Islamic concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the perspective of CSR players at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad

The issue of CSR has received an increasingly high profile in recent years all over the world. Most of the prior studies on CSR are based on the conventional concept, which the concept is failed to explain the religious or spiritual obligations of business entities towards the society and other stakeholders.From the Islamic perspective, the business social responsibility is broadly discussed in many Quranic verses and Hadith and covered spiritual, moral and material obligations. Thus, this study aims to describe the Islamic concept of CSR and to identify the objectives of such engagements to fulfill various stakeholders’ demands and needs.Using a case study approach, a group of CSR key players at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad were interviewed and several series of in-field observations of CSR events were conducted as well as documentation was reviewed in order to better understand the concept.The findings of this study indicate that CSR relates to any activities in which the bank engages to discharge religious, social and economic responsibilities and account abilities to attain barakah (Allah’s blessings) and to enhance the well being of the stakeholders and the business. Hence, this study may enhance the body of knowledge of CSR from the Islamic perspective to reflect Islamic teachings, values and principles