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This study aims to analyse the facts of the case in the judgement made by the High Court of Justice, England, UK, in the case of Dana Gas Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC) v. Dana Gas Sukuk Limited (Ltd.) and Ors.

This study uses descriptive and juristic analysis to explain the factual terms in the case of Dana Gas sukuk default. It also uses juristic opinions to analyse the underpinning argument in the Dana Gas court case between the decision of Sharjah Court, UAE, and the English Court, UK.

The study concluded that despite the position of Dana Gas PJSC that specific element of the muḍārabah sukuk is non-Sharī’ah-compliant, the English court decision which established the enforceability of the purchase undertaking seems to be fair based on the Islamic maxims such as “Difficult situation cannot violate the right of other” and “The conditional matters among Muslims are binding.”

The impact of this study is that Dana Gas sukuk default has thought stakeholders of Sukuk investment lessons on the importance of documentation and consideration of tighter clauses to ensure its bindingness in the law court. Hence, this study is expected to be a contribution towards the call for standardization of the role of Sharī’ah scholars across the globe.

This study illustrates the fact in the case of Dana Gas sukuk default and analyses the court’s decision from a fiqh perspective.

Apartment purchase is an increasing investment trend in Islamic banks as clients trusted to eradicate the interest from financial dealings to capture the Islamic Principles. The paper aims to investigate the Shariah compliance in the investment of apartment purchases under Shirkah-ul milk in Bangladesh Islamic banks.

This study examined the perception of 125 clients and 25 managers from five key Islamic banks on the investment practices of apartment purchases. This study applied two data analysis methods: reflective measurement model was operated for examining the consistency, reliability, multicollinearity problems and validity; and Smart PLS-SEM (structural equation model) was used to investigate the direct impact of each explanatory variable on Shari’ah compliance in Islamic banks.

The results indicated that Islamic banks could not strictly maintain the Shariah compliance in apartment purchase. Such Shari’ah non-compliance is due to lack of knowledge and understanding with regard to bank’s objectives and philosophy, weak Shariah board, audit, weak regulatory body and supervision problem. These findings also firmly match clients’ and managers’ perceptions.

A limited size of clients and bankers were involved in this study. The study focuses only on perceptions of Islamic banks’ clients and managers and avoids Muslim clients who involved conventional banks.

This study provides Shariah-compliant alternatives in investment avenue for apartment purchases. These Shariah modes include Apartment Purchase Musharakah Mutanaqasa; Bai-Muajjal; and Apartment Purchases under Shirkah-ul Milk, which captures various limitations against current apartment purchase practices as well as to develop clients’ trust in Islamic banks.

This study aims to examine the disputable Shari’ah and the technical issues underlying the implementation of the Musharakah Mutanaqisah partnership (MMP) model in home financing by Islamic banks in Malaysia. It assesses whether this much-lauded facility is in line with Shari’ah rules and whether it diverges from or converges to the Bay’ Bithaman Ajil (BBA) and conventional loan models.

This study uses a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews to achieve these objectives.

With regard to the issue of convergence, it is obvious from the interviewees’ perceptions that the MMP model is converging with the BBA and conventional housing loans.

Many factors were mentioned as the reasons for this convergence, with the most important being that Islamic banks are not operating in a fully fledged Islamic financial system, reducing the risk weightage and regulatory restrictions. As for Shari’ah compliance, controversy may result from the enhanced features that structure this facility. Though these enhanced features are Shari’ah compliant, it transforms the MMP model into a debt rather than a partnership contract.

The purpose of this study/paper is the generalized ontological law of monotheism (unity of knowledge) and its functioning in the financial world system is summarized and contrasted with the recent conception of “shari’ah-compliance”. Thereby, some specific rulings of shari’ah-compliance in Islamic finance are critically annulled. The principal problem of the inability of shari’ah-compliance in the formalism of rate-setting and debt cancellation is pointed out in analytical ways. The alternative valuation models in the light of the Tawhidi ontological law are formalized. Many important issues are examined in analytical and Tawhidi authentic ways of Islamic law contra to shari’ah-compliance.

