Intellectual Discourse (Journal)
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597 research outputs found
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The Muslims are coming! Islamophobia, extremism, and the domestic war on terror. By Arun Kundnani
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Setting the media agenda: A study of the 2010 Sudanese presidential elections
Full text linkThis research investigates the influence of new media agendas on traditional news media according to the theoretical framework of intermedia agenda-setting during the 2010 Sudanese presidential elections. Upon applying content analysis, cross-lagged correlation analysis, and Rozelle-Campbell Baseline analysis, the paper provides evidence of intermedia agenda-setting in Sudanese media across a number of dependent variables. Sudanese newspapers influenced the agenda of Sudanese blogs whilst blogs have an increasing impact on the agenda of the newspapers. Our content analysis found that the agendas of socio-political blogs were strongly correlated with those of the newspapers. The findings also presented evidence of intermedia agenda-setting between socio-political blogs and citizen journalism
Application of Sharī‘ah contracts in contemporary Islamic finance: A maqāṣid perspective
Full text linkThis research exposes the underlying maqāṣid embedded in Sharī‘ah contracts as applied in Islamic banking and finance. It addresses the problem of not observing maqāṣid in nominated and combined Sharī‘ah contracts as well as the problem of not sufficiently imbuing maqāṣid in products developed by Islamic financial institutions. As a benchmark of the maqāṣid of wealth, the research adopts Ibn ‘Āshūr’s classification of maqāṣid to evaluate the conformity of Sharī‘ah contracts to Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah namely, justice, circulation, transparency, and firmness. The study focuses on three markets related to the application of Sharī‘ah contracts, namely, banking, Islamic capital market, and takāful. The study concludes that, by and large, the application of Sharī‘ah contracts has observed Maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah during its development and initial application stages of Islamic finance products; however, offering such products in the market has raised economic questions as to their viability and economic values. In addition, the malpractice of some Sharī‘ah contracts has long raised concerns as to the maqāṣid compliance of such products. The research recommends a de-sophistication of Islamic financial engineering to minimise the possibility of convergence with conventional finance. The research also emphasises product differentiation based on less complicated combined Sharī‘ah contracts
An empirical investigation of banking customers’ perception of the viability of Islamic banking in Côte d’Ivoire
Full text linkThis study empirically examines the perceptions of bank customers in Côte d’Ivoire on the viability of Islamic banking in the country. Specifically, the study investigates the level of awareness of the bank customer respondents about Islamic banking as well as the factors that motivate their patronage. A sample of 274 respondents residing in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire took part in this research. The data elicited via an adapted research instrument is subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics using IBM SPSS AMoS software version 21. The results reveal that most of the Ivorian bank customers are aware of Islamic banking but lack knowledge about its operation. Moreover, the customers indicate commendable willingness to patronize the Islamic banks when established in Côte d’Ivoire as long as it is not relatively costlier to do so. The likely patronage-influencing factors include religion, banking-related and customer-related factors, and societal norms. Recommendations based on research findings are also offered
Murābaḥah financing revisited: The contemporary debate on its use in Islamic banks
Full text linkThe murābaḥah contract, an ordinary contract in classical Islamic law, has played a significant role in the emergence and development of modern Islamic Banking and Finance. This contract which is basically a “resale with a stated profit” contract was introduced into the modern literature in the late 70’s in a totally redesigned form as an alternative to the conventional modes of credit. This modern financing tool has become the subject of intense debates since then and has been subject to criticism by some scholars. This paper aims at portraying the juristic discussion and debate on this modern contract and its application by Islamic banks. The first part of the paper introduces the subject and gives a summary of the Islamic injunctions on the murābaḥah contract in its original form based on the primary sources of Islamic law. The second part, which is the substantial part of the paper, portrays the profound transformation that the murābaḥah contract has undergone to make mark-up financing possible and summarizes the discussions related to the modern use of murābaḥah by Islamic banks
Comparing selected Higher Education systems in Asia. By Sarjit Kaur, Shukran Abdul Rahman, Koo Yew Lie, Maskanah Mohammad Lotfie and Hafiz Zakariya
Full text linkThe role of institutions in driving economic change: Comparing the thoughts of Ibn Khaldūn and Douglass C. North
Full text linkThis article compares various elements of Ibn Khaldūn’s and Douglass C. North’s thoughts on the role of institutions in influencing or forcing economic change. There are a number of interesting similarities in ideas, thoughts, approaches, and methodologies, which prove that New Institutional Economics may actually mirror much of (and can benefit from) Ibn Khaldūn’s fourteenth century ideas than was previously thought. Both Ibn Khaldūn’s continuum of badāwah to ḥaḍārah and North’s theory on changes from informal to formal institutions lead to the same fundamental conclusions: (i) change is incremental as it is a result in small cumulative changes in the cost-benefit outcomes of the market agents over time, and therefore (ii) economic performance inevitably depends on the existence and effectiveness of formal institutions that alter those outcomes. It is also noted that ‘aṣabiyyah or group feeling, another cornerstone of Ibn Khaldūn’s thought, corresponds perfectly to North’s treatise that social cohesion and institutional efficiency are more important than the amount of resource endowment in bringing about economic development and change. In addition, Ibn Khaldūn’s views on the government’s commercial activities are reviewed in the study in light of North’s transaction costs and property rights framework.
