Overview of conventional and shari'ah mutual funds: A literature review Khan Mustafa Hussain*, Rashid Hafiz Majdi AB.** *Master's candidate, International Islamic University Malaysia, Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance **Associate Professor, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics & Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Malaysia Online published on 19 November, 2016. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on conventional mutual funds as well as Shari'ah mutual funds along with their distinguished features. Similar to conventional mutual funds, Shari'ah mutual fund industry has witnessed phenomenal growth in terms of size, products and sophistication. Irrespective of religion, faith, belief, it provides opportunity to all small to middle income investors to channel their funds into Shari'ah complaint investment portfolios because it falls under the category of ethical or socially responsible investment which are definite spirit of Islamic finance. The paper reviews existing literature on conventional mutual funds and Shari'ah compliant mutual funds and takes comparative approach in comparing and contrasting two markets. This paper finds that there is a growing interest in Shari'ah compliant mutual funds not only in Malaysia. Middle east, but also in USA, UK, Luxembourg, and Singapore. This evidences that Shari'ah compliant mutual funds can be introduced and extend its practices to all countries where Islamic finance is trying to make its market base. This paper is exploratory and conceptual in nature but may have some relevance for researchers and interested parties to dwell in the topic. The paper suggests empirical studies to examine the performance of different types of Shari'ah mutual funds in comparison with its counterparts. Top Keywords Mutual funds, Shari'ah Mutual funds, Investment, Ethics. Top |