MODERN APPROACH OF ZAKAT AS AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INSTRUMENT FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND STABILITY OF UMMAH

The modern approach to zakat institution is a significant economic and social instrument for the poverty alleviation and stability of the Muslim ummah. This paper highlights a wider scope of understanding the term "Poverty" and discusses how zakat institution can play an important role to alleviate the status of poverty in Muslim countries in the modern world. The main task of this paper is to use zakat institution to serve as a pool of resources for the economic and social development of the ummah beginning with those who most needy. In this regard, zakat funds can be utilized for the development of resources especially concentrate in the area of human capital development for the long-term rather than short-term relief for those in need and at the same time, prevent the zakat revenues from diversion to undesired directions (Vision of IDB 1440H). We should aim at using zakat fund as a means of providing assistance that will have a long lasting effect. Zakat institution should have long-term programme to teach the poor and needy know how to catch fish rather than every year we merely provide them with fish to eat

Conceptual Framework for Adoption of Islamic Banking in Nigeria: The Role of Customer Involvement

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual design to study and investigate the factors influencing the adoption of Islamic banking products and services among customers in Nigeria. The research employs the innovation diffusion theory developed by Rogers (2003) to investigate the influence of the perceived attributes of innovation (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity and perceived risk) on customers’ usage of Islamic banking products and services in Nigeria. The study also intends to integrate customer involvement in the Rogers Model and investigate its influence on the usage of Islamic banking products and service. Besides that, the study also examines the moderating effect of customer involvement on the relationship between the perceived attributes - relative advantage, compatibility, complexity and perceived risk and the adoption of Islamic banking products and services. This is due to the fact that literatures on the Islamic banking usage have investigated the influence of the customer involvement. Islamic banking advocates profit and loss sharing in contrast to interest dealing practiced by conventional banking system which formed the major separation between the two banking systems. Another important demarcation between the Islamic and conventional system of banking has been the way and manner they relate with their customers. Whereas creditor-debtor relation is prevalent in the conventional banking, Islamic banking treats its customer in more than a creditor-debtor relationship but also as a partner in business and investment. This relation therefore made the customer involvement a potential factor and hence its influence on customers’ usage of Islamic banking products and services would be investigated. It is expected that the study will help to enhance our understanding on how customer involvement may influence the adoption of Islamic banking products and services among the customers in Nigeria. It is hopeful that upon validating the framework, findings from the study will provide useful insight and especially firsthand information on the role of customer involvement. This would be useful to the providers in gaining and retaining the existing customer, and to the policy makers, regulators and other relevant stakeholders to strategize in accordance with their respective roles towards development and sustainment of the industry. Keywords: Islamic banking Products, Perceived Attributes of Innovation, Customer Involvement, Adoption, Nigeri

Proceedings of International Technical Postgraduate Conference 2022

This conference proceedings contains articles on the various research ideas of the academic & research communities presented at the International Technical Postgraduate Conference 2022 (TECH POST 2022) that was held at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 24-25 September 2022. TECH POST 2022 was organized by the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya. The theme of the conference is “Embracing Innovative Engineering Technologies Towards a Sustainable Future”.  TECH POST 2022 conference is intended to foster the dissemination of state-of-the-art research from five main disciplines of Engineering: Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. The objectives of TECH POST 2022 are to bring together innovative researchers from all engineering disciplines to a common forum, promote R&D activities in Engineering, and promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge and research know-how between researchers, engineers, and students. Conference Title: International Technical Postgraduate Conference 2022Conference Acronym: TECH POST 2022Conference Date: 24-25 September 2022Conference Location: Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (Hybrid Mode)Conference Organizers: Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Malaysian Acute Vascular Events Risk (MAVERIK) study protocol: studying genetic and other determinants of first-ever myocardial infarction in Malaysia (Preprint)

INTRODUCTION: Although the burden of premature myocardial infarction (MI) is high in Malaysia, direct evidence on the determinants of MI in this multi-ethnic population remains sparse. The Malaysian Acute Vascular Events Risk (MAVERIK) study is a retrospective case-control study established to enable investigation of genomic, lipid-related and other determinants of acute MI in Malaysia. To our knowledge, it represents the largest case-control study of MI and related traits in Malaysia. In this paper, we report the study’s design and initial results. METHODS: By June 2019, MAVERIK had enrolled about 2500 patients with first-ever MI and 2500 controls without cardiovascular disease (CVD), frequency-matched by age, sex and ethnicity, from 17 hospitals in Malaysia. For each participant, serum and whole blood have been collected and stored. Clinical, demographic and behavioural information has been obtained using a 200-item questionnaire. RESULTS: Tobacco consumption, history of diabetes, hypertension, markers of visceral adiposity, indicators of lower socioeconomic status, and family history of coronary disease were more prevalent in cases than controls. Crude and adjusted (age, sex) logistic regression models for traditional risk factors indicated that current smoking, previous smoking, history of high blood pressure, history of diabetes mellitus, family history of CHD and obesity (BMI>30) were associated with MI in age- and sex-adjusted models. CONCLUSION: The MAVERIK study can serve as a useful platform to investigate genetic and other risk factors for MI in an under-studied South-East Asian population. It should help to hasten discovery of disease-causing pathways and to inform regionally appropriate strategies that optimise public health action