Shariah Scholars Research Articles

Management of fatwa standardisation on the practice of bay’ ‘inah contract in Malaysia: an analysis according to usul al-Fiqh and mura’aht al-Khilaf method

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the practice of bay’ ‘inah contract in personal and home financing products by some Islamic Finance Institutions (IFIs) and examine the differences in the selection of contracts in banking products amongst IFIs mainly involving personal financing. The study will also propose a solution to the problem of differences and simultaneously standardise personal financing contracts in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology of this study is qualitative, in which the data are collected through library research and field studies. The library research is done by examining books of usul al-fiqh (principles of Islamic jurisprudence), mura’aht al-khilaf, maqasid shariah (objectives of Islamic law) articles, statutes and related circulars, while field studies are conducted in an unstructured interview method with some members of Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) and academicians from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), IFIs and public university.FindingsThe findings show that there is a difference in views amongst SAC members in IFIs on bay’ ‘inah contract that effects the differences in the execution of such contract in banking applications. The study found that the bay’ ‘inah contract was non Shariah (Islamic law) compliant based on Shariah’s arguments and the opinion of the majority of past and present Islamic scholars. The study found that the BNM’s SAC did not allow the bay’ ‘inah contract to be practiced in personal and home financing products. Hence, this study proposes standardisation steps based on differences in the problems studied. The study also suggested that the SAC of BNM make improvements and updates on its solution regarding the bay’ ‘inah contract so that it is not misunderstood especially amongst IFIs.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is only looking at one case study, which is the bay’ ‘inah contract practiced by the IFIs in Malaysia.Practical implicationsThis study proposes the standardisation of personal financing products practiced by the IFIs. The results of this study can reduce Sharīʿah non-compliance products in the market. The results of this study have gained a deep understanding of the solution of bay’ ‘inah contract made by the SAC of BNM. The findings also reduce the conflict between Shariah scholars locally and internationally and can restore the image of Islamic banking in Malaysia from engaging with controversy products or contracts.Social implicationsThe confidence of the public in Islamic banking is increasing as there is no contractual engagement with serious controversial issues and contracts similar to the concept of riba and hilah (trick) that is prohibited by Islamic law in IFIs.Originality/valueThis study analyses the differences of fatwa (a ruling on the point of Islamic law) about bay’ ‘inah contract decided by some SACs of IFI based on the discipline of usul al-fiqh. The study found that the bay’ ‘inah contract is not allowed by Islamic law. The study has proposed the standardisation of the fatwa differences based on the concept of mura’aht al-khilaf and the concept of standardisation in Islamic finance and to standardise personal financing products amongst IFIs in Malaysia.

Green Banking Products: Challenges and Issues in Islamic and Traditional Banks of Pakistan

Purpose: The issuance of green banking guidelines in 2017 has opened the door of a new banking horizon for Islamic banks because the objective of Islamic banks, objective of Shariah, objective of Islamic economic system and objective of green banking are linked. Banking, especially Islamic banking based on products and one of the main components of green banking guidelines is the development of green banking products. Since green banking is in the infancy stage, therefore, the objective of the study is to explore the issues and challenges in green banking products in Islamic and traditional banks of Pakistan. Methodology: Semi-Structured interview technique is utilized for data collection. The green operation managers and Shariah scholars of sample banks selected as interviewees. Interviews are conducted through telephonic recorded calls and email-interviewing. Total of 26 interviews are conducted. Findings: The results indicate that lack of skills, knowledge, identification of the target market with the appropriate mode of financing and convincing the people are some main obstacles in green banking product formulation and implementation. Implications: At one-point, green banking is an opportunity for Islamic banks to achieve Maqasid-e-Shariah on the other side, it may become an obstacle because it further limits the financing areas for Islamic banks. The situation needs serious attention from policymakers to act at earliest.

