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The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of companies’ Shariah compliance (SC) debt financing decisions, financing with retained earnings (REs), cash holdings, capital expenditures and dividend pay-out policies.

The sample consisted of 1,648 firm-year observations of GCC non-financial firms from various industries. The authors scrutinised the firms over a period of eight financial years from 2012 to 2019. To analyse the research hypotheses, the authors used a panel data model using ordinary least squares and generalised method of moments, depending on historical data.

The results of this study show a negative effect of SC on debt financing decision and dividend pay-out policies but a positive effect on financing decision with REs, cash holdings and the decision on capital expenditures.

This study's findings provide a better understanding of the role of restrictions of financing options in SC companies on financing decisions in the GCC. Whether religious or simply interested in investing in SC companies, investors can benefit from knowing that these companies make financial decisions that may affect their short- and long-term profits for policymakers and regulators. This study may be valuable in evaluating the effect of restrictions imposed by Islamic Shariah on how firms make different financial decisions. Policymakers should encourage the issuance of Islamic financial products and prepare two financial indicators to classify SC firms.

The main contribution of this study is to obtain empirical evidence on the effect of SC on a set of financial decisions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to focus on non-financial companies committed to Shariah. They do not depend on interest-bearing loans for their financing but are limited to financing by shares, financing with REs and financing using various Islamic financing formulas.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive investigation into the different roles of cash holding decisions on Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms’ performance. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the significant relationship of liquidity on Shariah- and non-Shariah-compliant corporations.

This study sample includes non-financial firms listed in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets between 2005 and 2019. The study uses panel fixed effects and the dynamic generalized method of moments (system-GMM) models to test the relationship between cash holding and firm performance. The firms’ performance is measured using four widely used proxies representing book and market measures of performance including return on assets, return on equity, earnings before interest and tax to total assets and Tobin’s Q.

The results explore that the nature of the relationship between cash holdings and performance varies across Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms. Specifically, cash holdings are positively and significantly related to Shariah-compliant firms’ performance. However, cash reserves are not significantly related to conventional firms’ performance. These findings indicate that Shariah-compliant firms rely more on their cash holdings to avoid costly and less available external financing, meet everyday business needs and invest in profitable projects. In contrast, the value for cash holding is less important for non-Shariah-compliant firms, as their external financing options are less restricted compared to Shariah-compliant firms.

This study is not free from limitations. More specifically, the sample of this study comprises of firms listed in GCC countries, which share common features. It would be interesting for future research to examine the linkage between cash holdings and Shariah-compliant and conventional firms’ performance by applying a larger sample, such as firms located in countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The findings of this paper provide useful insights for managers and investors on the important role of cash management for Shariah-compliant firms. Policymakers and bankers need to develop Shariah-based financial products to ease Islamic financing sources. Moreover, the findings of this paper call for more research on the importance of liquidity management for Shariah-compliant firms.

This study extends the Islamic finance literature by exploring the key role of cash holdings to Shariah-compliant firms. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study to investigate cash holdings and performance between Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between Shariah compliance and corporate capital structure decisions. This study explores the variation of capital structure speed of adjustment.

The authors’ sample includes a sample of the largest 200 nonfinancial firms trading in the Malaysian and Pakistan stock markets. This study uses ordinary least squares and dynamic two-step system generalized method of moments to test the hypotheses of the study.

The results show that Shariah-compliant firms use a lower level of leverage than the noncomplaint firms. Moreover, while both types of firms have optimal capital structures, the speed of adjustment toward the targets is slower for Shariah-complaint firms than non-Shariah-compliant firms. This variation can be seen through the different levels of market imperfection experienced by the two types of firms. Shariah-compliant firms follow Islamic rules that restrict the type and degree of leverage, thus affecting the availability of external funding to Shariah-compliant firms.

The findings call for more development and innovation of financing instruments that comply with Shariah rules that will increase of supply of external funds for Shariah-compliant firms and, thus, reduce market imperfections that are faced by Shariah-compliant firms.

The study contributes to the limited number of studies that examine the nexus between conventional corporate theories and Islamic corporate finance.

This study aims to identify the problems in shariah compliance and the weak oversight of implementing Islamic crowdfunding (ICF). Shariah compliance regulation is an essential subsystem in Islamic social finance ecosystems.

This type of research is legal research. The research approaches are the statute, comparative and conceptual approaches. The study in this research examines Indonesia, the UK and Malaysia.

ICF is one of the fastest-growing sectors of Islamic financial technology (fintech). The Islamic fintech sector is showing maturity signals with a market size of $79bn in 2021, projected at $179bn in 2026. Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia lead the Index by Global Islamic Fintech (GIFT) Index scores. However, low shariah compliance is still an issue in implementing ICF. This problem is caused by regulatory support that is still lacking and oversight of shariah compliance is not optimal. On the one hand, shariah compliance is the ICF core principle for Shariah Governance.