The epistemological approach commencing from the Tawhidi ontological law is used as the premise of developing analytical formalism to counter the irrelevant rulings done by the field of shari’ah compliance. Thereby, endogenous moral and ethical foundations are studied in deriving analytical finance models of asset valuation, rate-determination and debt cancellation.

Substantive analytical results are derived for intellection in the area of the primal ontological law of Tawhid that negates many of the rulings framed up in shari’ah-compliance area of Islamic law. These results can guide financial academia, practitioners and policymakers.

The paper can be expanded subsequently to the area of analytical Islamic finance in general by further investigating the Modigliani and Miller theorem on optimal debt-equity structure of corporate finance. An introduction to this study is provided in this paper as a starting point of dealing with the debt problem of shari’ah-compliance.

The paper presents important guidance as input for the rulings of shari’ah-compliance idea held by shari’ah advisory boards and similar institutions presently operating at the financial level.

The paper presents a subtle transformation of the social and financial order in the light of the Tawhidi ontological law quite differently from the way that shari’ah-compliance envisions.

The theoretical and projected applied perspectives in analytical finance presented in this paper provide a methodological worldview for all areas of social finance with ethical consciousness. Such analytical approach is much needed today in the reconstruction of global finance in the scale of ethics and away from the sole focus on capital market efficiency.

Sukuk are popular means for governments to raise money through sovereign issues, and for corporations to obtain finance through corporate sukuk offerings. The purpose of this study is to critically examine the issues revolving around various aspects of sukuk such as regulation, performance and future challenges from different Asian market jurisdictions.

Using various sukuk structures and other literatures, this chapter critically investigates some general legal and regulatory requirements for sukuk issuance, its required infrastructure in various jurisdictions in addition to some other relevant important issues to generate cash flows and raise finance through Islamic capital market (ICM) operations without violating the tenets of Sharī’ah in sukuk structures which ultimately helps the economic growth of the Asian region.

The study finds that in many Asian countries, a separate and specialised regulatory framework, as demanded by sukuk, is lacking and this instrument is treated under the same regulations as of conventional capital markets and their instruments. Some of the regulations may be appropriate for ICM and sukuk, however, most of these regulations need proper modification in order to treat sukuk with clear understanding.

Being part of a niche and new area of Islamic finance in the global financial market a plethora of confusion exists regarding various aspects of sukuk including regulation, performance and future challenges particularly in Asian jurisdiction where sukuk are largely in operation. Findings from this study can be used as a reference to understand the need of the proper modification of conventional regulations, the performance of sukuk in better ways, and meeting other relevant challenges.

Although the demands for having specialised regulatory framework of sukuk, or at least amendments in the current framework for conventional bonds is gaining momentum worldwide in order to accommodate sukuk in the capital markets according to their peculiar nature, it has not caught much attention of researchers and practitioners involved with Islamic finance. Therefore, this study is expected to add value to regulation, standardisation and performance of sukuk in the Asian market, and it deals with the obstacles in the growth of sukuk, which were not extensively covered earlier by the researchers and the Islamic finance industry practitioners.

This paper aims to analyze the impact of Sharī‘ah compliance perception on customer satisfaction in Islamic banking sector of Pakistan.

Primary data were collected from 242 account holders of Islamic banks and Islamic banking branches of conventional commercial banks and analyzed by correlation and regression through self-administered questionnaires based on SERVQUAL model.

Significant moderating effects of Sharī‘ah compliance perception on the relation between service quality and customer satisfaction have been identified.

As a cross-sectional study with convenience sampling restricts generalizability and because financial benefits offered by banks were not included as a variable, the scope of this study is limited to service quality only. Future research may focus on the moderating effect of Sharī‘ah compliance perception through longitudinal study with larger sample size in a multi-cultural environment.

