Muhamad Rahimi Osman

Financial Literacy of Entrepreneurs in the Small and Medium Enterprises

The success of any small and medium enterprises (SME) has been associated with the ability of the entrepreneurs to be financially literate in managing the financial matters. The task of entrepreneurs does not only focuses on purchasing, allocating, and distributing the resources efficiently, but to be able to understand the running of the business in terms of possessing the knowledge on accounting, costing, and budgeting. Those entrepreneurs who are financially literate normally are able to sustain in the market, regardless of economic condition. A total of 100 respondents from SME have been chosen in this study. The study has revealed that the entrepreneurs are really give time and energy to know and possess the skills in financial matters. Among the variables chosen, budget control seems to be the main factor that entrepreneurs wanted to be expert at since a correct budget will determine the survival of the firm.

VISUAL ART FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF ISLAMIC SHARIAH: A NEED ASSESSMENT ANALYSES

Based on the previous studies on issues concerning visual artwork, many suggested an improvement has to be made on the Guidelines about Visual Art from the Islamic Perspectives (1987). Referring to the guideline, the process of producing visual artwork deals with the visual subject and the style of presenting the visual form. As a reference in producing Shariah compliant visual artwork, the guideline should be improved based on the evolving of the contemporary art. This paper aims to explore the needs of study on visual art from the perspectives of Islamic Shariah base on the contemporary development in the art scene. Given this gap, this study attempts to discuss the literature review for compiling the preliminary view point on the guideline status quo. The result shows that there are deficiencies in the guideline in terms of visual subject, visual form and visual content discussion. It is hoped that this study will pave the way to new frontier in the Contemporary Visual Art based on Islamic Shariah which has a huge contribution to the sustainability of national art. Result of this study can become a literature for those researchers who are intent to discover on this topic. Recommendation was given for further investigation into a refinement the guideline base on the contemporary art development through the qualitative research.

Toward Implementing Islamic Values in Governmental Reforms: A Malaysian Experience

The lack of values in management has been resulted in discouragement, misuse of power, disunity, selfishness, and other negative repercussions. This can be proven by the collapse of large profitable companies, such as Enron and WorldCom, which have been known, caused by ethical issues. Therefore, organizations need to nurture and maintain good values. Management from the Islamic perspective has highlighted abundance of values underpinned by the Quran and Prophetic traditions. Since the 1980s, Malaysian government has consistently exhibited a tendency to internalize Islamic values in its administration policies. The country also established several Islamic standards in relation to management system which largely emphasize on Islamic values. This article reflects on Malaysian effort in internalizing Islamic values. Subsequently, this article discusses the apparent trend, including several common supporting factors. Finally, this article concludes with prospects for further research.

Application of the Delphi Technique in the Formation of Shariah-Compliant Gold Instrument (SCGI)

The Delphi technique is a method used in order to get a unanimous decision from a group of experts regarding a certain issue. This technique was created as an effort in order to facilitate the formation of a joint decision among a group of experts in resolving a problem. This paper will establish the formation of Shariah-Compliant Gold Instrument (SCGI) by using this particular technique. A total of 13 experts in Muamalat were selected as participants and a total of three rounds were done in order to obtain their agreement. An open-ended questionnaire method and a close-ended questionnaire method were used during the first round, whereas the 4-point Likert scale questionnaire was used during the second round and for the third round, the Delphi technique was utilized to obtain the relevant data. Analysis of the questionnaire was done at every stage and a unanimous agreement by the experts was obtained by the third round as the item received a 70 % level of agreement or a median frequency of at least 3.25. As a result, this study has obtained 43 items SCGI instruments which is embedded in four dimensions, namely (i) investor and investment institutions; (ii) products and prices; (iii) the contract deal; and (iv) secondary contract. In conclusion, this research has successfully created the SCGI instrument that can be used by Islamic Financial Institutions (IFI) to create new products or an audit of the existing Shariah gold investment in order to ensure it complies with Muamalat.

Illustrating the Development of Quality Management Instrumentation: A Systematic Literature Review

Quality management (QM) of an organization is essential to develop customer loyalty hence organizational sustainability. Studies after studies have been conducted to come up with an enhanced and a more comprehensive instrument to measure the QM. Replicated studies have been done in many different localities and setting to improve the generalizability of a particular instrument. Nevertheless, a more comprehensive and universal instrument is yet to be found. Employing a systematic literature review (SLR) protocol, this paper summarizes several selected instruments. Selection is made based on predetermined criteria, in order to allow a focused analysis. Subsequently, this article illustrates the trend in studies which develop and validate instruments. A table of frequency analysis is also presented which explains the popular dimensions. Finally, this article concludes with opportunities for future research.

Application of Hiyal (Legal Stratagems) on Al-Ijarah-Based Contract in Islamic Financial Institution in Malaysia

Hiyal (legal stratagems) is one of the concepts being applied in structuring Islamic banking products to cater the needs of Muslim consumers especially in Malaysia. However, the application of Hiyal in structuring Islamic banking products creates various reactions amongst Muslim scholars about the permissibility of its application. Acceptance of the concept is conditional so that it does not overshadow the ruling of Islamic jurisprudence which is more significant. This article briefly explains the concept of Hiyal and evaluates its debate amongst Islamic scholars about permissibility of Hiyal acceptance in structuring Islamic financial product. The article also explains about various al-Ijarah contracts offered by Islamic banks in Malaysia and analyses the application of Hiyal in the products offered. Focus is given to the al-Ijarah-based contract because it is always applied in structuring Islamic banking products due to its flexibility and easy to be manipulating to make existing products lawful with the help of Hiyal. The analysis focuses on Hiyal in products based on al-Ijarah which is being applied and offered in Islamic banks in Malaysia.

Conceptualizing the Influence of the Islamic Value System on Quality Management Effectiveness

In the literature, a plethora of research conducted has approved the significant relation between organizational culture and effectiveness. Various variables of culture including values and norms based on industry or nationality have been studied. However, these studies provide less attention to religious influence in organizational culture and its subsets. In certain localities, such as Malaysia, religion is crucial in shaping organizational culture. This can be verified from various policies and slogans established depicting Malaysian government initiatives to consistently nurture and inculcate Islamic values in administration. This chapter proposes a conceptual framework of the Islamic value system’s influence on organizational effectiveness, with special reference to quality management effectiveness by summarizing the linkage between the two. Prior to that, this chapter elaborates on the concept of organizational culture and values. This chapter also summarizes the linkage between organizational culture and effectiveness based on previous studies. This is followed by an explanation of the Islamic value system and its uniqueness. Finally, this chapter concludes with some future research agenda.