Islamic finance in the digital world : opportunities and challenges

الملخص EN

Islamic finance has grown considerably over the last four decades and has a global reach.

It is considered one of the fastest-growing segments of the global financial industry.

One of the biggest challenges for Islamic finance in the next decade is on financial technology (Known as Fintech).

In the digital world, traditional financial practice will be left behind.

This paper examines the phenomenon of financial innovation and technology in Islamic finance.

The research adopts a qualitative approach employing the inductive method to trace primary and secondary data on the topic and the descriptive method to describe the emergence of fintech in the Islamic finance industry.

The study found that all financial innovations are generally welcomed and can be considered as benefits (Maslahah) to the customers and to the whole financial industry.

Innovations in fintech become impermissible only if there is clear evidence from the Shariah that they are against the basic rules of the Shariah.

The study also highlights the relationship between fintech and Shariah compliance and suggested to have a proper Shariah governance framework in order to ensure the operation of fintech is in total compliance with Shariah.

Besides that, authorities and regulators are required to develop Shariah standards that would explicitly spell out the requirement of Shariah that are fundamental to fintech operations and practices.