Contemporary Responses to The Criticism of Islamic Banks in Malaysia

The rapid growth of Islamic banks has become a focus of all investors and consumers. Malaysia has put in a lot of effort to develop and gather acceptance from all citizens of the country for Islamic banking. Hence, throughout the sector’s expansion, there have been several critics, such asshariah scholars, investors, and consumers. For instance; a lack of shariah experts in both economics and shariah itself, interest rates as benchmark, similarities with conventional banks etc. As the Malaysian Islamic banking system is growing and expanding, as are its critics. Therefore, the main purpose of this study to provide adequate arguments on the contemporary criticisms and challenges being faced by Islamic banks in Malaysia. This study has adopted a qualitative approach; conducting semi-structured interviews and observations. The findings recognised shariah compliancy, interest rates as a benchmark, and a lack of shariah scholars are the most pertinent current issues for Islamic banks in Malaysia. Through the supports of scholars, policy makers, and consumers, these issues can be resolved over time with Islamic finance literacy. The outcome of this study may benefit policy makers, investors, Muslim consumers, as well as stakeholders of Islamic banking and finance.

A systematic qualitative case study: questions, data collection, NVivo analysis and saturation

PurposeThe study aims to explore the case study method with the formation of questions, data collection procedures and analysis, followed by how and on which position the saturation is achieved in developing a centralized Shariah governance framework for Islamic banks in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachUsing purposive and snowball sampling procedures, data have been collected from 17 respondents who are working in the central bank and Islamic banks of Bangladesh through face-to-face and semi-structured interviews.FindingsThe study claims that researchers can form the research questions by using “what” question mark in qualitative research. Besides, the qualitative research and case study could explore the answers of “what” questions along with the “why” and “how” more broadly, descriptively and extensively about a phenomenon. Similarly, saturation can be considered attaining the ultimate point of data collection by the researchers without adding anything in the databank. Overall, this study proposes three stages of saturation: First, information redundancy. Second, referring the respondents (already considered in the study) without knowing anything about the data collection and their responses. Third, through the NVivo open coding process due to the decrease of reference or quotes in a certain position or in the saturation position as a result of fewer outcomes or insufficient information. The saturation is thus achieved in the diversified positions, i.e. three respondents for regulatory, nine for Shariah scholars and officers and five for the experts concerning the responses and respondents.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has potential implications on the qualitative research method, including the case study, saturation process and points, NVivo analysis and qualitative questions formation.Originality/valueThis research defines a case study with the inclusion of “what” and illustrates the saturation process in diverse positions. The qualitative research questions can also be formed with “what” in addition “why” and “how”.

Perceptions of Shariah Scholars on Shariah Audit in Malaysian Takaful Industry

Takaful is shariah compliant insurance scheme which become an important component in the Islamic financial system in Malaysia. Takaful industry in Malaysia is relatively young compared to other sectors in the financial industry, but it has enjoyed robust growth. However, despite the robust growth, Takaful industry also continues to face several challenges such as ineffective governance practices. Ineffective governance practice will lead to the possibility of facing shariah risk and incident of shariah risk in their activities and operation. Shariah audit function is one of the component of governance that play a role in ensuring the takaful operator to have a sound and effective internal control system of shariah compliance. This study aim to examine the shariah scholars’ perception on current shariah audit process and scope particularly in Takaful industry. Semi-structured interviews was conducted with shariah scholars who are members of the Shariah boards in various Takaful Operators. The finding discovers that there are different points of view demonstrated by the Shariah scholars. This study may provide relevant guidelines for future development of shariah audit practices in Islamic financial institutions in achieving maqasid shariah

Recommendation to Prohibit, Un-Islamic and Harmful Cultural Custom of Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation and female genital cutting that undertakes partial or complete removal of female genital organ, is practiced in certain parts of the world in general and in African Arab countries particularly. This is not religious but cultural and Muslim, Christian and to some extent by Jew communities are involved in this custom of circumcising the girls and women prior to their marriages. On the other hand, female circumcision involves the removal of prepuce which should not be confused with FGM (female genital mutilation), for they are completely two different procedures. However, Keeping the circle of the discussion to Muslims, it is very important to mention that there is no Ayat/verse in Al-Quran which even refers to female circumcision, which is also called as Islamic Circumcision. Only weak hadiths are found to support the procedure. However, these hadiths compl-etely forbid FGM as well as Islamic Shariah scholars prohibit this procedure after in carefully conclusive analysis of the said hadiths to be performed on women. FGM dosn’t has any health benefits instead this is very harmful and leads such victims to many gynecological, psychological, emotional and mental complications.