This study examines the regulation and oversight of ICF in Indonesia, Malaysia and the UK. Indonesia and Malaysia, a country with the highest GIFT index score in the world, and the UK, a country with an Islamic finance sector experiencing rapid growth.

The research results on shariah compliance regulation in ICF are helpful as a comprehensive approach for developing sustainable Islamic social finance ecosystems.

Shariah compliance is the core principle of ICF governance. Its implementation can increase public trust.

Crowdfunding platform and issuers in ICF must implement shariah compliance. Therefore, it is essential to consider the presence of shariah compliance requirements and a Shariah Supervisory Board (DPS).

This study aims to investigate the significant role of the Shariah Board (SB) in the innovation of digital finance products through SBs’ interaction with financial technology (FinTech).

By using semi-structured interviews, the paper examines 34 views and experiences of scholars and other practitioners from the FinTech and Islamic banking industries to gain an in-depth understanding of SBs’ Shariah compliance roles in FinTech inclusion in Malaysian Islamic banks (IBs).

Taking advantage of Malaysia’s comprehensive Shariah Governance Framework for IBs, the study highlighted the importance of SBs to better address the opportunities and challenges of financial innovation for the development of IBs with the inclusion of FinTech. The authors found that digital solutions and tools, such as Robo Advisory system and blockchain, enhance SBs’ roles by providing more effective and timely Shariah assurance regardless of the volume of data information and storage.

Given SBs significant roles in conforming to the Shariah, the study contributed significantly to assisting the regulatory and policy promulgation that enhance SBs’ integrity and credibility in response to the growth of IB infrastructures and financial innovation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the significant role of SBs in the innovation of digital finance products through their interaction with FinTech, while prior studies focused on the characteristics and structure of Islamic digital financial products.

This study investigates the influence of corporate income tax on two corporate financial decisions — dividend and capital structure policies, particularly for Shariah compliant companies in Malaysia.

The study considered data from a sample of 529 Malaysian listed companies from four industrial sectors from 2007–2021 (6,746 company-year observations, before eliminating outliers). Panel models such as Fixed Effect and Random effect models were used. The study specifically tested the effect of corporate income tax on dividend and capital structure policies for Shariah compliant companies (3,148 observations) and controlled for industrial sectors.

(1) Firms are mostly Shariah-compliant, less liquid, less profitable and smaller in size, (2) Broadly when analysed together, tax has no impact on debt-equity ratio while it has an impact on dividend per share, (3) However, when tested separately for Shariah compliant companies, the influence of effective tax on capital structure is very evident but not for dividend and (4) influence of industrial sector on the relationship between corporate tax and capital structure and dividend policy is significant. Results indicate that Shariah firms might be raising debt to gain tax advantage. Companies in general pay dividends to avoid reputational damage.

This study assumes that leverage and dividend policy decisions are the main outcomes of the changing tax policies, while it seems that there could be other important outcomes that can be tested in future research. The study also shows the changing tax regimes of different ASEAN countries but they have not been tested to see the differences between countries. It will be indeed interesting for future researchers to focus on this aspect.

The findings contribute to the literature on tax planning of the Shariah-compliant firms, a high growth business segment in the Asian context. The study discussed potential tax-based Islamic market product development.

This study aims to explore and identify potential challenges and prospects for conducting the professional shariah audit training programme via an e-learning approach during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Questionnaires were administered to 296 participants who were enrolled in the professional shariah audit training programme via e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020. These participants were final-year students from selected Malaysian public universities.

Findings show that several main challenges are faced in adopting an e-learning approach for conducting the professional shariah audit training programme such as the inability to do more hands-on, group and physical activities, different understandings based on academic backgrounds, difficulty in learning practical and technical topics, technical issues and problems during e-learning sessions. These lead to the unsuitability of conducting professional training via the e-learning approach. In terms of prospects of knowledge learnt via the e-learning approach, participants showed that they are able to master all six modules covered in the professional shariah audit training programme via the e-learning approach. These include (1) shariah principles; (2) shariah governance; (3) Islamic financial transactions; (4) shariah risk management; (5) shariah audit planning and programme; and (6) shariah audit fieldwork and communication.

Based on the findings, it is suggested to have more time spent and earlier preparation on the learning contents and sessions, more discussion on actual contents and practical exercises and competency of the trainers in delivering e-learning sessions.

This study is believed to be one among the pioneering studies on the potential challenges and prospects in adopting e-learning for conducting the professional shariah audit training programme due to COVID-19.

This paper aims to provide an overview of research topics and publications produced by Islamic Finance scholars in Malaysia, focusing on six research domains (Shariah-based, Islamic Finance, Islamic Economics, Islamic Accounting, Islamic Management and Halal Management) in five public universities in Malaysia.

