Category: Research Article

The rapid digital transformation and proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping global retail landscapes, opening a new opportunities for efficiency, personal service, and value creation in the long run. Yet, this digital revolution in the retail sector poses significant challenges related to ethical purchasing, inclusive engagement, and sustainable financing for small and community-based businesses. In this context, Islamic social finance offers an alternative ethical blueprint to reconcile technology innovation with social equity and inclusive economic growth. This article explores innovative models of waqf (Islamic endowments) to cater the ethical demands of a sustainable and socially conscious digital retail ecosystem supported by AI and responsible business practices. The paper outline a new synergy between AI-enabled retail technologies, ethical retailing principles, and waqf-based financing schemes. Specifically, examine how AI applications such as predictive analytics, demand forecasting, digital marketplaces, and intelligent supply chain management could increase transparency, reduce waste, and enhance operational efficiencies in retail settings. When coupled with waqf-backed financing instruments, these innovations could provide lasting capital and infrastructural support to small retailers, social entrepreneurs, and low-income entrepreneurs that often lack access to mainstream funding. This article proposes a Waqf-AI Ethical Retail Framework, supported by theoretical foundations and cross-disciplinary evidence drawn from a growing corpus of real-world applications in fintech, Islamic philanthropy, and ethical retail ventures. It illustrates how digital waqf platforms, intelligent retail analytics powered by AI, and robust socially responsible governance structures could be coordinated to establish sustainable retail ecosystems that prioritize equity, inclusivity, and environmental sustainability. The research believes to contributes to the discourse on responsible digital transformation by highlighting the confluence of AI, ethical retail, and Islamic social finance. It draws attention to waqf’s transformative potential as an institution capable of driving innovation-based retail solutions while advancing the broader sustainable development agenda.

Divorce for Government Employees with Employment Agreements (PPPK) often faces controversy regarding the requirement for a superior’s permission letter, although this is not explicitly regulated in national legislation. This study aims to identify and analyze the existence of a superior’s permission letter for PPPK in divorce cases and to analyze judges’ perspectives on the application of this requirement at the Panyabungan Class II Religious Court. This study used qualitative methods with a field research approach. Primary data were collected through in-depth interviews with five judges (including Chief Justice Dr. Mirwan), court clerks, registration officers, and eighteen PPPK litigants. Secondary data were obtained from official documents such as Chief Justice’s Decrees, service brochures, case summaries, and related regulations. Data analysis was conducted using data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion-drawing techniques, while data validity was ensured through source triangulation. The results indicate that court policy requires a superior’s permission letter for PPPK at the registration stage as an administrative requirement. However, in court practice, the majority of judges do not consider this a barrier. Of the 18 PPPK cases from 2021 to September 11, 2025, only one case involved a judge actively requesting a permit. There is a sharp difference in the judges’ perspectives between the analogy with civil servants and the principle of public welfare versus the principle of legality and the protection of individual civil rights. Normatively, a permit for PPPK is merely an internal administrative policy that is not binding as a legal or formal requirement for litigation. This finding reveals a lack of synchronization between policy and practice, as well as potential legal uncertainty. The study recommends the establishment of clear and uniform national regulations to balance the orderliness of civil servant administration with the right of access to justice for PPPK.

This study aims to analyze the continuity and transformation of the Islamic boarding school (pesantren) education system through a historical study of Islamic education during the Abbasid Dynasty and to examine its relevance in the context of contemporary Islamic education. This study uses a qualitative approach with library research, integrating historical and analytical-critical approaches. Data were obtained from relevant primary and secondary literature, then analyzed using content analysis and interpretative techniques. The results show that the Abbasid education system has a fundamental role as the historical foundation of Islamic education, especially in the aspects of the integration of science, institutions, and intellectual traditions. In the context of Islamic boarding schools, there is continuity in aspects of learning methodology, scientific authority, and the use of classical texts, which are inherited through a process of adaptation and contextualization. On the other hand, Islamic boarding schools also experienced transformations in aspects of institutions, curriculum, and learning methods in response to the dynamics of modernity. The main findings of this study confirm that the relationship between continuity and transformation is dialectical, where both complement each other in forming a dynamic education system. The implications of this study demonstrate the importance of developing an integrative Islamic education model, balancing the preservation of tradition and innovation.

