Shar?'ah Governance in Islamic Financial Institutions in Kazakhstan: Reality and Challenges

Abstract

This study aims to examine challenges of application of Shari‘ah supervision in Islamic financial institutions in Kazakhstan which is considered as a fundamental building block for the integrity of Islamic financial institutions. The study relied on primary sources such as interviews and texts of laws in addition to some secondary sources. The interviewed were selected from three parties: four from the financial institutions; four from the Shar?‘ah boards and consulting companies; and two from a neutral part whose work does not intersect with either of the previous two, so that the data collected will be more objective. The study concluded that there are several challenges facing the application of Shar?‘ah supervision which are summarized as follows: Lack of local human resources in the field of Shar?‘ah supervision; difference of languages between local financial institutions and Shar?‘ah boards and consulting companies; Lack of Shar?‘ah governance framework. © 2020. All Rights Reserved.