Authorities Perspectives Towards the Implementation of Shariah-Compliant Hotel in Malaysia

Abstract

Islamic products and services have high contribution to the economy recently. This contribution has inspired Malaysia to set its mission to become a global halal hub. Halal hub generally relies on the level of awareness among Muslim particularly the authority in understanding the main concept of Shariah-compliant products and services. This paper will principally discuss on Shariah-compliant hotel industry by elaborating the important criteria from the perspectives of the authority in achieving the Shariah-Compliant hotel status in Malaysia. Focusing on qualitative method, this study used in-depth and open-ended interviews with the authorities namely JAKIM and JAHEAIK. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. It is found that JAKIM and JAHEAIK stated very limited criteria to specify a Shariah-compliant hotel. However, through interviews, JAKIM and JAHEAIK have provided some insights on how to fully achieve the Shariah-compliant attributes. This paper is important as it can significantly provide much needed feedback from the authority perspectives for the use of interested industry players.