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Waqf (endowment) lands constitute as among the highest types of waqf (endowment) properties in Malaysia; yet it is still unable to reach its maximum potential due to various challenges such as capital, location, legal and administrative issues. Therefore, this study intends to explore these issues by focussing on the two states in Malaysia (Selangor and Perak) that have fertile lands but different management authorities.

There were series of interviews that had been conducted with ten (10) key informants who are experts and practitioners in the areas of Shariah (Islamic law), farming, agribusiness, land management and waqf.

Findings exhibit that constraints and challenges that had been highlighted in the previous literature still exist (although some improvements had been made), but there is emerging theme that the study intends to highlight which is on the needs to secure market for the agribusiness produce and the potential role of anchor company in the agribusiness. It is pertinent that for agribusiness to thrive, selecting the right anchor company that has the capacity to address the challenges is necessary. This study posits two anchor company models (Waqf Trustee-Anchor Company and Waqf Trustee-Anchor Company-Community Farmers) that can be applied for agribusiness on the waqf lands.

This study is based on the Malaysia's context influenced by specific country's features. Nevertheless, such findings can still be used as reference or benchmark by other endowment trustees in other countries especially for the Muslim countries as well as the non-Muslim countries that have significant Muslim populations.

The suggested models have potentials to improve the living condition of the B40 (below 40% household income) in Malaysia because the models encourage their participation in the agribusiness activities.

This study focusses on the agribusiness, which is rarely being given attention in previous literature in the context of endowment lands. Therefore, this article bridges the literature gap and at the same time attempts to provide suggestion to address the pertinent issue – the underutilised endowment lands.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the sensitivity of the banks' customers towards the adoption of Arabic terminology in the Islamic banking industry.

A sample of 100 respondents who were mainly banks' clients was surveyed through personally administered questionnaire and only 60 questionnaires are usable for the study. The remaining 40 questionnaires were rejected due to incomplete answers and error. The survey executed based on convenience sampling method. The study was conducted at Shah Alam for nearly two and a half months and the city chosen due to the exclusivity of the city's demographic; significant availability of white collar employees as its residents which illustrate a high income population, high literacy and high academic qualification.

The majority of the respondents agree that Arabic terminology gives competitive edge to the Islamic banks but at the same time they indicate that the catchy Arabic name will give them difficulty in gaining fast information about and comprehension of the product. The trend depicted by the non‐Muslims respondents when answering the questionnaire indicates that, in many cases, they are at the negative side on every statement given. Thus, it signifies a need from the Islamic banking side to manage this issue, since the non‐Muslims are majority clients of the industry in Malaysia.

The response rate of 60 per cent for this study is considered good. However, the availability of more respondents would give higher rate of representation.

This paper provides insights for the interested parties to know the banks' clients' needs from the Islamic banking sector and will help to increase the number.

This paper measures the responses of banks' customers towards the adoption of Arabic terminology, in a multi‐racial society in which limited study has been done.

Since the establishment of Islamic banks in Malaysia since the 1980s, the banking system has undergone rampant development within the financial industry. It has resulted in a positive competitive challenge for the conventional banks and able to attract not just the Muslim customers, but also those non-Muslim customers. At the same time, understanding the customers' knowledge of Islamic banking products is an interesting issue to explore. This issue is raised because the Islamic bank products are often packaged using Arabic terms, even though it is marketed in non-Arabic countries like Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to examine the factors that influence the intention of the Islamic banking customers as the result of relying on some information produced by Malaysian Islamic banks.

This study is conducted using the existing underpinning theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A total of 300 questionnaires were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM).

The results indicated that perceived behavioural control, attitude and subjective norms of the Islamic banking depositors are positively influenced by the intention of the depositors to learn about Islamic banking.

One of the main issues faced in this study is the result cannot be generalised. It is not possible to know based on the collected data if the sample is representative, other than the fact that all of the respondents are Islamic bank depositors. Nevertheless, it can still be a catalyst for further research as a link to existing findings in the area. There might be a bias on the understanding of the respondents about Islamic banking. This is due to the fact that Malaysia is a multi-racial population. Malay people might have a better understanding and basic knowledge about Islamic banking than the Chinese, Indians and other races. This cultural bias could be overcome in future studies by identifying respondents who have experiences in dealing with Islamic banking.

This study provides interesting insights of the Malaysian banking industry in terms of the multi-racial customers' intention to learn about Islamic banking, which is scarcely discussed in the extant literature.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2019-0011.