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This paper aims to examine the implications of compensation on late payment of takāful benefit imposed in the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 on the takāful industry in Malaysia. It also aims to identify the issues and challenges faced by takāful operators in the implementation of the compensation and propose solutions for the benefits of the takāful industry.

This research uses the qualitative approach to understand the practices of claims in takāful and to analyze the implication of compensation on late payment of takāful benefit to the takāful industry in Malaysia. Data are collected through survey and interview with various takāful stakeholders.

Some of the key findings in this research are that the compensation of late payment of takāful benefit has a positive impact to the takāful industry. The research also found some Sharīʿah operational issues in terms of its implementation among takāful operators.

The research focuses on compensation on late payment of takāful benefit claim in death and personal accident only.

The research offers certainty to the takāful industry and an explanation to academic and legal fraternities on the implementation of compensation on late payment of takāful benefit according to Islamic Financial Services Act (IFSA) 2013.

The research provides a valuable contribution to the current practices of takāful operators, identifies some issues and challenges of its implementation and proposes the solution.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to see the effectiveness of operational and transformational standards raised by joint working group of Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) as well as respondents' perceptions about Takāful (Islamic insurance) practices in Pakistan.

A total of two questionnaires were designed for this purpose: one for Takāful operators in Pakistan and other for insurance customers. For the first questionnaire, three Takāful operators were visited at Karachi. For the second questionnaire, a sample of 150 insurance customers was surveyed at Rawalpindi. Descriptive statistics and Chi‐square test was used to analyze the data.

Reporting standards and internal controls were found to have low level of observance among Takāful operators in Pakistan. The survey of insurance customers revealed that majority of the respondents (91 percent) are unaware of Takāful concept. Education was found to be the single important factor affecting income of the respondents, their perceptions and level of Takāful awareness.

The survey is conducted at one major city of the country based on convenient sampling technique and its results have been generalized for the entire country. However, actual results might differ when a sufficiently large sample is taken from all the main cities of the country.

The study would help the policy makers to focus on strengthening regulatory framework for Takāful. It will also help Takāful operators in understanding public perceptions about Takāful and devising strategies to promote Takāful business to the vast population of Pakistan.

This is the first empirical research conducted on Takāful in Pakistan that analyzes the Takāful practices both from managerial perspective as well as from regulatory perspective.

This paper aims to ascertain the Sharīʿah (Islamic law) stance on the imposition of goods and services tax (GST) on tabarruʿ-based takāful (donation-based Islamic insurance) products in Malaysia. The paper aims to do so by analysing the philosophy, purposes and structure of GST on takāful products and comparing the imposition of GST on tabarruʿ-based takāful with its imposition on conventional insurance while probing into the Sharīʿah texts and opinions of classical and contemporary scholars about taxation in Islam.

The paper uses a qualitative research methodology. In addition to the literature and text on websites, the information on how GST is applied in practice is also obtained through interviews, discussions and documents from takāful operators. To determine the Sharīʿah position on GST, reference has been made to classical and contemporary Sharīʿah literature, including local and international Sharīʿah advisory bodies’ resolutions and standards.

This study finds that a strict interpretation of Sharīʿah does not allow for the imposition of GST; however, there is still room for the government to justify it using a broader interpretation of maṣlaḥah (public interest). Takāful has become a need for the society and is subscribed to by all income groups, and not only by the rich. Hence, the government should consider exempting takāful products from GST. The basis of tabarruʿ in takāful does not provide conclusive Sharīʿah evidence for takāful to be exempted from GST.

This research paves the way for the industry to propose further measures on GST for takāful products such as the exemption of GST on the tabarruʿ amount or imposition of a zero rate of GST on the relevant takāful fees and charges that are currently burdensome to consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the performance of the Takaful insurance firms in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and do a relative analysis for its different units.

This paper analyzes the technical, pure technical, cost and allocative efficiency of Takaful firms in the GCC countries using data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology.

The Takaful insurance industry in GCC is highly technical and pure technical efficient. However, it is moderately cost efficient, and there is a large opportunity for improvement. UAE and Qatar score the highest technical efficiency, while Saudi Arabia and UAE are the most cost efficient among the GCC countries.

The primary contribution of this paper is to provide the first DEA analysis of the Takaful industry in the GCC countries. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study on the Takaful insurance industry that uses different types of efficiency measures, namely technical, pure technical, allocative and cost efficiency, in the GCC countries. This paper also contributes in the literature of the inputs and outputs selection for the Takaful insurance efficiency calculation.

Management soundness is essential for the effectiveness of any industry, most especially in any Islamic financial sector, whereby fairness and justice are the key factors to be observed. This paper aims to examine the management soundness of the takaful industry regarding their asset quality, re-takaful and actuarial and earning and profitability.

This study obtained quarterly data from 2019Q1 to 2021Q4 from the Islamic Financial Services Board across Malaysia, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The panel data modelling with random-effect and fixed-effect estimators were used for the analysis.

The finding revealed a strong relationship between re-takaful and earnings with management soundness and a weak relationship between asset quality and management soundness. In addition, the result established a significant and strong association between management soundness and earnings and profitability. Therefore, re-takaful and profitability contributed more to the management soundness of the takaful industry than asset quality during the study. An increase in earnings and profitability to enable the takaful industry to pay the claims, especially in calamity, and more focus on the quality of the asset they invested in could enable the smooth running of their day-to-day business affairs.