An Exploratory Study On The Possibility Of Replacing Tawarruq Based Islamic Banking Products Using Other Alternatives

Tawarruq which is also known as commodity Murabahah in Islamic banking is widely practiced in Malaysia to structure different types of Islamic banking products. The widespread use of tawarruq has made Islamic banks to be re-named as “tawarruq banks” and some even call tawarruq as the “magic lamp” of the industry. Shariah scholars have criticised this frequent usage of tawarruq in Islamic banking industry of Malaysia, while the practitioners have replied by saying that if tawarruq is a shariah approved concept, then what is wrong with the usage of it? However, from the shariah perspective, the issue here is not about the shariah compliance of tawarruq transactions per se. It is about the shariah limitations imposed by the scholars on the use of it. This simply means that there is a reservation made by shariah scholars in allowing the usage of tawarruq contract in Islamic finance as tawarruq is a contract allowed to be used when one has to choose between a conventional loan and tawarruq. The purpose of this research is thus to show the alternative Islamic commercial contracts that could be used to structure Islamic banking products that have been structured in the market using tawarruq. It is anticipated that the outcome of this research will assist Islamic banking industry to understand why and how they can move away from tawarruq.

Issues on Interbank Commodity Murabaha (CM) for Liquidity Management in Malaysia

Purpose: The objective of this research is to highlight issues and review the Interbank Commodity Murabahah (CM) practice as a tool of liquidity requirement from both the Shariah and industry’s operational perspectives. Accordingly, this study seeks to analyze structure and mechanism of CM as instrument to meet the liquidity need of the Islamic financial institutions and provides an opportunity for investments. In doing so, the paper seeks to review issues related to Shariah and operations in Islamic banking.
 Design/methodology/approach: By conducting interview with Treasurers, Shariah Scholars and funding dealers of Islamic banks in Malaysia, the study evaluates reassessment on CM practices and operational issues in relation risk and compliance. The study focuses on Islamic Treasury Division of Islamic banks in Malaysia.
 Findings: The findings of the study suggest that the two most significant issues in Islamic liquidity management of Islamic banks in Malaysia are i) resembling interest ii) nature of tradability iii) structure of CM iv) the timing the transaction to be completed and v) the real brokerage cost involved in adopting the CM transactions.
 Research limitations/implications: The research proposes a risk mitigation and enhanced Shariah compliance framework such as strait through processing (STP) and commodity broker’s standard guideline for Islamic banks to adopt CM practices.
 Practical implications: This study provides direction and guidance to the Islamic Commercial Banks, Commodity Brokers and regulator (BNM) involved in the banking system to reflect upon the importance to understand the issues and limitation of CM. By highlighting the importance of efficiency in terms of time and cost saving together with Shariah issues, Islamic banks can design policies to enhance efficiency in order to either decide to maintain the adoption of CMP or to consider the proposed alternative.
 Social implications:Understanding the Shariah compliance and operational issues will enhance the integrity of Islamic banks which is consistent with Key Economic Growth Area of making Malaysia as International Islamic Financial Hub 2.0.

Profit and Loss Sharing (PLS) and Non-PLS Financing in Malaysia: Which One Should Be the One?

The motivation in this study lies on the fact that despite the tremendous development of the Islamic finance industry, some scholars argue that the development was driven by the debt-based or non- Profit sharing and losses sharing (PLS) contract instead of the widely proposed Profit sharing and losses sharing (PLS) contracts perceived to be as the ideal mode of financing. The question that arises is why non-PLS based? Why not PLS? Which one should the concepts use in Islamic finance then? Hence, this paper tries to explore the reason behind such development, discuss the future development as well and finally answer the main issue of which one should be the one? Initially the PLS was introduced in Malaysia; however the trend moved to non-PLS as a result of the current situation. The introduction of non-PLS products has been approved by shariah scholars hence making it shariah compliant. Since ‘sin’ is not an issue anymore, the investors now look for the best instrument that can give them higher return in line with the investment concept of high risk high return. Therefore, both PLS and non-PLS can be used side by side at the present moment.
 
