuk issuer in the Guidelines on Sukuk seems to be more stringent compared to the one provided in the GBP and the US’ SIB Act. Nevertheless, the SRI Sukuk Framework provides a more comprehensive yet precise list of eligible SRI projects, covering both environmental and social aspects, compared to the GBP (which only focuses on broad categories of environmental projects) and also the USA’s SIB Act (explicitly outlines 13 social projects which are aligned with the US Federal Government’s agenda in tackling social illnesses). Indeed, the main difference between the eligible SRI sukuk projects and its conventional counterparts lies in its compliance to Shariah principles. It is also observed that a significant emphasis has been given on SRI legislations in ensuring proper reporting and disclosure provided to the SRI sukuk stakeholders together with critical evaluation on the impacts of SRI programmes provided by an independent assessor.

This paper contributes towards enriching the literature on the Islamic capital market, particularly on the integration between sukuk and social impacts investing. This paper was intended to highlight the important requirements in issuing SRI sukuk to various stakeholders of the Islamic capital market.

The authors hope to shed some lights on the unique features and structural applications of SRI sukuk and its importance in becoming an effective instrument to raise funds for social agenda of a country by providing a real and practical example.

This paper aims to re-evaluate and thus recommends possible ways in improving the current practice of hibah trust in Malaysia.

This study conducts a thorough and critical review on relevant literature on Islamic wealth management and estate distribution. Besides, the current practice and application of hibah trust by the Malaysian trustee companies such as Amanah Raya Berhad and As-Salihin Trustee Berhad is analyzed based on information gathered from their publications and direct consultation.

Based on the comparison made between hibah trust and its conventional counterpart, living trust, this study found that that the hibah trust product mirrors the conventional living trust, which provides a high degree of freedom to the benefactor to decide on the distribution of his wealth without taking into consideration the interest of the eligible heirs under farai’d. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the practice of hibah trust would be able to expedite the lengthy and complex procedures of inheritance, reduce administrative costs and avoid legal impediments and inheritance tax.

This paper proposes a comprehensive framework for an improved asset distribution under hibah trust within the Malaysian Islamic wealth management industry by highlighting the significance of fara’id and wasiyyah rules. This proposed framework of hibah trust would become a useful reference for the policy makers in designing a dedicated regulation or legal provisions in the established laws that will govern the practice of hibah trust in Malaysia.

The novelty of this paper lies in highlighting the importance of adhering to the law of Islamic inheritance rules as ordained by Allah s.w.t in structuring contemporary Islamic estate planning instruments such as hibah trust, which is not evident in the current practice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the empirical linkage between the composition of Shariah Committee and the extent of Shariah governance disclosure in 16 licensed Islamic banks in Malaysia.

This paper adopted a multiple regression analysis to test the association between the composition of Shariah Committee and the extent of Shariah governance disclosure. A disclosure index was developed to measure the extent of Shariah governance disclosure made by the Islamic banks. Whereas to measure the extent of Shariah governance disclosure, this study used content analysis as a method of coding qualitative information in the annual reports.

Using 2009 data, the study found a significant association between different compositions of the Shariah Committee in the Malaysian Islamic banks and their Shariah governance disclosure level before the introduction of the Shariah Governance Framework (SGF). However, because of less variation in the composition of Shariah Committee after the introduction of SGF 2010, a weak linkage was found between the composition of Shariah Committee and the extent of Shariah disclosure of Malaysian Islamic banks in 2013.

Findings of this study offer several implications for further improvements of the Malaysian Islamic banking sector in particular, and other Islamic banks globally. As better composition of Shariah Committee in terms of its size, academic background and other relevant expertise would result in effective monitoring system leading to better practices of Shariah disclosure, this finding highlights the relevance and important role of the Shariah Committee in improving voluntary Shariah disclosure level of the Islamic banks. This finding suggests that ample focus has to be channelled in strengthening the composition of Shariah Committee in crafting future development of SGF in Malaysia. It is also suggested that Islamic banks need to give priority in providing more education and training in various areas of expertise to their Shariah Committee members that would result in greater confidence of investors, stakeholders and the society on the information disclosed by the banks.

The novelty of this paper lies in highlighting the importance of different composition of Shariah Committee in determining the extent of voluntary disclosure made on Shariah matters by the Islamic banks.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the extent to which the Malaysia-based equity investors can benefit from diversifying their portfolio into the conventional and Islamic Southeast Asian region and the world’s top ten largest equity indices (China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, the UK, the USA, Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland).

The multivariate GARCH-dynamic conditional correlation is deployed to estimate the time-varying linkages of the selected conventional and Islamic Asian and international stock index returns with the Malaysian stock index returns, covering approximately eight years daily starting from 29 June 2007 to 30 June 2016.

In general, in terms of volatility, the results indicate that both Asian and international Islamic stock indices are more or less volatile than its conventional counterparts. From the correlation analysis, we can see that both the conventional and Islamic MSCI indices of Japan provide more diversification benefits compared to Southeast Asian region, China, Hong Kong and India. Meanwhile, in terms of international portfolio diversification, the results tend to suggest that both the conventional and Islamic MSCI indices of the USA provide more diversification benefits compared to the UK, Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland.

The findings of this paper may have several significant implications for the Malaysia-based equity investors and fund managers who seek for the understanding of return correlations between the Malaysian stock index and the world’s largest stock market indices in order to gain higher risk-adjusted returns through portfolio diversification. With regard to policy implications, the findings on market shocks and the extent of the interdependence of the Malaysian market with cross-border markets may provide some useful insights in formulating effective macroeconomic stabilization policies in the efforts of preventing contagion effect from deteriorating the domestic economy.