Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2019 243 Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Islamic finance and corporate governance: a proposed universal model Mohd Sarim, Areeba Khan and Asif Akhtar Department of Business Administration, Aligarh Muslim University, P.O. Box 202002, Aligarh, India Email: mohdsarim.amu@gmail.com Email: khanareeba.rs@gmail.com Email: asifakh@gmail.com Mosab I. Tabash* College of Business, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 64141, Al Ain, UAE Email: Mosab.tabash@aau.ac.ae *Corresponding author Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to systematically synchronise the development of Shari’ah governance in light of the Islamic epistemology. The paper explores governance from the Islamic point of view by referring to various verses from the Holy Qur’an. Also, the paper enumerates the Ps of Islamic governance through shedding light on the teachings of the Holy Qur’an. An in-depth literature review is done to identify the enablers of Shari’ah corporate governance model. Furthermore, interpretative structure modelling (ISM) is applied to propose a Shari’ah governance model for all Islamic countries and countries that follow Islamic banking system. The key variables are identified with the help of MICMAC analysis. The results reveal that there are various conflicting issues that exist among business operations of Islamic financial industry. One of the issues is lacking uniformity regarding considerations related to Halal/Haram transactions. The paper suggests a suitable model for implementing Shari’ah governance and making it globally acceptable. Keywords: Islamic finance; governance; Qur’an; 4Ps; Islamic; AAOIFI standards; interpretative structure modelling; MICMAC analysis; Muslim countries; global level; Halal/Haram transactions. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Sarim, M., Khan, A., Akhtar, A. and Tabash, M.I. (2019) ‘Islamic finance and corporate governance: a proposed universal model’, Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp.243–266. Biographical notes: Mohd Sarim is currently working as a Research Scholar in the Department of Business Administration, Aligarh Muslim University, India. He is working in the area of corporate governance and finance. His research work mainly focuses on governance dimensions and its impact on financial aspects of the firm.