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This paper aims to recommend a framework that serves as a practical work tool for conducting risk-based Shari’ah audit (RBSA) in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs).

Qualitative research method was used through critical in-depth content analysis of documented literature to generate deep insights, further supported with a hypothetical illustrative case study application of the framework on an Islamic bank, aimed at bringing the framework to a practical, near real-life scenario.

A robust RBSA framework has been developed which focuses on Shari’ah non-compliance risks to systematically and practically arrive at a rated opinion on the level of an IFI’s adherence with Shari’ah rules and principles as recommended by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, aimed to safeguard the IFI and promote financial system stability at large.

Practical realities limited the study to the use of a hypothetical case study bank. Future researchers can apply the framework to a real case study of diverse IFIs for effective contextual recalibration in diverse jurisdictions.

This paper aids the development of both internal and external Shari’ah audit practice using the risk-based approach.

The RBSA framework contributes to promoting public trust and confidence in the Islamic finance industry.

This paper has proposed this RBSA framework as a practical work tool for Shari’ah auditors in their engagements and regulators in promoting sound governance and financial system stability. It provides foundation for future researchers in the field.

Shari’ah compliance has been a subject of debate to academics, Islamic scholars and practitioners since its inception in 1983. Besides a wide range of publications in Shari’ah compliance, only a few studies have examined Shari’ah-compliant risks especially among the Islamic banks. This paper aims to investigate the factors of Shari’ah-compliant risks in Shari’ah compliance under the Shirkah-ul-milk (hire purchase) in Bangladesh.

The investigation of Shari’ah compliant risks from both bankers and clients were gained via a structured questionnaire to acquire a better understanding of Islamic banking practices in Bangladesh. In analyzing the data, two empirical tests were used to draw inferences on Shari’ah-compliant risks–Shari’ah compliance relationship: the measurement model, a diagnostic test, was used to justify the reliability and validity of constructs, and the partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to examine the hypotheses on the existent links between Shari’ah-compliant risks and Shari’ah compliance under Shirkahul-milk.

Unlike previous studies, the empirical evidence provides the pertinent attributes of Shari’ah-compliant risks, which are more significant in avoidance of the compliance of Shari’ah laws in banking operations. Such Shari’ah-compliant risks are significantly raised by various comprehensive, operational, environmental and distributional risks in banking that have failed to address fairness, justice and economic well-being at the transactional level.

A new empirical evidence focusing on the propagation of Shari’ah-compliant risks is preferred for effective Shari’ah compliance in operations as being an original structure of Islamic banks.

The purpose of this paper is to help directors, senior management, and stakeholders of Islamic banks understand sharī‘ah risk, a crucial consideration in the corporate governance of Islamic banks, and its impact on these banks.

This conceptual paper links dispersed insights drawn from the emerging body of sharī‘ah governance literature, and the guidance issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) with new insights to clarify the sharī‘ah risk that Islamic banks face.

Sharī‘ah risk, an operational risk, poses a credible hazard to Islamic banks and their stakeholders. Possible consequences of sharī‘ah non-compliance include higher costs, financial losses, liquidity problems, bank runs, bank failure, industry smearing and financial instability. This study defines shariah risk, identifies credit, legal, compliance, market, and reputational risk that it may evoke, and categorizes its causes and events.

Future research could empirically test the ideas posited. In this paper claims were substantiated by logic and examples.

The study devises an instrument for assessing sharī‘ah risk, and suggests measures for directors, senior management, and regulators to mitigate this risk.

This is the first study to focus on the implications of sharī‘ah risk, delineate examples of events and incorporate them within the BCBS operational risk causes, and develop a tool for measuring sharī‘ah risk.

The purpose of this study is to investigate shari’ah scholars’ views and experiences pertaining the shari’ah issues, challenges and prospects in Islamic derivatives. Specifically, this paper critically examines the criticisms toward conventional derivative instruments and the controversies surrounding underlying contracts and current Islamic derivative products.

