Towards Shari’ah compliant e-commerce transactions: a review of Amazon.com
The use of information and communication technology for online commercial transactions may pose some Shari’ah issues. Whilst several studies have elaborated the issues from Islamic viewpoint, none of them provides an empirical investigation on e-commerce transactions in the light of Islamic law of c...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IDOSI Publications
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/31758/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/31758/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/31758/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/31758/1/2013_Muhammad_et_al._15%289%29_-_PUBLISHED.pdf |
| Summary: | The use of information and communication technology for online commercial transactions may pose some Shari’ah issues. Whilst several studies have elaborated the issues from Islamic viewpoint, none of them provides an empirical investigation on e-commerce transactions in the light of Islamic law of contract. Thus, the objectives of this study is firstly, to examine the permissibility of online transactions from the Shari’ah perspective, particularly in the context of Islamic law of contract, and secondly, to analyze whether or not e-commerce transactions satisfy the Shari’ah requirements. Library research by the means of investigating classical and contemporary literature is employed to address the first objective of the study. For the second objective, the Amazon.com is chosen as a case study. This provides a basis for understanding the applicability of the Islamic law of contract in the context of online transactions. Findings indicate that Amazon’s online transactions generally satisfy the Shari’ah requirements of a valid contract except in two scenarios; (i) transactions involving impermissible (non-halal) products such as alcohol, pork, non-halal food and beverages, tobacco and tobacco-related products as well as Shari’ah non-compliant entertainments or music, and (ii) payment modes using conventional credit cards (riba). |
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