 Keywords: Profit and loss sharing; Islamic finance concept; Malaysia

House financing: contracts used by Islamic banks for finished properties in Malaysia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out the existing practices of the Islamic banks in providing financing to the customers who have a requirement to purchase a finished property and to examine the existing products used by the Islamic banks in this regard by providing an insight into the modus operandi of these products. In doing this, attempt is made to find out the most famous product offered by the Islamic banks in this regard and to find out whether in reality, Malaysian Islamic banking industry has moved away from Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) or not.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative research, largely library-based, and it will consist of secondary sources such as books, journals, articles and other sources related to the Islamic house financing in Malaysia for finished properties. Recent information of the practises of the banks in this regard is obtained from the official websites of the banks.FindingsIt is found from this study that majority of Islamic Banks in Malaysia prefer to use the Commodity Murabahah facility for finished property. This finding contradicts with the observations made by some scholars who state that in Malaysia, BBA was initially used, and nowadays, the use of Musharakah Mutanaqisah is more common. The reason why Commodity Murbahah has gained popularity is because of the fact that via the Bursa Suq Al Sila platform, it is easy, swift, reliable, profitable, cheaper, convenient and has zero risk to do this type of transaction at the comfort of the office. It is recommended in this paper to use Musharakah Mutanaqisah, as this contract is an innovative contract that is classified as an equity contract under shariah where risk is shared between the parties. There is need to conduct further research to implement Musharakah Mutanaqisah in Malaysia, specifically to reduce the risk that Islamic Banks will bear by practicing this contract.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper might create confusion among readers, as some may perceive that the finding of the paper is not new as BBA has been dominating Islamic house financing industry from the inception of Islamic banking in the country, and BBA and Murabahah are similar in nature, and as such, commodity Murabahah is also a Murabahah transaction. The reality that needs to be understood is that the way BBA was or is practised in Malaysia in relation to Islamic house financing is that in the name of BBA, the transaction actually followed the Bai’ ‘inah contract, which is a controversial contract among the shariah scholars. Likewise, commodity Murabahah is also a different contract than Murabahah, as it actually refers to tawarruq. As such, this research finding is important to the Islamic banking industry to understand that Malaysia has moved away from the Bai’ ‘inah contract practised in the name of BBA in Islamic house financing, and there are new products introduced by the Islamic banks in Malaysia to replace this practice which were criticised by Shariah scholars.

Blockchain Based Smart Sukuk as Shariah Compliant Investment Avenues for Islamic Financial Institutions in Pakistan

The biggest challenge for the Islamic banking industry in Pakistan is the scarcity of Shariah-compliant investment instruments and the absence of a lender of last resort (LOLR) facility for Islamic banks. Due to the problem of surplus liquidity, returns for Islamic banks in Pakistan are lower as compared to the conventional counterparts putting them at a competitive disadvantage with respect to their competitor conventional banks. Sukuk issuance is associated with a high cost of issuance and legal complexity, problems that could be solved by the application of blockchain technology. With the advent of cryptocurrency and developments around blockchain, technology experts, industry professionals along with Shariah scholars have been working to introduce FinTech in Shariah-compliant financing products and services. This research applies a qualitative approach. The study relies on primary data from interviews and secondary data from published sources, academic journals, government and private-sector reports, and public domain including newspaper articles, and websites. Interviews are conducted from blockchain technology experts along with banking \& commerce industry professionals. This study highlights financial instability, lack of financial education and absence of political will being the main reasons for low Sukuk issuance in Pakistan. This study proposes a low-cost smart Sukuk structure to address the liquidity problem of the Islamic banking industry in Pakistan. It is found that smart Sukuk issuance and transaction fees are much lower than the current Sukuk issuances and are expected to be more secure and marketable internationally. Blockchain-based smart Sukuk are practicable to solve the problem of standardization and huge issuance and maintenance cost for the Sukuk industry. The proposed structure could be adopted by governments and organizations to issue Sukuk promising transparent, economical, efficient, and reliable business transactions for both parties.

The Practice of Shariah Governance in Islamic Banking and Finance: A Study of Islamic Banks in Bangladesh

This paper aims to study Shariah governance of Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Desk-based research was conducted for this paper to explore the main challenges faced by Islamic banks in the country. Based on empirical studies and newspapers, this paper concludes that there is a lack of a well-defined regulatory and supervisory framework for IFIs to function effectively in line with the tenets of Shariah. This study also finds that the shortage of Shariah scholars remains an impediment to Shariah compliance. The government and the central bank of Bangladesh should pay greater attention to education and training, in addition to creating a national Shariah advisory council to monitor Islamic banking and financial activities in Bangladesh.