This study uses qualitative methods to form a deeper understanding of shari’ah scholars’ perception and experience on Islamic derivatives. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five shari’ah scholars who are currently working in Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia and Singapore. This study used phenomenological techniques for its data analysis.

This study has found that shari’ah scholars are aware of the shari’ah issues surrounding Islamic derivatives and have provided comprehensive insight on the solution to these issues. It was found that it is important to take into account the derivatives instruments in Islamic financial industry because of the need for hedging and risk mitigation within Islamic financial institutions. Nonetheless, the study has also found that the use of wa’ad contracts to structure Islamic profit rate swaps and foreign currency exchanges are problematic because of it having features of bay’ al-kali’ bil-kali (the sale of one debt for another).

This study is one of few studies that highlight the shari’ah issues of Islamic derivatives in Islamic banking and finance industry. This paper is of value in discussing risk management and Islamic derivatives in Islamic financial institutions and how there are many issues under the investigation process, particularly issues related to controversial underlying contracts and products.

Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) are required to establish a Shariīʿah Governance Framework (SGF) to strengthen their Sharīʿah-compliance mechanism and ensure that all relevant IFI regulations are in line with Sharīʿah rules and principles. Effective implementation of the Shariīʿah-compliance function will further promote stakeholder confidence, as well as the integrity of IFIs, by reducing Shariīʿah non-compliance risks. This study aims to examine the internal control framework developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and explore the extent to which it can be incorporated in the Sharīʿah-compliance function of IFIs.

This study adopts a qualitative method of inquiry, utilizing the inductive method and content analysis to build comprehensive knowledge that will assist in exploring the framework of COSO methodology and the extent to which it can be adopted by IFIs.

The findings indicate that the existing frameworks of Sharīʿah governance, whether that of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) or Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), need to be further developed. Therefore, the adoption of COSO methodology in the internal Sharīʿah audit of IFIs, as suggested by AAOIFI, is not only possible but desirable. The study also finds that the COSO framework places the highest priority on risk management in that it makes it an integral part of the decision-making process in all the institution's activities. As a result, incorporating the comprehensive COSO risk management structure within the Sharīʿah-compliance function will enhance risk management in IFIs.

This study highlights the importance of the COSO internal control framework and examines its components, principles and the possibility of its adoption by IFIs. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to enhancing the Sharīʿah-compliance function of IFIs.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of audit report lag and its association with governance mechanisms in the Islamic banking institutions in Malaysia.

The extent of audit report lag is defined by the number of days from a company’s financial year-end to the signature date on its audit report. The sample of the study comprises 112 observations of Islamic banking institutions’ financial reports for the period 2008-2014. A balanced panel data analysis is performed to analyse the association between the extent of audit report lag and governance mechanisms.

The findings show that the extent of audit report lag for the sample selected ranges from a minimum period of 7 days to a maximum period of 161 days, and the extent of audit report lag is approximately two months on average. A fixed effects analysis indicates that audit committee expertise and audit committee meeting have significant association with the extent of audit report lag. On the other hand, board independence, audit committee size and Shari’ah board expertise have insignificant association with the extent of audit report lag. In addition, one control variable (Islamic bank size) is found to be significantly associated with longer audit report lag.

The findings provide useful feedback for Malaysian policymakers on the past and current practices of financial reports and of governance mechanisms. The findings of the study would help the policymakers in monitoring the Islamic banking institutions’ compliance with financial reports submission requirements. The policymakers perhaps could relook into governance mechanisms that reduce the extent of audit report lag in the Islamic banking institutions and implement regulations to strengthen them.

Unlike the majority of prior studies that investigated the association between the extent of audit report lag and governance mechanisms, this study provides two contributions. First, to the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first piece of research that examined the association between governance mechanisms and the extent of audit report lag in Islamic banking institutions. Second, the study examined the association of new governance variable, namely, Shari’ah committee expertise which has not been previously examined in the literature of audit report lag.

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.

The paper aims to examine the impact of Shari'ah governance quality on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in Islamic banks.