Results of this paper recommend Islamic banks to focus on their core strength “Sharī‘ah compliance” while developing their product/service and building marketing strategies. Moreover, assurance of high-quality services will sustain such strategies against competition with conventional banks.

Islamic banks must primarily develop their brand through extensive communication and public awareness programs regarding Sharī‘ah compliance standards in terms of products/services, policy/procedures, code of conduct and Sharī‘ah board.

This research examines moderating role of Sharī‘ah compliance perception between service quality and customer satisfaction in Islamic banking sector of an Islamic Republic with dual banking system. This interactive effect of Sharī‘ah compliance perception has not been found as an overriding theme in any of the main stream journals/articles. Therefore, this study fills this gap.

This paper critically aims to examine the concept of beneficial ownership and its application in musharakah-based home financing.

The study applies the method of juristic interpretation in analyzing the meaning of beneficial ownership in legal documentation of musharakah-based home financing. This qualitative study uses content analysis approach that investigates the works of Islamic scholars on the concept of ownership and evaluates the concept of beneficial ownership in musharakah-based home financing from the Islamic perspective.

The result finds that beneficial ownership is considered a true ownership, as Shari’ah allows the transfer of ownership based on the offer and acceptance in a contract. Furthermore, the absence of legal registration does not mean the absence of true ownership, whereas all documentations and agreements have clearly stated rights and liabilities of each contracting parties.

This paper provides a fiqhi discussion of analyzing beneficial ownership in musharakah-based home financing. It shows that Shari’ah parameters are essential for the use of beneficial ownership to ensure its compliance with the Shari’ah requirements of milkiyyah (ownership).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the customers’ perception regarding the current shari’ah issues of Islamic banks in Malaysia. Specifically, the study attempts to examine the awareness of the current criticisms of the main shari’ah issues in Islamic finance, and the perception of the selected customers towards these criticisms.

The study uses a qualitative approach to understand in detail the customers’ perception and experiences about shari’ah compliance of Islamic banks. Semi-structured interview is used with ten Islamic banks’ customers in Malaysia. The study also used phenomenological techniques to analyse the data.

The findings revealed that the interviewees have considerable exposure and awareness of the current criticisms of the shari’ah compliance of Islamic banks.

This research is the first to study the shari’ah issues of Islamic banks in Malaysia from the customers’ perspective, by using a qualitative research approach. The findings of this study are of original importance, because they unveil the customers’ experience in an area that has been severely looked at from the professional and experts’ point of view only.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current legal framework for payment system in international Islamic trade finance vis‐à‐vis the new regime introduced by the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP) 600 as well as the Sharī'ah Standard on Documentary Credits issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and Sharī'ah Resolutions of selected Sharī'ah Boards of Islamic financial institutions.

A partial comparison of both the UCP 600 and the Sharī'ah framework for documentary credit is given through the content analysis of relevant sources.

The AAOIFI Sharī'ah Standard on Documentary Credits, as well as other applicable Sharī'ah resolutions of Islamic financial institutions, does provide a good framework for a Sharī'ah‐compliant documentary credit system, which is unique to trade in Islamic finance products, but there is scope for further improvement, taking into consideration the two possibilities proposed in the available literature on the subject – harmonization or bifurcation of rules. The UCP 600 also allows for the exclusion or modification of the rules to suit the specific needs of the Islamic finance industry.

This study focuses only on UCP 600 and the Sharī'ah framework on Documentary Credits, though bearing mind that there are other frameworks for documentary credit systems such as the International Standby Practices (ISP98) and letters of credit issued under Article 5 of the New York Uniform Commercial Code.

Islamic financial institutions should implement the provisions of the AAOIFI Sharī'ah standard on documentary credits but may require a different framework for international trade financing involving both Islamic banks and conventional banks.

Though few studies have been conducted on Sharī'ah issues regarding the application of the documentary credits, this seems to be the first time where a more proactive step is taken to propose two different frameworks for transactions involving Sharī'ah compliant financing.