Konsep Dhimmah, Entiti Perundangan dan lmplikasinya Terhadap Amalan Perakaunan oleh Majlis Agama lslam Negeri di Malaysia

Abstract

The fuqaha and current scholars have recognised the role of human beings and jinn in fulilling their responsibilities as servants of the Almighty and their trusted responsibilities to the rest of mankind. Certain of discussion under the corpus of Islamic legal knowledge declare that an entity organised by a group of people (syahsiyyah iktibariyyah) is set up to shoulder the responsibilities and fulil the trusts from Almighty God that cannot be carried out eficiently by an individual due to its existence over a longer period of time than the average human age. The question is whether the establishment of a State Islamic Religious Council (MAIN) is in line with the characteristics and concept of entities that have been debated by current and previous fuqaha. If this study hypothesis is true, then a MAIN is a legal entity with limited dhimmah in which all its activities are bound by the State Islamic Religious Administration Enactment as well as other statutes relating to civil law at the federal level. The objective of this study is to analyse the concept of limited dhimmah in accordance with Islamic law on the operations and activities of a MAIN in general and its implications regarding current accounting practices by a MAIN. This study has used a qualitative method through semi-structured interviews with, a number of experts including the upper management of MAIN, Shari’ah advisory committees of Islamic inancial institutions and States Fatwa committees. The study has found that a limited concept of dhimmah applies to a MAIN. Therefore, the MAIN of each state in Malaysia must carry out its trusted and responsibilities in compliance with current accounting standards set by the government. This is in line with the iqh method of tasarruf al-Imam Manut bil-maslahah, which indicates that all activities conducted by the MAIN are aimed at safeguarding the interests and maslahat of Muslims. Several policy recommendation and implication are also discussed in this study. Keywords: Legal Entity, Dhimmah, Sakhsiyyah I’tibariyyah, Accounting Practice, Enactment