Comparative Analysis of Crowd Funding in Shari’ah Perspective

Abstract

The term crowd funding is new in terms of name but common in terms of its usage. In Islamic jurisprudence, it has parallel examples such as zakat and waqf. This research discusses the Shari’ah perspective of crowd funding and brings up several questions on 1) what is the legitimate contract used in this contractual system? 2) Is there a legal caveat in the contractual system? 3) Is it in line with its purpose and does it meet the requirements of Islamic Shari’ah? This study uses descriptive method which is an analysis to understand the technical process of crowd funding and to find out the Shari’ah contract that can be applied later according to the guidance from the Shari’ah perspective to harmonize the contract. The purpose of this discussion is to serve as a guide in the field of Syara', as a foundation for crowd funding, to clarify its position in the contractual jurisprudence and to explain its purpose. Overall, the findings show that crowd funding is in parallel with Shari’ah contracts, follows the Islamic jurisprudential rulings and complies with the objectives of Islamic Shari’ah.