The changing landscape of English language teaching and learning has compelled English language teaching materials to be culturally sensitive and appropriate to the context in which the language is taught. There is a need to match teaching materials with the goals, objectives and philosophy of a programme and to ensure consistency with learners’ attitudes, religious beliefs and/or preferences. In other words, English Language Teaching (ELT) materials must be consistent with the needs and interests of the intended learners, as well as being in harmony with institutional ideologies and religious doctrines. The objectives of the study are to codify ELT materials based on socio-cultural and religious perspectives and to examine features of ELT materials based on the adapted Byram’s cultural content list. Five English language textbooks used in the intensive language programme at the International Islamic University Malaysia are analysed based on the conceptual content analysis. The findings reveal that the ELT textbooks are organized based on four main categories; namely, belief and behaviour, socialization and life cycles, stereotypes and national identity and social and political institution. The findings of the study indicate that there are 14 neutral items, eight negative items and one positive item that mention Islam and Muslims. Furthermore, there are 77 items which are found not to be in harmony with Islam ranging from food, drinks, recreation and sports. The findings also suggest that the textbooks are loaded with features of Western culture. While the textbooks are relevant to the learners’ culture, teachers need to inform the students that there are differences between Islam and the Judeo-Christian worldview.

Issues of entrepreneurial attitude and standardisation of business process have long been argued in the academic field. Although the Malaysian government, through its authorised agencies,has provided incentives and grants for the development of entrepreneurship, the progress made is still lacking and inadequate. In assisting to provide some solutions, educational institutions have incorporated teaching materials into their syllabus to enhance the entrepreneurial attitudes of students. The current study focuses on examining the extent to which the philosophy and application of the Tawhidic paradigm are part of the educational syllabus in Malaysia.Subsequently, the study attempts to identify the methods to equip entrepreneurs with resilient characters to fulfil their duties based on the core Islamic values. The quantitative method was employed to collect data using a questionnaire that contains information on the respondents’ personal profile and educational background. A total of 543 Malaysian entrepreneurs from a large number of sectors were surveyed using convenience sampling. To analyse the collected data and test the research hypotheses, the structural equation modeling was used. The current study postulates that the awareness gained from well-being (falah) in life andexcellence (itqan) at work can be derived from the pursuit of the Tawhidic principle.The results reveal that the Tawhidic paradigm is a partial mediator in the relationship between the entrepreneurship curriculum and the resilient character of entrepreneurs.The study has theoretical, methodological and practical contributions in the sense that it provides evidence and identifies relevant components to influence the existing entrepreneurshipmodules for capacity building, especially in terms of instilling integrity and ethical values while conducting business dealings. The ideasand concepts of the Tawhidic paradigm help to promote the learning outcomes of entrepreneurial behaviours, mindset, attributes, characteristics and Islamic ethics.In general, the study concludes that the Tawhidic paradigm contains the essential elements that would enhance the established knowledge and theories about entrepreneurship in an artificial setting or environment.

Given the intense competition and low switching cost, marketers employ several techniques to differentiate their brands from others. Brand personality is one such approach. It facilitates crafting customer-brand relationship, brand image, brand commitment, and most importantly, the purchase intention. Aaker’s brand personality model with its five dimensions (sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness) has been studied at length especially in the manufacturing sector whereas the service industry has remained understudied. Aaker’s model has also been criticized pertaining to the issues such as generalizability across countries and cultures. Considering religion (Islam), an important yet ignored element of culture, this study highlights the criticism on Aaker’s framework. Based on Qur’an, hadith and the work of traditional as well as modern Muslim scholars, this research is among the early attempts to develop and validate an Islamic Banks’ Brand Personality (IBBP) model in Malaysia. With the help of 388 usable responses in the Klang valley, IBBP model was empirically tested through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) followed by the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Two new dimensions (Trust_Just and Shariah Compliance) emerged along with the four existing dimensions. Interestingly, Trust_Just obtained the highest percentage of variance i.e. 42.106 per cent. In order to examine the impact of IBBP on customers’ purchase intention, theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was employed and subsequently tested using structural equations modeling (SEM). Out of the ten hypothesized relationships, nine were supported. Findings of this research revealed that IBBP has a positive impact on brand attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Similarly, brand attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control positively affect purchase intention. However, the direct relationship between IBBP and purchase intention was not significant. Therefore, the relationship between IBBP and purchase intention was fully mediated by brand attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. The findings of this research are significant for the Islamic banking industry. With the help of IBBP, Islamic banks can create a better brand image, employ advertising strategies effectively, and ultimately retain the existing and attract the potential customers with higher purchases as well as re-purchases. This research contributes to the literature of Islamic branding, hence benefitting academicians. Practitioners and policy makers can also benefit from the results of this research.

This study aims to investigate hospitality services at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 1 (KLIA 1). Specifically, it attempts to find out about hospitality in Islamic law, about hospitality services offered at the airport and about the extent of Maqasid al-Shari’ah (objectives of the Islamic law) verification in hospitality services practices at the airport. To achieve these objectives, appropriate research methods were utilised. The inductive method was used to gather information about hospitality and Maqasid al-Shari’ah from classic and modern texts. The survey method was also used to collect the data by distributing the questionnaire to the tourists who came to KLIA 1 as well as towards the foreign students and workers who have been staying in Malaysia for the past few years. The descriptive analytical method was then used to discuss the information collected from the texts and from the result of the questionnaire. This research concludes that the hospitality services at the airport achieve some objectives of Islamic law such as taysir (alleviation), cooperation and respecting human rights. The implementation of hospitality services that suits Maqasid al-Shari’ah plays a big role in attracting tourists as the Maqasid al-Shari’ah is based on fitrah which exists in every human.