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Muslim friendly or Shari’ah compliant hospitality services have emerged in recent years as part of the development of global halal industry. Malaysia has become one of the key players in this fast-growing and lucrative market and has been rated the world`s top Muslim-friendly holiday destination for the past few years by various rating agencies. As one of the most important service providers for tourism and travel related activities, the travel agencies play an important and essential role in worldwide tourism development and their role has been expanded in recent years with the global growth of Muslim friendly tourism and hospitality services. Despite this remarkable development, there have been many consumer complaints related to hospitality services in Malaysia. In fact, consumer claims against the travel agents were the top in the list of services cases filed in the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TCC) for the past many years. In 2014, the TCC received 1,585 complaints against travel agencies especially related to umrah package. Thus the question arises as to whether the rights of Muslim travellers are well protected under the relevant laws in Malaysia. Adopting a doctrinal and content analysis methodology, the study aims to identify consumers’ issues in relation to travel agencies services in Malaysia. The main focus is to examine the relevant framework which include relevant laws, regulations, guidelines, codes of ethics which are related to Muslim friendly travel agencies services. The laws including Tourism Industry Act 1992 and Tourism Industry (Tour Operating Business and Travel Agency Business regulations 1992), MATTA Code of Ethics and Malaysian Standard MS 2610:2015 Muslim Friendly Hospitality Services-requirements. The purpose is to analyse the adequacy of the existing consumer protection laws in protecting Muslim travellers. The study discovers the lacunae in the existing legal protection for consumers which renders the protection to be inadequate. Hence, the study proposes recommendations to improve and enhance protection for consumers in dealing with Muslim friendly travel agencies.

Eclectic architecture emerged and gained rapid momentum in the field of Malaysian mosque architecture during the past two decades. It appears that the multicultural fabric of Malaysian society and its welcoming attitude towards outside world in the past couple of decades have contributed immensely to the creation of suitable environment for the acceptance of foreign influence, especially in the field of art & architecture. This has prepared grounds for the appearance of numerous eclectic mosques on the Malaysian urban plane. The eclectic style of Malaysian mosques has not been the subject of many researches. This study deals mostly with the social and cultural grounds of eclectic architecture in Malaysia. After determining the process of eclectic mosque architecture in Malaysia, this research provides a somewhat critical analysis of Masjid Wilayah as a prominent example of eclectic mosque architecture. The library research and personal observation of mosque architecture are the basic methods used in this study. Investigating mosques with eclectic architecture at different periods of time in Malaysian mosque architecture revealed that the eclectic mosques were built during the British period and have a dominant style which includes elements and details from other styles too. However, today eclectic mosques try to have different elements from various styles and combine all together in a single work. This research discusses the forms and functions of the Wilayah Mosque and traces its features, i.e. dome, minaret, minbar, mihrab, to their regional/historical origins namely Ottoman, Persian, Mughal, Malay and Moroccan.

This thesis proposes to study the views of the most significant positions held by Islamists in the contemporary Arab world on dissent and opposition. In other words, the thesis ventures to investigate the question whether there is any reason to believe that the Muslim world would be any better off in terms of freedom under Islamic rule than it is now. In writing this thesis I have departed from the currently prevalent conviction that one of the root causes of the presently encompassing predicament of the Ummah is its failure to manage social conflict and deal successfully with dissent. My aim has been to identify positions, arguments, trends, and the main features of contemporary Islamic discourse on opposition, dissent and political pluralism. To accomplish that task I have used the comparative historical approach with elements of the normative approach. Among the findings of the study is the confirmation of the assumption we started with. If ambiguity is the main feature of the Islamic historical heritage on the issue of opposition, then the rapid evolution towards its validation and diversity, if not contradiction and inconsistency, are the main characteristics of the contemporary Islamic discourse on opposition. On the one hand we identified positive evidence including: `freedom of religion` (lai ikrah fi al-din), the commitment to independent judgment and reasoning (ijtihad), the principle of diversity and disagreement (ikhtilaf), mutual consultation (shura), the concept of public interest (maslahah), and some maxims of Islamic law. On the other hand we identified negative evidence in the form of moral restrictions, legal norms regarding apostasy, blasphemy, rebellion,pledge of allegiance, giving of advice, and the unity of Muslims. Three well established Islamic concepts, namely .Hisbah, sovereignty of God and fitnah are often legitimately invoked as positive and negative evidence simultaneously. The difficult and painful process of reinterpreting the ambivalent sources and heritage is taking place in conditions of unenviable realities at home, foreign pressure and intervention from outside, and continued uncertainty about outcome. Most contemporary Islamic thinkers and movements look with favor upon pluralism under the roof of the shariah. I named them `shariatocrats.` An ever diminishing group of `Islamic authoritarians` believe that theological absolutism should be paralleled by political authoritarianism embedded in a single party and an unquestionable single leader. A completely opposite perspective is favored by `Islamic pluralists/liberals` who, though rejecting agnosticism, secularism, moral relativism and religious indifference strongly believe that diversity of opinion and beliefs was primordially vested by God in Man and should accordingly be welcomed not merely allowed to exist. There is also a growing understanding among this group that freedom from the state like that from colonizers does not come free of charge; that it is seldom, if ever awarded, and that it has to be won. Only a few appear to support the establishment of a `pious tyranny.` However, wavering between pluralism and shariatocracy is common. It is fair to say that the gap between Western and Islamic positions on opposition is somewhat exaggerated and that Western liberals often demand from Islamists what they themselves are not ready to concede or undertake. We found sufficient evidence to believe that provided the right conditions - such as genuine democratization of Muslim states are maintained - Islamic thought will develop further in the direction of a vigorous Islamic pluralism/liberalism.