Auditorium of Prof. Dr. Suwito, MA SPs UIN Jakarta, SPs NEWS - The Graduate School (SPs) of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta held the 2828th Thesis Exam at the SPs Theater Room of UIN Jakarta on Tuesday, July 28, 2026 with candidate Syerfi Genia.

Syerfi is a student of the Master of Islamic Studies program with a concentration in Islamic Economics. His thesis is entitled "The Development of Ijtihād Maqāṣidī in Sharia Insurance Arrangements in Indonesia and Malaysia (2001-2025)".

This thesis is here to answer the challenges of digital governance and increasingly complex consumer data security risks. So far, classical Maqasid Shari'a thinking has often placed the protection of property (ḥifẓ al-māl) limited to physical material assets only. In fact, in the era of digital transformation, personal data leakage has the potential to cause systematic losses that exceed financial limits.

Through his research, Syerfi argues that the conventional ijtihad approach that evaluates sharia goals partially or separately is no longer adequate. In the digital ecosystem, one incident of data leakage can violate several dimensions of benefits at once, ranging from religion, soul, intellect, descent, to property. Therefore, it is necessary to use analytical glasses that are relational and interconnected to read the risks of modern digital governance.

This descriptive-analytical normative legal research with a comparative approach examines primary legal materials in the form of fatwas of the National Sharia Council-Indonesian Ulema Council (DSN-MUI) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) regulations. To dissect the regulatory architecture of the two countries, the framework of thought of classical and modern figures is integrated, including the ideas of al-Ghazali, al-Shatibi, Wahbah al-Zuhayli, Jasser Auda, and Halil Thahir.

The findings of the study show that there is a fundamental difference in approach between the two neighboring countries. Indonesia tends to apply a normative-protective approach that focuses on the clarity of contracts, separation of funds (tabarru' and commercial), and basic sharia compliance. On the contrary, Malaysia has come up with a flexible-institutional approach that is textually-regulatively more integrated in responding to digital risk governance.

However, the study reveals that the principles of specific sharia-based data protection have not been explicitly integrated into the takaful sectoral fatwa  in both countries. This phenomenon shows that there is a regulatory gap that needs to be bridged immediately, considering that the current vulnerability of the digital finance industry can damage public trust in Islamic institutions themselves.

In order to enrich the previous literature, this research continues and expands the study of Khasanah and Mohd Salleh (2025) on the legal framework for consumer protection of digital Islamic banking. The difference is that Syerfi's research brings this focus to the takaful  sector while making the interconnectivity of maṣlaḥah the main surgical tool in testing the level of data protection of participants.

As a practical and theoretical contribution, this research gave birth to the Maqāṣid–Digital Governance Takaful Integration Model. This evaluation framework includes seven analytical stages ranging from postulate extraction, validity test, priority determination, operationalization of obligations, system mapping, maṣlaḥah interconnectivity test, to governance design as a comprehensive guideline for regulators and practitioners in formulating sharia insurance laws in the digital era.

Syerfi successfully defended his thesis under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Desmadi Saharuddin, MA, and was tested in front of a board of examiners consisting of Prof. Dr. Yusuf Rahman, MA, Prof. Dr. Desmadi Saharuddin, MA, Ali Rama S.E., M.Ec, Ph.D, Dr. Riris Aishah Prasetyowati, SE, MM.

After paying attention to the thesis writing, the comments of the examiner team and the candidate's answers, the examiner team determined that Syerfi Genia graduated with the title of Very Satisfactory. Syerfi Genia is the 2828th Master in the field of Islamic Studies, in the Master's program of the Graduate School of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. (Jay A)