Sulh: Justice Without Court Trial in Fulfilling the Needs of Islamic Finance in Malaysia

Malaysia practices a dual economic system, particularly in the banking system, whereby conventional banking exists side-by-side with the Sharia-compliant, Islamic banking. The discussion in this article therefore will be directed towards highlighting the laws and mechanisms of solution in Islamic banking and its implication to enhance the application of Islamic banking laws regardless of ethnicity and religion, in order to maintain fairness and justice in a multi-ethnic society. The content analysis and observation method is used in analysing the related documents based on themes such as Islamic finance, business, culture and behaviour of Islamic finance as well as alternative dispute resolution for issues in Islamic finance. Among the major findings highlighted in this study is that all cases related to Islamic finance can be arranged and finalized by the Sulh method without reference to specific criteria. The Sulh method emphasize the implementation of the dispute resolution process within 3 months (a short period). It is considered as a fair, transparent of dispute resolution process based on mutual agreement between the parties involved. No cost is imposed by the court on the parties involved in relation to any proceedings during the procedure of sulh. Finally, Sulh is known as an Islamic method of dispute resolution, where it can be adopted by various races and religions without prejudice to resolve the cases related to Islamic finance.