Purpose: This study aims to develop a valid and reliable Islamic financial literacy (IFL) scale that can capture all the segments of the Islamic financial sectors and which could be considered applicable for all jurisdictions across the globe. Design/methodology/approach: To build the measure, this study followed a scale development process by collecting 698 a priori items from 81 respondents. Later, it generated an item pool through the analysis of the items with experts and gave the last form (40 items) to 287 respondents in Turkey with another IFL scale that is frequently used in the literature and a scale assessing religiosity. With explanatory factor analysis, the scale demonstrates a four-factor construct with 20 items. This construct provides good fit indexes and reliability scores. Findings: Results of the correlation analysis and comparison of the fit indexes of alternative structures provided supportive evidence for discriminant and convergent validity of the scale and its sub-dimensions. As a result, an applicable scale is developed for countries where Islamic financial institutions are operating and where they are not. Originality/value: One of the strengths of this study is that it represents a comprehensive scale development for the entire Islamic financial system, including banking, takāful (Islamic insurance) and fund management. In addition, the attempt to design an IFL scale applicable to any economy or individual is a pioneering attempt in the literature.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact and causality of crude oil and natural gas on economic growth in the Caspian Sea region. Here, the study applies ordinary least square (OLS) method and Granger causality test using time series data from 1997 to 2015 to ascertain the impact and causality of crude oil and natural gas on economic growth. The results, according to the OLS method, evince that crude oil and natural gas have a significant impact on economic growth of the region. Alongside, considering causality test, gross domestic product (GDP) does Granger cause (unidirectional) crude oil price and export which denotes that GDP can help to forecast crude oil price and export; however, crude oil price and export cannot help to forecast GDP. Surprisingly, this direction is unlikely for GDP and natural gas. GDP and natural gas have unidirectional, but opposite causal relationship, i.e., natural gas price and export do Granger cause GDP which signify that natural gas price and export can help to forecast GDP; however, GDP cannot help to forecast crude oil price and export.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic or Global Health Crisis (GFH) has distorted the normal functioning of the global economies and financial markets. Previous research has shown that Islamic equities were relatively more stable than conventional ones during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). So, this study aims to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance and co-movement of the leading Islamic finance markets by employing MGARCH-DCC on daily frequency data spanning from January 01, 2017 to October 22, 2021. The findings suggest that, as expected, the pandemic outbreak has increased the volatility across the sample markets, but it faded relatively soon, indicating that Islamic equities carry hedging features and offer portfolio diversification benefits to investors. Moreover, the sample countries are less correlated during the sample period than expected. The findings have important implications for policymakers and diverse investors deciding on portfolio diversification. Global ethical and Islamic investors, including fund managers, could benefit by focusing on more stable markets and building optimal portfolios of Shari'ah-complaint equities during turbulent market conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: The emerging markets have been witnessing a remarkable revival of rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) serving as alternative informal financing and investment platforms, also known as savings-based finance (SBF) in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to present the SBF model mathematically, analyse the performance of the SBF sector and propose a new Sharīʿah-compliant SBF model for the acquisition of durables. Design/methodology/approach: The paper thoroughly reviews the concept and practice of ROSCA across the globe, mathematically models and empirically analyses the performance of Turkish SBF companies using a unique data set. Findings: The study formulates a two-person SBF model and proposes a Mudarabah-Wakalah hybrid model with a new investment feature. It is found that the concept of ROSCA is being operationalized in 105 countries across the globe under different names with slight business model modifications. The research also reveals that the demand for financing of durables in Turkey significantly increased in recent years with the demand for housing is twice greater compared to vehicles. Most importantly, a strong significant inter- and intra-comovement is observed between these durables implying that the success of the sector in one segment has attracted the customers to other SBF products. It shows that the SBF institutions can effectively serve as the alternative financing houses for pooling savings and financing the durables, and they have strong potential to capture a larger financial market share in Turkey and even globally. Originality/value: The study constructs mathematical models and proposes a new investment wing to an existing SBF wealth fund.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the evolvement of the concept and practice of the Rotating Savings and Credit Association (ROSCA) from informal fund collection for indivisible durables to real property acquisition under the interest-free SBF model by analyzing the previously conducted research that focused on the concept in terms of names, forms, and natures.Design/methodology/approach: A PRISMA-compliant systematic literature review is adopted to ascertain the most relevant studies from various sources and analyze the extracted data or items to accomplish the research objective. Besides, bibliometric network, thematic, and statistical analysis are also applied to bolster the findings acquired from the systematic review. Furthermore, this study mathematically formulates and introduces the customized PRISMA systematic flowchart.Findings: The results reveal that the concept of ROSCA has evolved over the years from informal to formal, micro to macro, individual to institutional, social to business, and fund collection for purchasing household items to real property acquisition since 1962. In this process, the focus area of the research has been shifted from characteristics, operation, and economics to law; source of funds, and history to social; benefits and contribution to digital, risk, and savings behaviour. It is noticed that the majority of the study are Africa-centric, followed by Asia; academic discussion on the ROSCA covers most of the social and economic arena, except the real property acquisition aspect. However, the SBF concept fills up this gap by introducing a real-property-acquisition-centric ROSCA model. The authors provide future agendas regarding focus areas that researchers may consider to develop the SBF concept.Originality/value: The study focuses on the evolvement of a savings-based model. No study concentrates on the evolution process of the model from ROSCA to SBF; in fact, no conspicuous academic study is found regarding the systematic review of ROSCA in the literature archive.