Mohammad Azam Hussain

Scrutinizing the Malaysian Regulatory Framework on Shari’ah Advisors for Islamic Financial Institutions

Islamic banking, takaful and Islamic Capital Market are the main component of Islamic financial system in Malaysia. Shari’ah compliance is one of the attributes to distinguish Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) from its counterpart. Adherence to Shari’ah principles is fundamental to the operations of IFIs and such adherence is a continuing process as long as such institutions operate. The Shari’ah Advisors appointed by the IFIs are responsible in ensuring the Shari’ah compliance of IFIs in carrying out its Islamic financial business. The requirement for the appointment of Shari’ah Advisors in IFIs has been included in the statutes governing IFIs as well as guidelines and circulars issued by authoritative bodies related to Islamic banking, takaful and Islamic Capital Market. This indicates that, the appointment of Shari’ah Advisors in IFIs is a vital to the industry. A specific regulatory framework on Shari’ah Advisors is essential in regulating their duties and responsibilities as may be in ensuring that the operations of IFIs conform to Shari’ah principles. Furthermore, a strong regulatory framework on Shari’ah Advisors is one of the factors in ensuring the resilience development of Islamic finance industry. Henceforth, this study seeks to analyze the Malaysian regulatory framework on Shari’ah advisors as their significant roles and responsibilities in ensuring Shari’ah compliance of IFIs.

MEKANISME PENGGUNAAN JAMINAN KEBENDAAN (RAHN TASJILY) DALAM PEMBIAYAN BANK SYARIAH DI INDONESIA DAN MALAYSIA

The main objective of this legal research is to compare the legal construction and the use of “rahn tasjily” mechanism in the Sharia bank financing between Indonesia and Malaysia through law, concept, and history approaches. The data were analyzed qualitatively by systematic interpretation and historical interpretation. The results are: 1) Both countries do not have a strong regulation in Sharia guarantees, thus the law construction is implemented by harmonization and integration between Sharia principles and conventional regulations (civil). The differences are in the concept, the division of rahn, and the law substance in the Sharia banking complement regulation. 2) The mechanism is also different, where in Indonesia the guarantee should be bound by an authentic certificate (notary) and registered in the authority institutions in order that Sharia bank (murtahin) obtains a strong law protection beside an insurance. While in Malaysia, the use of collateral is only included in the financing contract without an authentic certificate; the registration is not compulsory and the ownership proof of guarantee (marhun bih) as well as the object is in rahin permanently (except a land); and the collateral strength for Sharia bank is an insurance.