This study seeks to analyse the research gaps and recommend future research based on publications produced by Islamic Finance scholars from five public universities in Malaysia. Data on talents were collected from the MIFER report 2016 and each universities’ website, while research and publications of the talents were collected from Google Scholar and the Scopus database. The extracted data were analysed using bibliometric analysis in VOSviewer version 1.6.15.

The results show that the five selected universities talents have different research strengths according to six research domains highlighted in MIFER 2021 and Beyond Report. All five universities are found to contribute the least research in Halal Management domain. In view of the increasing prominence of this area of research in the national and international levels, these universities and other universities in Malaysia can generate more research in Halal Economy, Halal Management, and other related areas within this domain. The finding indicated that each university tends to have a strength according to the different domains, and 2019 is the most productive year for Islamic Finance publications. Analysis from productive scholars and co-citations shows that the authors collaborate within the same university to create a different topic for each research cluster.

The bibliometric analysis only captures the general keyword terms, which may be limited to the only generalised sub-research areas.

This bibliometric study, which is based on the expertise of researchers, complements meta-analysis, and qualitative structured literature reviews aid researchers or talents in developing future research directions such as Green economy, Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Halal Management and others. In addition, this is a case study in nature and can serve to enhance understanding the landscape of Islamic finance education and as a reference for practices in institutions of higher learning from around the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is a new research initiative comparing five top programme providers in the field of Islamic finance using a bibliometric approach to enhance talent development and capacity building. With the government’s efforts to further promote Malaysia as the Islamic Financial Hub, this study highlights the research gap in Islamic finance based on scholars’ publications from selected five Malaysian universities and potential topics for future research. This study focuses on the research domain for each university, the trend of publishing, the number of journals published by academics, productive scholars and citations by Malaysian universities, and examines if the publications align with current industry needs.

This study aims to revisit the relationship between Shariah-compliant firms and earnings management. Specifically, the authors examine whether Shariah-certified firms have lower earnings management than non-Shariah-certified firms and how often a firm must hold its certification to observe considerably reduced earnings management. This study also explores how senior management ethnic dualism affects the association of Shariah certification and earnings management.

The authors analyze the hypothesized association between Shariah certification and earnings management using a panel regression model and several robustness tests, including the Heckman selection model. The sample consists of 547 nonfinancial firms listed on the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange, with 5,478 firm-year observations over the 2001–2016 sample period.

Shariah certification is found to mitigate earnings management, particularly for firms that consistently retain their Shariah status. The longer firms retain their Shariah certification continually, the lower the earnings management. Additionally, the results indicate that the negative impact of Shariah certification on earnings management is driven by ethnic duality when a specific ethnic group dominates the top management.

Firms’ commitment to religious-based screening and continuation of certification plays a significant role in improving earnings quality. Firms are committed to abiding by the Shariah code of conduct instead of using the Shariah status for reputation purposes to attract investors.

For investors, the continuous compliance status is a crucial indicator of a firm’s commitment to comply with Shariah principles and to mitigate earnings management. Regarding policy implications, Shariah-compliance guidelines can constrain earnings manipulation, especially among firms lacking ethnic diversity.

The study shows that Shariah certification must be maintained consecutively to reduce earnings management. Shariah certification’s governance function is crucial in ethnically homogeneous firms, primarily when one ethnic group dominates the senior management.

This study aims to explore the potential of Islamic climate finance in Indonesia and to map Islamic climate finance based on Islamic finance instruments, both commercial and social.

The analysis was conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia, between October 2022 and June 2023. This study adopted a qualitative interpretive approach in two phases. The first phase was desk-based research which focused on document analysis such as official documents, scientific publications, non-governmental organization publications and company reports in Indonesia. This analysis was conducted to identify significant milestones in developing green and eco-friendly finance that used Islamic financial instruments in Indonesia. The second phase consisted of interviews with essential Islamic climate finance project actors, such as green sukuk publishers, zakat and waqf collection agencies, stakeholders, capital market regulators, Shariah supervisory boards and Islamic finance experts.

The main finding of this study is that the development of Islamic green finance in Indonesia can occur through various channels, including greening Islamic capital markets, greening Islamic social finance, Islamic green finance and developing green banking services for the unbanked to support financial inclusion. Green sukuk, or Islamic bonds, are key financial instruments in Islamic green finance. They are used to fund projects in areas such as clean energy, mass transit, water conservation, forestry and low-carbon technology. These green financing initiatives also include socially responsible investments that are designed to improve the lives of people and communities.

First, the availability of data on Islamic green finance practices in Indonesia may be limited, making it difficult to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape. Second, cultural and religious factors may play a role in the adoption and implementation of Islamic green finance, and these factors may vary across different regions in Indonesia.

The exploration and clustering of Islamic climate finance based on Islamic financial instruments in Indonesia can lead to the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices in the financial industry.

This study serves as a pioneering effort to explore the potential and clustering of Islamic climate finance based on Islamic financial instruments in Indonesia.