Shariah Screening Methodology: Does It ‘Really’ Shariah Compliance?

<em>The Shariah financial screening indices is to exclude companies with unacceptable levels of conventional debt, liquidity, interest-based investment and/or impure income. Ideally, companies must not borrow on the basis of interest rate, nor invest in debt-bearing instruments, as well as not generating income through any other Shariah-impermissible activities. However, such restrictions would screen out the vast majority - if not all - of the stocks that are available on the market, even those listed in Islamic countries. Based on this condition, Shariah scholars tried to come out with a set of Shariah indices to be tested on existing companies in order to classify them as Shariah-compliant companies. Thus, the aim of this paper is to explore and critically analyse comparison of Shariah screening methodology amongst major Shariah indices in the world. By applying the reviewing for all related literature and contents of Shariah screening’s laws and regulations. It can be stated that several group of Shariah indices can be categorized. Firstly, under qualitative measures (business activities), there are two groups which are: (i) financial activities orientation; and (ii) indic with non-financial activities orientation. Meanwhile, under quantitative measures (financial ratios), another several groups can be categorized based on different adoption in the nominator, denominator and tolerate percentage used. It is hoped that this work would inspire more research on Shariah screening using different research methods and compare between the indices according to segments this research argued. Besides, the policy makers should give more attention to ensure the Shariah screening practices and the enhancement Shariah screening standardizing among the major Shariah indices. Last but not least, investors and stakeholders whom concern of Shariah screening could also benefited of the findings of this study by having better understanding of Shariah screening practices and compare between existed indices.</em>

مفتی محمد تقی عثمانی کی معروف تصنیفات و تالیفات کا تعارفی جائزہ

Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani is one of the leading Deoband Hanafi Islamic Scholars living today from Pakistan. He is the son of late Molana Muhammad Shafi, the grand mufti of Pakistan. He is the brother of Islamic scholars Muhammad Rafi Usmani, Muhammad Wali Razi, Muhammad Razi Usmani as well as of Urdu poet Muhammad Zaki Kaifi. He is regarded as an expert in the fields of Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Economics and Tasawwuf. He served as a judge on the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan from 1980 to 1982 and the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan between 1982 and 2002. He is generally known as one of the leading Shariah Scholars active in the field of Islamic finance. For more than a decade he has served as Chairman or Member of Shariah Supervisory boards of a dozen Islamic banks and prestigious financial institutions in various parts of the world. Allah Almighty has blessed him with the writing skill. He has written translations of the Holy Quran in both English and Urdu. He has been writing on various Islamic topics in Arabic, Urdu & English and is author of more than 70 books and numerous articles, published in a number of journals and magazines. In his books, Justice Taqi Usmani has discussed the solutions of individual, collective, social, political and economic problems in the light of Islamic principles. His books are very famous not only in Pakistan but also in India, Malaysia, Bangladesh and many other countries in the world. With this perspective, the present article deals with the introduction of important books of Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani.

Application of Ta’widh and Gharamah in Islamic Banking in Malaysia

The objective of this paper is to explore the practical application of ta’widh and gharamah in Islamic banking in Malaysia with reference to the guidelines that are applicable to date; and find out the issues detected in the implementation of them. In the course of doing this, Shariah reasons for imposing ta’widh and gharamah in Islamic banking are discussed. Also, whether ta’widh and gharamah would be required for Islamic banking with reference to possible alternatives to them is also discussed. This qualitative study primarily focuses on library research and adopts case study approach for analyzing the application of ta’widh and gharamah. The jurisdiction of the study is Malaysia because the central bank of the country has made policies on the matter. The paper draws on observations made by Shariah scholars about the policies on the subject matter. This study gives an insight into the history and issues related to ta’widh and gharamah which are often kept tacit. It is recommended that future studies should look into the effectiveness of these two approaches to serve as a deterrent factor and contribute to the declining rate of non-performing financing in Islamic banks.

Religious entrenchment and agency costs

The entrenchment effects of 20 prominent Shariah scholars show an increase in the agency costs for the Islamic banks in our study. This supports the notion that managers may provide concessions to external non-shareholding stakeholders to pursue their personal agendas.