The study's sample consists of 66 Islamic banks from 14 countries over 2015–2019. The research uses the Heckman model, which is a two-stage estimation method to obtain unbiased estimates, as ESG scores are only observable for 17 Islamic banks in Eikon Refinitiv database at the time of the analysis.

The analysis shows that Shari'ah governance has a beneficial role to achieve ESG performance. The analysis also shows that enhanced profiles of Shari'ah supervisory boards' (SSB) attributes are more efficient than the operational procedures to promote ESG performance. In addition, the analysis shows that enhanced SSBs' attributes strengthen the bank's corporate governance framework, while sound-designed procedures increase the bank's social activities by emphasizing their roles to ensure Shari'ah compliance. Finally, the analysis sheds light on the failure of Shari'ah governance to promote environmental performance.

The existing databases providing companies' ESG-related information still do not offer sufficient data to conduct an international study with a larger sample of Islamic banks (IBs) having ESG scores for a more extended period.

The research provides policy insights to Islamic banks' stakeholders to promote social and governance performance in the Islamic finance industry through improving Shari'ah governance practices. However, raising environmental awareness is imminent among all actors implicated in the Shari'ah governance processes to help overcome the anthropogenic risks.

The research complements the governance-banks' ESG performance literature by examining the role of Shari'ah governance. The research also extends the literature on Islamic banks' sustainability by pointing to the Shari'ah governance failure to enhance environmental performance and thus achieve Maqasid al-Shariah regarding the environment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the nature of the risk management practices of Islamic banks as recommended by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in managing their unique risks. This study also explores the differences in risk management practices based on the country, size, type and age of the bank.

A questionnaire was developed to investigate the risk management practices. The main reference for the questionnaire was the IFSB Guiding Principles of Risk Management and the respondents were either the chief risk officers or holders of other senior positions involved in risk management in the Islamic banks. A non-parametric test was then conducted to explain the difference in mean scores for the unique risk management practices by the Islamic banks.

A lack of effective risk management practices was found in relation to liquidity risk, displaced commercial risk and equity investment risk by Islamic banks. However, Islamic banks were comparatively good in managing operational risk/Shari’ah non-compliance risk. The study found that there was a significant difference in the practice of equity investment risk management based on the size, type and age of the Islamic bank. In addition, a significant difference was found between the Islamic banks in the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Asian countries concerning the practice of both displaced commercial risk and operational risk/Shari’ah non-compliance risk management.

In spite of the limitations in non-parametric analysis, this analysis was preferred inasmuch as the data were measured on an ordinal scale with a small sample size.

This study is among the few studies that examine and explore the risk management practices of Islamic banks internationally by explaining the unique risks encountered in Islamic finance.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the role and responsibilities of Shari’ah auditors in Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) in the auditing process in the IFIs, to highlight capacity building challenges in the Shari’ah auditing industry.

The authors used a legitimacy theory to understand linkages between demand for Shari’ah audit and the role of Shari’ah auditors in IFIs complemented with the review the Accounting and Auditing Organization of Islamic Financial Institutions and Auditing Standard for Islamic Financial Institutions to understand the Shari’ah audit work requirements from an Islamic perspective.

Shari’ah auditing is an emerging field of investigation. There is no doubt that conventional auditing has a significant influence on the auditing frameworks used in IFIs. Western auditing practices are undergoing a metamorphosis to meet the needs of stakeholders in the Islamic economic system. The role and responsibilities of auditors in IFIs are much broader than those found in conventional banks in relation to an examination of a variety of contracts, product structures, transactions reporting, preparation of financial statements, reports, marketing circulars and any other legal documents, which are pertinent to IFIs’ operations.

We posit that the absence of a proper Shari’ah auditing framework and standards attuned to the needs of an Islamic economic system could dampen the future of the Islamic finance industry. The regulators and management of IFIs should meet the expectations of the stakeholders to whom they owe a duty of care by selecting competent professionals for auditing work, along with transparent policies and systems.

This paper presents an attempt to establish auditors’ roles and responsibilities from an Islamic perspective.