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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial performance and stability of Islamic banks (IBs) in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia (MENASA) region.

The sample consists of 50 IBs across 13 MENASA countries. The data covers 11 quarters, starting in Q1 2019 and ending in Q3 2021, and are collected from banks’ quarterly reports. The authors proxy financial performance by three measures, namely, return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and cost-to-income (Cost/Income). For financial stability, the authors use two indicators: insolvency risk (log Z-score) and asset risk (ROA/SDROA). The methodology is based on the generalized least squares method estimation.

The results showed a significant and negative impact of COVID-19 on two performance measures of IBs (ROA and ROE) suggesting that IBs were significantly affected during the earlier pandemic. As well, the authors found strong evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on the insolvency risk and asset risk of the studied banks.

The study of COVID-19’s impact on the performance and stability of IBs in MENASA countries permits the banks’ regulators and policymakers to ameliorate the banks’ financial performance and reinforce their supervisory actions. Also, it gives them assistance to guarantee the financial stability of these banks in times of crisis.

This study provides significant financial information and policy implications for stakeholders involved in the banking sector in MENASA countries. Consequently, IBs must guarantee their profits and stability to ensure their competitiveness versus conventional banks during the period of crisis.

In an era where exceptional exhibitions and mega-events garner global attention, the association between economic advancement and environmental conservation grabs focus. This has never been more apparent than at Expo 2020 Dubai, a global event that incorporated progress, innovation and culture (Haneef & Ansari, 2019). This chapter aims to explore the relationship between sustainability, economic progress and environmental conservation through the lens of Expo 2020 Dubai. The research approach relies on prominent case studies, accentuating the contribution of Expo 2020 Dubai towards the global discussion on sustainable event management. This chapter dives into the sustainability framework, exploring strategies including eco-friendly infrastructure, energy efficiency, waste management and community engagement. It demonstrates Expo 2020 Dubai's proactive approach in addressing the challenges of hosting mega-scale events sustainably. This chapter also adds value by elucidating the parallel sustainability journey, that is otherwise, often overshadowed by the economic aspects of global events (AML Gomba et al., 2018). On the whole, this chapter significantly contributes towards the understanding of sustainable event management by accentuating Expo 2020 Dubai. It highlights the event's role in driving environmental awareness and innovation, demonstrating how such mega-scale events can inspire future sustainable practices (Cull, 2022).

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the study of the relationship between sharia governance (SG), which is represented by the Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB), and internal sharia compliance, and whether it can affect the performance of Islamic banking.

Literature search consists of two steps: random literature review and systematic literature review. The methodology adopted in this article is a systematic literature review.

The variable of internal sharia compliance, sharia risk and internal sharia audit on one of the indications of SG newly researched variable which will later be used as a new paradigm, to measure the implementation of Islamic sharia principles in sharia banking.

The development of a conceptual framework by using measurement of the new SG has practical implications for sharia bank, which can later be applied to also increase sharia banking performance by complying with Islamic sharia principles. This new concept can be used as a reference by the Financial Service Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan) to establish regulations regarding SG framework, especially in Indonesia.

Further research can add more of it or replace it with other variables that are more relevant, in such a way that it could be empirically tested on how the independence and remuneration (lit. performance allowance) of SSB and the internal sharia control team can affect the performance of sharia banks.