The study investigates the potential for takaful operators to collaborate with the government by using drones to identify victims in the event of a mass disaster. It is critical to emphasise that takaful operators are not part of the government agencies involved in the search and rescue (S&R) operations. Nevertheless, takaful operators are part of the critical chain in the risk management process because they are the parties that will issue compensation to victims if they are takaful participants (policyholders). Through semi-structured interviews, feedback on this issue was gathered from key informants who are experts in their fields. This study included 21 key informants: first responders to an emergency or disaster from Malaysian government agencies, forensic experts, takaful association, drone practitioners (including drone pilots, Vice President (VP) of drone consultation services, and the owner of a drone company), actuarial expert, Shariah experts, regulators (representatives from the central bank), takaful participants, and accounting expert. Findings indicate that the benefits of using drones to the takaful operators are undisputable. Yet, the associated costs of using the device are the main concerns to the industry players. The middle path is to have joint funds between the takaful industry and the government to pool the funds for the national disaster management agency to employ drones for DVI needs in the event of a disaster. Thus, the findings of this study will be useful to the government and takaful association when developing future policy and guidelines for the takaful industry. Furthermore, this research adds to the body of knowledge and provides a better understanding of the subject.

Takaful operators are part of the Islamic financial institutions that are expected to achieve the commercial and social objectives by their stakeholders particularly the takaful participants (policyholders). First, this study aims to postulate a new framework to measure cost effectiveness by including the social and economic benefits of drone-assisted technology in the context of maqāṣid Shariah. Second, the study intends to investigate how the takaful industry can benefit from the drone-assisted technology, particularly in terms of cost reduction. This paper presents an early finding that forms part of a bigger research project which is focusing on the use of drone for disaster victim identification (DVI). This study employs thematic analysis of qualitative research method by engaging key informants who are Shariah expert, drone practitioner and accounting expert. In the context of emerging economies like Malaysia, the adoption of drone is sporadic when some industries such as military and agriculture are quite experienced with it; but for the takaful sector is almost none. This study provides preliminary findings that suggests there is potential of cost effectiveness for drone usage from the perspectives of SCBA in the maqāṣid Shariah framework. The main contributions from this paper are: (1) the new SCBA framework derived from the maqāṣid Shariah perspective and, (2) the application of this framework in examining the cost effectiveness on the use of drones by the takaful operators especially during disaster.