More attention is required on the quality of assets in their portfolio for the sustainability of the takaful industry to fulfil their underlying objectives. Management soundness in the takaful industry should address the challenges of managerial lathery, which some studies linked with operational inefficiency because of unskilled personnel in the takaful industry. This could benefit takaful clients, irrespective of religion, to attain their associated share of benefits from the Islamic insurance industry.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examined the effectiveness of takaful management across Malaysia, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Takāful (Islamic insurance) industry operates on the principles of Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah, and of late, the industry has witnessed significant market growth. The purpose of this study is to develop a performance measurement model based on Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah to evaluate the performance of Takāful firms.

A mixed-method research approach was adopted to conduct the present study. Priorities were assigned to various dimensions of the Maqāṣid model using analytic hierarchy process and by taking inputs from 18 Takāful experts. On the contrary, six experts were involved in identifying the elements and measures for the operationalization of the Maqāṣid dimensions.

Maṣlaḥa (0.359) was found to possess the highest priority, followed by Justice (0.345) and Educating Individuals (0.295). Furthermore, under Necessity, protection of religion (0.398) and protection of life (0.388) are assigned almost similar priorities. These two are followed by the protection of progeny (0.107), protection of wealth (0.058) and protection of intellect (0.047). The final outcome of this study is a hierarchical model for the evaluation of performance of Takāful firms.

The application of the performance evaluation model will provide information to the management of Takāful firms on where they stand in terms of fulfilling Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah principles. If any firms are found to have a deficiency in a certain part of Maqāṣid components, then proper and adequate measures can be taken to ameliorate the situation.

It is necessary to have a performance evaluation model based upon Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah to evaluate the performance of Takāful firms as these firms operate on the principles of Maqāṣid al-Sharī’ah. Because there does not exist any such model, this study fills up this gap. Details of the measures that can be used to evaluate the performance of Takāful firms are also provided.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a description of the integration of Takaful in the domestic market, based on experiences in regional markets, focusing on the explanation of factors that could enhance the position of Takaful in certain areas.

The chapter describes the evolution of Takaful insurance in international and regional markets, and explains the articulation of this product in these markets. The chapter also provides an analysis of the Algerian market characteristics related to the Takaful product.

This work will be based on an analytical research of emerging markets and their success factors; then it will be necessary to provide an overview of the product containing Takaful; and finally we will try to follow the experience of the national insurance market with the new product, supplied by the Salama Company, and determine the potential of Algeria in this area.

This work offers an opportunity to understand the mechanisms needed to activate the local market and opens the prospects for effective integration of Islamic financial products gradually, in order to prepare for changes that would provide more financial products suited to the requirements of social development in the Algerian economy.

This study examined the participation in mental health takaful schemes among young intellectuals in two public universities in Malaysia.

Drawing from the Attitude-Social Influence-Self-Efficacy (ASE), this study evaluated the effects of attitude, social influence and self-efficacy on participation in mental health takaful schemes using an empirical investigation surveying 767 respondents who were identified as young intellectuals in Malaysia.

Evidently, the ASE factors shape the development of participation in mental health takaful schemes among young intellectuals.

This study is confined in terms of the context and variables used – which limits its generalisation. Future studies should address these issues accordingly.

The results obtained can become a yardstick to gauge the participation of young intellectuals in mental health takaful in Malaysia.

This study introduced mental health takaful to the ASE, where young intellectuals are brought into play.

A family takaful certificate is subscribed by a takaful participant for the purpose of preparing financial support for his dependants after his death. The takaful benefits could then be made payable to a nominee named as the beneficiary under conditional hibah (gift). In this respect, the participant is free to decide to whom the benefits are to be given since the law is silent as to the criteria of the beneficiary. This situation gives rise to the issue on whether such a practice fulfils the objectives of Sharīʿah, especially when the nominated beneficiary is not the sole dependant of the deceased participant. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the status of family takaful benefits, analyse the rules of conditional hibah from the Sharīʿah perspective and propose solutions whenever necessary. The research adopts doctrinal analysis by examining existing primary and secondary materials including statutory provisions and other legal and non-legal literatures. The study predicates that the application of conditional hibah to the whole benefits does not reflect the objectives of Sharīʿah if determination on the status of the benefits is solely based on the nomination made by the participant. It is observed that takaful benefits payable from the Participant’s Account should be considered as the deceased’s estate and must be distributed according to fara’id or Islamic law of inheritance. Conversely, the sum covered payable from the Participant’s Special Account may be paid to the deceased’s dependants whose criteria are determined by the Sharīʿah Advisory Council as the highest authority in Islamic financial matters.

Purpose – The objective of this study is to assess the level of understanding of family takaful among the Muslim community of southern Thailand.

Methodology/approach – This study used a questionnaire as the data collection tool. It sampled 400 respondents who were selected in a simple way, regardless of whether they owned protection policies or not. The methods used to analyse the data are descriptive statistics and means, and independent samples T-testing.

Findings – The study found that the Muslim community in southern Thailand had a generally low level of understanding of family takaful. However, the differences in the level of understanding between those who participated in family takaful and those who did not were examined. The research findings were then found to indicate that there was a distinction between the two groups: those who participated in family takaful had a clear and positive understanding of it, while those who did not had no clear understanding of it. These are significant differences which signify that participation in family takaful by Muslims in southern Thailand was influenced by their understanding of it.

Research limitations/implications – This study was conducted in the Muslim community in and around Muang District, Narathiwat Province, in southern Thailand.

Practical implications – This study clearly indicates, especially to those involved directly or indirectly in the takaful industry, that there are still many in the community who do not participate in family takaful because they lack understanding and have negative perceptions of it. Those who are involved must make the effort to communicate more in-depth insights to target communities, which could effectively enhance the uptake of family takaful.

Originality/value – This is the first empirical study of takaful in Thailand. It was conducted to determine the level of understanding of family takaful in the Muslim communities of southern Thailand and to compare the levels of understanding of family takaful between those who have participated in it and those who have not.