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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to formulate a model for waqf financing of public goods and mixed public goods in Malaysia which constitute the country's federal government expenditures. The model is built on the basis of understanding the concept of waqf, learning from waqf institutions of the past and present and addressing specific Malaysian waqf issues. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses both primary and secondary data. The primary data originate from semi-structured interviews of waqf academicians from the Islamic economics and Islamic finance fields, waqf government officials and private sector institutions that are involved in waqf management. The secondary

Background: This study investigates the decisions on marriage, pregnancy, abortion and spacing of children among Muslim women (MW) residing in the United States, Iran and Malaysia to explore the occurrences as well as socio-demographic characteristics associated with the likelihood of making an independent decision regarding sexual and reproductive health rights. Methods: A total of 1140 MW in Washington, D.C. (the United States), Tehran (Iran) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) participated in this study, and the number of respondents were equally distributed across the three cities. To examine the occurrences of sexual and reproductive rights violation, we report the descriptive statistics from the responses given by MW in these cities. Results: On the decision to solemnize marriage, 84.5 per cent of MW in Malaysia reported that the marriage decision is made jointly with their husbands, but this figure stands at only 30 per cent in Iran and 47.9 per cent in the United States. More than 80 per cent and 72 per cent of MW in Malaysia and Iran, respectively, make decisions on pregnancy, abortion and spacing of children jointly with their husbands. Conclusions: Policymakers should promote jointly made (made by wife and husband together) decisions among Muslims, which accords with Islamic teachings and is considered as good practice among Muslims.

The application of Islamic personal financing instruments in the Malaysian banking industries such as bay c al-c īnah (same-item sale-repurchase) and organised tawarruq (commodity cost-plus sale) has suffered a worldwide ban by prominent fatwa bodies in Islamic world. The situation has led to negative consequences such as bad perceptions to the Malaysian banking industries. The aim of this article is to provide an overview related to the Islamic personal financing instruments. Analysis focuses on issues related to the unlawfulness of the instruments. This qualitative research employs content analysis approach. It reveals that Islamic personal financing instruments such as bay c al-c īnah and organised tawarruq that have been practised in Malaysia contain unlawful elements that violate Islamic law and its objectives. Islamic banking and finance needs alternative instruments to replace the current unlawful financing tools to maintain Sharia compliant status.