This paper aims to investigate Islamic banking performance based on higher ethical objectives enshrined within Sharī'ah (Islamic legal rulings); namely, Maqās id al-Sharī'ah. First, we examine the importance of both ethical and social concerns on bank performance in general. Second, we analyse the ethical and social performance of Islamic banks (IBs) based on the Maqās id al-Sharī'ah Index (MSI) that emphasises disclosures related to education, social justice, and redistribution of wealth. Third, we investigate how far IBs have gone towards achieving Maqās id al-Sharī'ah goals during the last decade, post-global financial crises (GFC) period, with a particular focus on Indonesia as a case study. Hence, testing whether IBs achieve socioeconomic justice and attain best practice by securing social good. The selected banks' annual reports were examined, applying content analysis to obtain the necessary data, using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method to determine the level of Maqās id in the sample. Empirical evidence suggests that conventional performance measurements do not truly reflect IBs' higher ethical objectives, and create a deficiency of attaining Maqās id al-Sharī'ah performance in these banks. This research extends the previous literature on evaluating the performance of IBs beyond the financial return, which includes their ethical and social identity based on the Maqās id al-Sharī'ah scale, especially the post-GFC period. The result also reveals that there is a financial cost to achieving the Maqās id al-Sharī'ah, as IBs that achieved high MSI scores have sacrificed financially. This supports the findings of the literature that IBs prefer financial returns over their ethical and social impact.

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This paper examines the influence of capitalism and globalisation on the role of Shariah-Compliant Investment Funds (SCIFs) in promoting social justice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) using content analysis method. This is to analyse the Terms and Conditions (T&C) of SCIFs as they appear in Tadawul (Saudi stock market) in 2019 and compared with the findings in 2013. This research critically evaluates the findings of the content analysis through aspects of globalization and insights from the literature review. The content analysis shows that SCIFs in KSA are disjointed and decoupled from Islamic principles and do not fulfil the ideal social justice role in society.

The purpose of this study is to examine the compliance of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Sukuk with Maqasid Al-Shari’ah (objectives of Islamic law) in relation to human development and well-being. The paper provides a theoretical model explaining how Sukuk can achieve Maqasid Al-Shari’ah by assessing the role of Sukuk in the circulation, development, and preservation of wealth to attain social justice. This study employs a qualitative methodology using an empirical case study. The primary data are collected through elite semi-structured interviews. The secondary data are obtained using a content analysis method from Sukuk’s Principle Terms and Conditions, Information Memorandum and IDB’s annual reports for the period 2007–2017 to explain the structures and features of the Sukuk and examine their compliance with the developed model. The findings indicate that the Medium Term Note (MTN) Sukuk program positively serves the elements of hifth al-mal (safeguarding wealth), showing a direct relationship between the shift of wealth among parties and the compliance of Maqasid Al-Shari’ah. This implies that the investments made by Sukuk would benefit everyone, including individuals, institutions, societies, and the whole country, to achieve human well-being and sustainable development. Nonetheless, the analysis suggests that Shari’ah supervisory boards need to focus more on the substance when structuring Sukuk to help Islamic finance benefit in terms of moving towards the achievement of Maqasid Al-Shari’ah.

October 4, 2020 Revisiting the Halal screening investments: the case of GCC stock markets Khaled O. Alotaibi and Mohammad M. Hariri 14Issue This study provides a critical review of the issues associated with the screening of Islamic funds in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and questions the concept of Shariah-compliant (Halal) equity investment. Unlike prior relevant studies, the paper attempts to provide evidence as whether there is a necessity to invest in commingled Halal (CH) for a Halal diversified portfolio post the global financial crisis (GFC). This paper aims to explore how participants define and screen Shariah-compliant (Halal) investment, it particularly investigates whether pure Halal (PH) and commingled Halal (CH) equity investments are distinct or similar type of investments. The paper reports the findings of the semi-structured interviews with key participants in the Islamic funds industry mainly in Kuwait and other GCC countries. The findings from the interviews reveals that the Shariah-compliance equity investments are split into two different categories, namely: pure Halal (PH) and commingled Halal (CH) investments not as reported in the literature when measuring their screens or performance. Some interviewees seriously questioned the Shariah-compliance of CH stocks and thought that the fatwa that allows CH stocks should be revisited. The interviews findings highlight the need for harmonizing the Shariah screening criteria, and the development of accounting standards based on Islamic values rather than western ones to reflect the unique characteristics of Halal investments. Keywords: Islamic investment funds, Halal Investments, Shariah screening, Shariah-compliance investment, pure Halal stocks (PH), commingled Halal stocks (CH)