Six Years in Achievieng Maqasid Ash Shariah: the Case of Islamic Commercial Banks in Indonesia

As an Islamic system of values, ethics, and principles, shariah has an ultimate objective that is to promote the well-being of mankind in the world and the hereafter. AbuZahrah further identified the objective of shariah (maqasid alshariah) into educating people, upholding justice and promoting social welfare. As a group of individuals, Islamic business institutions, including Islamic banks, should be operated in any way that is in line with those objectives. The aim of this study is to investigate the practice of Islamic commercial banks in Indonesia in educating people, upholding justice and promoting social welfare as described by Abu Zahrah in his concept of maqasid ash-shariah. Panel data related to financial ratios based on the operationalization of Abu Zahrah’s maqasid ash-shariah concept developed by Mohammed et al. were obtained from the annual reports of 11 Islamic commercial banks in Indonesia. The reports were published in six years’ time starting from 2011 to 2016. The data were further calculated to come out with maqasid alshariah index to represent the overall performance of the banks in achieving maqasid al-shariah. To summarize the results, descriptive statistics were finally applied. This study reveals that the thirteen Islamic commercial banks in Indonesia have carried out the necessary activities to achieve the three objectives of shariah. The main focus carried out by the banks is to uphold justice followed by maintaining social welfare. The least priority was given in educating people. During the past seven years, the maqasid al-shariah indexes were fluctuated. The index touched the lowest point in 2014. On average, the maqasid al-shariah index was quite low, opening a room for the banks to improve their activities to be more ethical and social