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of critical thinking-based learning on the development of students’ critical reasoning skills in the learning of Hadith Arbain Nawawi at An Nur Islamic Boarding School, Banjarejo, Blora Regency. The study was motivated by the urgency of strengthening critical thinking skills in Islamic education amid contemporary educational challenges that require analytical, reflective, and argumentative competencies. This research employed a quantitative approach using a posttest-only control group design. The research sample consisted of 46 MTs-level students divided into an experimental class of 26 students and a control class of 20 students. Data collection was conducted through critical reasoning tests in the form of argumentative essays and HOTS-based case studies related to Hadith Arbain Nawawi materials. The data were analyzed using the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, Levene homogeneity test, and independent sample t-test with a significance level of 0.05. The findings revealed that the hypothesis test obtained a significance value of < 0.001 with a t-value of 4.453. These findings indicate a significant difference in critical reasoning skills between the experimental and control classes. This study concludes that critical thinking-based learning is effective in developing students’ analytical, argumentative, and reflective reasoning skills in the learning of Hadith Arbain Nawawi within the Islamic boarding school environment.

This study aims to analyze legal protection for ex-wives due to default on post-divorce maintenance in Solok City using a local wisdom approach. The main issue raised is the weak execution of court decisions regarding iddah, mut’ah, and madliyah maintenance, and how Minangkabau customary mechanisms can address this gap. The research method used was qualitative field research. Data were collected through observation, review of decision documents, and in-depth interviews with ex-wives, Religious Court judges, and traditional leaders such as Ninik Mamak and Bundo Kanduang. The results indicate that the implementation of post-divorce maintenance in Solok City is not optimal. Many ex-wives do not file maintenance claims in order to expedite the divorce process, while existing decisions are often not executed by ex-husbands. Formal legal protection is available through instruments such as withholding of divorce certificates, but local wisdom-based protection through mediation by Ninik Mamak and the role of Bundo Kanduang has not been fully utilized. Key inhibiting factors include the ex-husband’s low economic status, lack of legal awareness, and limited asset evidence during court proceedings. Conversely, the strength of formal legal structures and the customary values of “Adat Basandi Syarak, Syarak Basandi Kitabullah” are key supporting factors in strengthening women’s rights after divorce in Solok City.

The main problem in this research is to discuss the forms and dynamics of the utilization of high-ranking heirloom assets, the factors that encourage the community to utilize high-ranking heirloom assets, and the perspectives of traditional leaders on these dynamics in Sungai Tarab District, Tanah Datar Regency. The research method used is field research with a qualitative approach. Data sources in this study consist of primary and secondary sources. Data collection techniques were conducted through interviews and documentation. Data analysis techniques used were data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The technique used to ensure data validity was triangulation of data sources. The results indicate that the utilization of high-ranking heirloom assets in Sungai Tarab is a form of instrumental rational social action, where management is carried out as a means to meet family needs, such as food, education costs, social and customary needs, and other economic needs. This utilization dynamic is driven by economic pressures and changes in social values that influence interaction patterns within the community. From a social capital perspective, the utilization of high-ranking heirloom assets reflects a shift in the function of trust bonds and networks among community members, where the weakening of customary oversight has led to the strengthening of individual interests over collective ones. However, according to Minangkabau custom, this use remains permissible as long as it does not diminish collective ownership of the clan, is carried out through deliberation as a manifestation of healthy social capital, and remains within the framework of the ganggam bauntuak concept.

This study aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of the discretion of judges at the Kotobaru Solok Religious Court in determining the amount of alimony for wives and child custody in divorce cases. This study also evaluates the driving and inhibiting factors faced by judges in exercising this discretion, by examining the alignment of their decisions with the principles of Islamic family law. The research method employed was qualitative field research. Primary data sources were obtained through direct interviews with the Panel of Judges, while secondary data were sourced from official divorce case documents at the Kotobaru Solok Religious Court. Data collection techniques included observation, interviews, and documentation, which were then analyzed using domain, taxonomic, and conventional analysis methods, and strengthened by source and time triangulation techniques to ensure data validity. The results indicate that the application of judges’ discretion in determining alimony for wives after a divorce is significantly influenced by the dynamics of the parties’ social and economic conditions. Judges strive to strike a balance between the husband’s financial capabilities and the wife’s basic needs, based on the principles of maqasid sharia, particularly in maintaining the safety of life (hifz an-nafs) and protecting property (hifz al-mal). Regarding child custody, judicial discretion is fully oriented toward the best interests of the child to ensure a healthy physical and emotional growth and development environment, in accordance with the principle of hifz an-nasl. Decisions made through this discretion aim to achieve balanced, substantial justice for all parties without disregarding Quranic principles, such as Surah At-Talaq verse 7, which emphasizes providing maintenance according to one’s ability. Integrally, the practice of discretion at the Kotobaru Solok Religious Court has proven consistent in protecting the rights of vulnerable wives and children within the framework of Islamic law.