Are you shariah compliant?
To be shariah compliant is to be in accord with the Quran.
Fa Abdul, Free Malaysia Today
A couple of months ago a few students from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) requested an interview with me about my theatre production company for their business class assignment.
The interview went pretty well until they asked me their final question: Is your company shariah compliant?
I went blur for a while. “What do you mean by Shariah compliant?” I asked.
“Is your company managed according to Islamic requirements?” a young girl inquired. “Do you stage your theatre productions as specified in Islam?”
I smiled and sarcastically said, “Well, we do not serve liquor during our theatre performances nor do we require our patrons to dress in hijabs.”
The girls dutifully wrote down my response.
“How about the management and administration aspects of the company?” she asked.
“What about them?”
“Are they Shariah compliant?” she continued.
Feeling a bit annoyed, I replied with a short “Yes.”
“How so?”
Soon, more questions on Shariah compliance were asked which I dutifully answered to the best of my ability.
Anyway, a few days ago I decided to give the students a call to ask about their assignments. I was told that they received almost full marks for all the questions except for the questions regarding Shariah compliance.
“Our lecturer said we should have chosen a company which was Shariah compliant,” one of the students said. “Apparently, a theatre production house is not.”
This took me by surprise. I wondered what I could or should do to make my production house Shariah compliant?
Should I greet the audience with “Assalamualaikum” as they enter the hall? Should I begin the show by reciting a doa? Should I ensure non-married Muslim couples don’t get to sit next to each other? Should I get the audience checked for proper Muslim attire? Do I get the actors to cover up completely and forbid them from touching each other? Do I get the scripts endorsed by a religious authority?
Come on, isn’t being Shariah compliant all about good practices anyway? After all, being Islamic is more connected to values than to rigid systems, is it not?
Honestly, I don’t see much difference between Shariah-compliant and non-compliant establishments. I see both Islamic and conventional banks as generally the same. Just slightly altering the methods of doing things doesn’t make one bank more Islamic than the other.
