Shari’ahissues in Islamic banking: a qualitative survey in Malaysia

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to examine the customers’ perception regarding the currentshari’ahissues of Islamic banks in Malaysia. Specifically, the study attempts to examine the awareness of the current criticisms of the mainshari’ahissues in Islamic finance, and the perception of the selected customers towards these criticisms. Design/methodology/approach - – The study uses a qualitative approach to understand in detail the customers’ perception and experiences aboutshari’ahcompliance of Islamic banks. Semi-structured interview is used with ten Islamic banks’ customers in Malaysia. The study also used phenomenological techniques to analyse the data. Findings - – The findings revealed that the interviewees have considerable exposure and awareness of the current criticisms of theshari’ahcompliance of Islamic banks. Originality/value - – This research is the first to study theshari’ahissues of Islamic banks in Malaysia from the customers’ perspective, by using a qualitative research approach. The findings of this study are of original importance, because they unveil the customers’ experience in an area that has been severely looked at from the professional and experts’ point of view only.