A Mini Guide to Takaful (Islamic Insurance)

Sukuk are an important asset class which has captured the attention of a wide range of issuers and investors, regulators and sovereigns, and academics and market players. The sukuk industry has made remarkable leaps since its modern inception in the 1990s. It has grown in size and volume, evolved in structural possibilities, and successfully expanded the boundaries of the Islamic capital market to far-flung jurisdictions worldwide. Its promising future has led the International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA) and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC Malaysia) to collaborate to provide essential and comprehensive knowledge on this key instrument of the Islamic capital market.

This work charts new territory in Islamic scholarship by attempting to address the field of public policy from a maqasid (higher objectives of the Shariah) perspective. Public Policy is an independent discipline from both law and politics. Thus, Public Policy in Islam is introduced here as a qualitatively different enterprise from both fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and siyasah shar’iyyah (Shariah-oriented politics). The book deals with a number of critical topics that include methodology, governance, human rights, ethics, political power, and reform and renewal. It highlights how the maqasid approach is indispensable to the theory and practice of public policy in Islam, how it could resolve some of the most persistent governance dilemmas throughout Muslim history, but more significantly, how it forces a re-conceptualization of the wealth of knowledge available in Islam s primary sources to introduce Public Policy in Islam to mainstream policy studies.

Epistemological Integration: Essentials of an Islamic Methodology is a program which seeks to construct an intellectual framework for Islamic methodology with a view to realizing practical training in the thoughtful investigation of issues related to knowledge in various fields. The book’s title affirms the distinctive types of integration that characterize Islamic methodology, including integration of sources, means, and schools of thought, as well as existing realities with desired ideals etc. This is fully consistent with human nature, as variety is fundamental to the functions people perform and skills they master. The work essentially makes the case that fundamental to any Muslim recovery is laying the foundations of sound thinking and values that integrate the two main sources of knowledge: Revelation and Reality (that is the created worlds both physical, societal and psychological) under the umbrella of Tawhid. Islamic methodology adopts that and extends human hopes to integrate efforts so that humanity can realistically achieve prosperity on earth and earn eternal happiness in the afterlife.

KEY FEATURES OF THE BOOK

* It elucidates the principles and practices of the Islamic capital market with academic rigours.

*  It sheds light on the cutting-edge practical issues faced by the industry.

*  Every chapter contains relevant case studies and supportive illustrations.

*  Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and discussion questions are provided at the end each chapter.

KEY SUBJECTS

Shari’ah framework, Regulatory framework, Corporate and Shari’ah governance, Risk management, Accounting and taxation, Sukuk Islamic equity market, Islamic unit trust, REITs and ETFs, Islamic private equity and venture capital, Islamic derivatives and hedging and Islamic structured investment products.