Who appropriates centrality rents? The role of institutions in regulating social networks in the global Islamic finance industry

This study explains and tests the effects of country-level institutions on the distribution of centrality rents between two sets of actors in an interorganizational network. Building on the literature on corporate elites, we propose that a cohesive elite following organizational logics other than profit-maximization diverts centrality rents and induces costs on firms, and that macro institutions act as external governance mechanisms to shape this relationship. We develop our theory in the emerging Islamic finance industry, where “Shariah scholars” connect firms and constitute a religious corporate elite. While central scholars in this network create legitimacy for firms, they also shirk and cause information leakage, suggesting a negative centrality-performance relationship for the firms. Country-level institutions such as government regulation and democracy, we argue, ameliorate these effects by influencing this religious elite’s institutional logic and restraining their actions, while institutions developed from within the industry strengthen the power of the elite. Testing our theory in a network of 367 scholars and 396 institutions over 31 countries using multi-level methods, we indeed find a negative centrality-performance relationship that is ameliorated by stronger government regulation but exacerbated by better-developed industry-specific institutions, as well as a negative relationship between democratic and regulatory institutions and centrality.

Stoning As Punishment of Zina: Is It Valid?

Three issues are explored in this article with regard to death by stoning as a punishment for adultery. First is its total absence in the Quran; the Quran makes no reference to stoning, providing a punishment of one hundred lashes of the whip for all adulterers, without any further qualification. Stoning as a punishment originates in the Sunnah of the Prophet, who applied it in the case of married adulterers, thus seemingly reserving the Quranic punishment for the unmarried adulterer. This perspective has dominated legal practice ever since. The second issue arising is as to how the conflicting rulings in the Quran and Sunnah relate to one another. Is it a case of specification (takhsis) or of abrogation (naskh)? If the latter, is it in order for the Sunnah to abrogate the Quran? The third issue is over the chronological sequence of the two rulings. If it is accepted that the Quranic ruling was revealed in Madinah after the few cases in which the Prophet applied stoning, then the Quran would have effectively overruled/abrogated the Prophetic practice. It is also said that the Prophet applied stoning by reference to the Torah, which was then set aside by the Quran. A minority opinion has also held that the Prophet applied stoning by way of tazir. A number of prominent twentieth-century shariah scholars have advised against the enforcement of stoning altogether.

Shariah Scholars and Fatwa Making Process in Islamic Finance

Abstract
 Islamic finance industry faces unprecedented new issues that need immediate attention by Shariah scholars. The issues require the Shariah scholars to exercise their own ijtihad whether it is a collective or an independent ijtihad especially in the innovations of Islamic finance. One of the main challenges in issuing a fatwa in the Islamic finance is the scholars have to innovate Shariah compliant products that are workable and meet the modern market needs. To address this issue, it requires the scholars to have mastery skills in both the turath (classical knowledge) and contemporary knowledge in Islamic finance. The study will evaluate the efforts of the scholars in the fatwa making process and examine the challenges faced over time.
 Keywords: Shariah scholars, ijtihad, Islamic finance innovations

Need of elevating the role of shariah board and portraying them significantly on Islamic bank websites: Why and how?

Islamic banking emerged rapidly to fulfil the financial needs of Muslim consumers, by using different viable modes of Islamic financing. These tools of financing were designed to avoid risk-free return, unjustified increase of money on money and uncertainty. To make these tool authentic, in all Islamic bank, Shariah board members are the pillar of the management structure. The presence of renowned scholars in a bank actually helps to increase the worth of a Shariah financial brand as they are the one who oversee and supervise the activities of banks. However, it is noticed that confusion and misperception exist generally about Islamic banks due to lack of devising authentic products, modes of structure and operational default. To identify the customer perception about Shariah scholars, Online Survey was conducted. In total 92 respondents participated. With that, 14 top Islamic bank websites (Bahrain, Lebanon, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Srilanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, UAE, Pakistan, Malaysia, Kuwait, Jordan, Eygpt, Oman) was observed to figure how they have given importance and exposure to the Shariah board members. The findings suggested that web-marketing could highlight the role of Shariah scholars so that both users and non-users of Islamic banks were able to learn more about the machinery of Islamic financial products. In addition, Shariah board scholars should consciously reconsider and review their past and present approaches so as to perform better in the future.