Cross-country analysis of Islamic finance dispute resolution: Malaysia and Saudi Arabia

Islamic banking and finance have gained popularity all over the world. However, differences of opinions and understandings could trigger potential disputes and misunderstandings, even for the area of Islamic banking and finance. Some of the disputes as settled by resorting to litigation, while others are resorted to out-of-court settlements. Drawn from an ongoing research, this paper aims to highlight the cross-country analysis of the related dispute resolution frameworks between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The analysis is tackled along the lines of the background and the constitutional frameworks for each country, the respective dispute resolution structures, and analysis of selected cases on Islamic finance disputes. The paper concludes by describing the similarity and difference points of the dispute resolution of Islamic finance cases between the two countries, and also by suggesting directions for future research in this area.