Islamic banking that has evolved for justice and fair treatment with all stakeholders has noticeably developed in Pakistan since its re-launch in 2002. In this perspective, employees and the general staff of Islamic banks have the prior right to be treated fairly and justly. JIBM editorial this time is focusing on whether the Islamic banks are performing this function or not. Using the Exploratory research method, the study finds that Islamic bankers at the lower and the middle levels are being increasingly exploited by the banks. Banks working under the capitalistic paradigm, it is the case of all countries with abundance of available HR that employees are forced to accept the ‘Submission Contracts’ (Al-Bann, 1981). It discusses the imperatives of socio-economic justice, Islamic banks’ profits, return paid to depositors, employees’ packages and the nature of treatment of the banks’ management with employees. Finally, some recommendations have been given for IBIs’ management teams, the regulator, and the State.

The objective of this paper is to make an assessment of the competence of the members of Sharī'ah Boards of the Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs) in terms of enabling and ensuring Sharī'ah compliance of banks business. The competency of Sharī'ah board members is considered as a critical issue in the State Banks Sharī'ah Governance Framework (SGF), which considers degree from any Wafāq al-Madāris as the basic qualification for their appointment. The paper investigates into the curricula of madāris (religious schools) in Pakistan and orientation of the madāris graduates for understanding increasingly innovative banking and finance operations. It also analyzes the syllabubs of the specialization/takhas . s . us . fī al-fiqh/takhas . s . us . fī al-iftā in the madāris. Some pragmatic recommendations have been made to enhance the expertise of the Sharī'ah board members in the light of SBPs Fit & Proper criteria. This is a pioneer study discussing the scheme of studies in Pakistani madāris and provides a basis for further research on this area.

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Dispersal is a key component of a species’ life history, by influencing population persistence, genetic structure, adaptation and maintenance of genetic diversity. The Asiatic toad (Bufo gargarizans) is a widespread species in east Asia. However, we still have no knowledge of what kind of geographical scale equates to genetic differentiation within B. gargarizans. In this study, the population genetics of B. gargarizans was studied at five localities, with the Yangtze River running through the sampling area, in order to detect the level of genetic differentiation and the natural barriers to the species’ dispersal on a small geographic scale, by means of the development and use of novel microsatellite loci. These markers revealed a relatively high level of genetic diversity. Distinct genetic structure among populations in B. gargarizans was observed, as described by genetic distance, AMOVA, PCA and Geneland results. A weak but significant positive correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance. The combination of these findings suggests that the Yangtze River and geographic distance may act as effective barriers for B. gargarizans. These results serve as benchmark data for understanding the impacts of dispersal barriers and continued landscape research on B. gargarizans.

Keeping the above discussion in view, it is quite natural to think about developing the framework, factors and tools of the framework, scales and indices for measuring the performance of Islamic banks and financial institutions that have successfully drawn the attention of the global finance as one of the change agents in the current global economic and finance scenario. Below, first we briefly discuss the maqās. id al-Sharī'ah. The Status of Maqās. id in Islamic Worldview Maqās. id al-Sharī'ah that lead to a standard worldview within the context of Qur'ān and Sunnah are the basis of all human activities that refer to the purposes of human beings, while without purpose and direction life would be meaningless 1. Purposefulness is the basic norm of Sharī'ah which aims at five objectives for people; that is to protect their religion (faith), life (nafs), intellect ('aql), progeny (nasl) and property (māl). Being comprehensive in nature, maqās. id pertain both to the social as also economic aspects of human life. However, the relative importance of various Maqās. id might be different for different groups in a society. While h. if z. al-dīn is relevant for both rich as well as poor, h. if z. al-māl is more relevant for rich and affluent people. Again, justice in distribution of income and resources, the disclosure requirements in exchange contracts, and the right of information and knowledge are relevant to all human beings. The classical jurists who made the most significant contributions to the maqās. id theory, between the fifth and eighth Islamic centuries are Abu al Maali al-Juwayni (D. 478 AH/1085 CE), Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (D.505 AH/1111 CE), al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam (D 660 AH/ 1209 CE), Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi (D.684 AH/1285 CE), Shamsuddin ibn al-Qayyim (D. 748 AH/1347 CE) and, most significantly, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi (d.790 AH/1388 CE). Al-Shatbi started his volume on maqās. id in Al-Mawafiqat by quoting the Qur'ān to connote that Allah Almighty has purposes in his creation, sending his messengers, and ordaining laws. Hence, he considered almaqās. id to be the 'fundamentals of religion, basic rules of the law, and universals of belief' (Auda, 2008; p. 22) 2. Ibn-al-Qayyim (D. 748 AH/1347 CE) summarized his juridical methodology in the words, "Islamic law is all about wisdom and achieving people's welfare in this life and the afterlife. It is all about justice, mercy, wisdom, and good. Thus, any ruling that replaces justice with injustice, mercy with its opposite, common good with mischief, or wisdom with nonsense, is a ruling that does not belong to the Islamic law, even if it is claimed to be so according to some interpretation" (Auda, 2008). Starting from the classical jurists, as indicated above, to the contemporary jurist, Auda (2008) doing widely accredited work on maqās. id, Sharī'ah is considered to be aiming at welfare of the people in this life and in the life hereafter, and for this purpose it has advised