recently, a letter from SC saying that ASB is not shariah compliant is widely spread through the internet.. why and how this happen? what should we do and what is the alternative? this is my findings and i'll try to summarise it as short as i can..
let first understand how the Shariah Advisory Council did the screening process of shariah-compliant.. (the followings are the guideline of SAC of BNM, i'm not sure if the SAC of SC is using the same guidelines..)
the stock/shares considered non-shariah if the companies involved in any of the following core activities:
1-financial services based on interest (riba)
2-gambling and gaming
3-manufacture or sale of non-halal and related products
4-conventional insurance
5-entertainment activities that is non-permissible according to shariah
6-manufacture or sale of tobacco-based and related products
7-stockbroking or share trading in non-shariah securities
8-other activities deemed non-permissible according to shariah
and for companies with mixed activities to be shariah compliant:
1-the public perception or image of the company must be good
2-the core activities are important and considered maslahah to the ummah and country
3-the non-permissible element is in tolerable level and involves matter such as umum balwa (common plight and difficult to avoid), 'uruf (custom) and the right of the non-muslim community which are accepted by Islam
tolerable level benchmark based on ijtihad:
1-the 5% benchmark
mixed contribution from the activities that are clearly prohibited, such as riba, gambling, liquor and pork
2-the 10% benchmark
mixed contribution from the activities that involve the element of umum balwa which is a prohibited element affecting most people and difficult to avoid, such as interest income and tobacco-related activities
3-the 20% benchmark
mixed contribution from mixed rental payment from Shariah non-compliant activities, such as rental payment from premises used in gambling, sale of liquor, disco, etc.
4-the 25% benchmark
mixed contribution from the activities that are generally permissible according to shariah and have element of maslahah, but the are other elements that may affect the shariah status of this activities, such as hotel and resort operations, share trading, stock broking and others
the issue:
- SAC will declare the shariah status of the investment in every 6-months period
- the share can be changed between non-shariah and shariah compliant from time to time depending on the activities and investment of the company
- the company may be declared shariah by the time the investor bought the share but ended non-shariah after 6 months, which resulted the income of the share in those period is non-shariah
- ASB holds 75% investment on maybank
- maybank is a non-shariah company
- the fatwa harus was based on maslahah
- regarding the shares that been declared non-shariah compliance, the investor permissible to keep and take the profit up to their initial capital used to bought the shares, and only the profit beyond that amount is considered non-shariah.. but since the price per unit is fixed then this procedure is not applicable for ASB..
- some ulama believe that all the profit is non-shariah and should be giveaway to charity
- invest only in shariah compliant companies/activities
- last year dividend announce at around 7% same as ASB
- zakat already deducted from the profit, hence the dividend in totally shariah compliant
- knowing PNB as a bumiputera company and ASB is only open for bumiputera, as the fund manager of ASB, PNB could be more sensitive on the shariah-compliant issue
- understanding Maybank as a bumiputera own, the BoD could re-direct the whole Maybank operation towards Islamic banking completely
- investor should take out their investment from PNB to push PNB to be shariah compliant
- PNB should take out their investment from Maybank to push Maybank to be an Islamic bank
wallahualam..
[origin : Am I wrong? ]
