Data Privacy and Sovereignty in Islamic FinTech: Aligning Maqasid al-Shariah with Global Governance
Keywords:
Islamic FinTech, Ethical Data Governance, Data Sovereignty, Digital Privacy, Maqasid al-ShariahAbstract
This article explores the intersection of maqāṣid al-sharī’ah (the principles of Shariah), digital data ethics, and contemporary data governance regulations. It examines how maqāṣid al-sharī’ah inform data privacy and data sovereignty governance in Islamic financial technology (Islamic FinTech). The digitalization of Islamic FinTech services has intensified the collection, analysis, storage, and cross-border transfer of personal and financial data. This paper argues that existing data governance frameworks, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Personal Data Protection Law (PDPA), establish important legal safeguards. Still, compliance alone may not fully articulate the ethical responsibilities Islamic financial institutions owe to data subjects and society. It adopts a normative-jurisprudential approach, supported by a structured integrative review of scholarship and regulatory materials concerning Islamic finance, data protection, digital ethics, and artificial intelligence governance. The analysis findings demonstrate that the principles of trust, ‘adl (adl), maṣlaḥah (public welfare), ḥifẓ al-māl (beneficial obligation), and ḥifẓ al-‘ird (beneficial obligation) provide a coherent ethical framework for data governance within the Islamic FinTech sector. The framework complements applicable data protection laws rather than replacing them. Its practical value lies in translating Islamic ethical commitments into institutional controls, including privacy-by-design, data minimization, algorithmic impact assessment, cybersecurity oversight, cross-border transfer assessment, and Shariah governance review. The study contributes an Ethical Data Governance Framework (EDGF) while recognizing that its propositions require empirical validation in institutional settings.
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