Mohammad Hashim Kamali finalised a chapter on ‘Contagious Disease from an Islamic Perspective’ for the IAIS proposed book, Islam and COVID-19: A Multidimensional Perspective. His research paper on ‘Introducing Sunnat Allah as a New Genre of Qur’an Studies,’ will be included in the book of proceeding of the 18th Conference 2020 – The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought: The Sunan of Allah in His Creation. He completed his Consultancy Paperwork project with The United Nations on ‘Mediation and Peacemaking by Religious Authorities and Organisations in the Muslim World’. He is also on a consultancy project with Kakar Associates, Law Firm based in Kabul on ‘Peace and Rights: Dialogue series among Islamic Legal Scholars on Key Issues of the Afghan Peace Process.’ Professor Kamali’s ‘Islamic History shows How to Deal with Health Threats,’ was published in New Straits Times online, 22 May 2020. Also, his articles, ‘COVID-19 from The Islamic Perspective (Part 1) and (Part 2) were published in Bulletin Nos. 55 (March-April 2020) and 56 (May-June 2020) respectively. Professor Kamali attended two webinars, COVID-19 from the Perspective of Islamic Theology and Spirituality, 9 July 2020, and Rukun Negara: Revisiting Its Role as Pillars of National Unity, 28 July 2020. He presented ‘Decades of Academic Excellence and Prolific Writing,’ at the Online Research Camp, 11 August 2020. On 27 August, he also attended the Forum on Kemerdekaan dan Aspirasi Belia Negara 2020 Hubungan Agama & Ideologi Negara di Nusantara: Generasi Muda Pewaris Legasi Tanah Air at Marriot Hotel Putrajaya.

Mohamed Azam Mohamed Adil published Institusi Yang di-Pertuan Agong Penjaga Perlembagaan, IAIS Bulletin No. 56 MayJune 2020; Kedaulatan Institusi Yang di-Pertuan Agong, bebasnews, 7 Jun 2020; Rukun Negara Tunjang Malaysia Berbilang Bangsa, Agama, Berita Harian, 15 Julai 2020; RUU 355 Tingkatkan Bidang Kuasa Mahkamah Syariah, MukaSepuluh, Berita Harian, 28 Julai 2020; Adakah RUU 355 Bercanggah Dengan Perlembagaan?, bebasnews, 1 Ogos 2020; The 2 Crucial Malaysian Documents, New Straits Times, 20 August 2020; Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan Rukun Negara Asas Perpaduan, bebasnews, 30 Ogos 2020. Presenter, “Webinar on Pemulihan Ekonomi Pasca COVID 19”, 13 June 2020; Online Research Camp for Academic and Policy Research, “Developing and Designing Policy Issue Papers” 11 August 2020 and “Tips and Strategies for Writing a Newspaper Op-ed”, 11 August 2020; Moderator, Webinar on “Kesan PKP Terhadap Kontrak Pekerjaan dan Perbankan di Malaysia”, 14 May 2020; Webinar with SS Datuk Wira Hj. Abdul Halim Tawil, Mufti Kerajaan Negeri Melaka, on “Norma Baharu Ramadan & Raya 2020”, 21 May 2020; Webinar on “The U.S. Racial Unrest: Muslims, Social Justice & Beyond”, 9 June 2020; Webinar on “Health Security & Public Participation Post COVID-19”, 17 June 2020; Forum on “Rukun Negara: Revisiting Its Role as Pillar of National”, IAIS Boardroom, 28 July 2020; Steering Committee and Moderator, Forum on “Kemerdekaan: Hubungan Agama & Ideologi Negara Di Nusantara”, JW Marriot Putrajaya, 27 August 2020. He was interviewed on Radio IKIM, Open Forum – Rukun Negara and Its Importance to Nation Building, 23 August 2020; and promoting Forum Kemerdekaan on TV Alhijrah, 25 August 2020.

Alexander Wain recently published an IAIS Bulletin article entitled ‘The Writing of Islamic History in Malaysia: Issues of Politicisation and Selectivity’; a chapter covering Southeast Asia in the Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology (Oxford University Press); and a translation of the Hikayat Raja Pasai’s conversion narrative (with commentary) for A Sourcebook for Pre-Modern Conversion to Islam (University of California Press). He has presented on the COVID-19 crisis for an online forum, Post-COVID-19: The Role of the Muslim World, organised by the OIC Study Group (Malaysia) and Cable News International (Bangladesh), and reprised his training session, ‘Constructing Quality Academic Papers: The “Oxford Style” of Writing,’ for the most recent IAIS Research Camp. Forthcoming publications include an IAIS Malaysia Occasional Paper entitled ‘The Rise of Islam in Southeast Asia’; a review of Syed Farid Alatas’s The Civilisational and Cultural Heritage of Iran and the Malay World for the ICR; an ICR article on the Undang-Undang Melaka; and a IAIS Bulletin article entitled ‘Western Individualism, Muslim Collectivity, and the Fight against COVID-19’. Alexander’s ongoing research projects include a monograph on the conversion of the Nusantara to Islam, to be published with a major academic publisher.

Mohammad Mahbubi Ali published four short articles, (1) Repayment Moratorium from Islamic perspective (IAIS Bulletin, March-April Issue 2020); (2) Impact of COVID-19 on the Islamic Banking Industry (IAIS Bulletin, May-June Issue 2020); (3) Repayment Moratorium in Malaysian Islamic banks (Islamic Finance News, 27th May 2020); and (4) COVID-19 and Moratorium: Their Impact on Islamic Banking Industry. I-FIRK Digest. Special Issue 3, 2020 (Special Issue 3 of I-FIKR Digest, 2020). Besides, he also published two journal articles entitled: (1) Determinants of Islamic Financial Inclusion in Indonesia: An ANP Approach (International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance Management (Scopus Q3). Vol. 13 No. 4, 2020. pp. 727-747); and (2) Survey on Shariah non-compliant events in Islamic banks in the practice of tawarruq financing in Malaysia (ISRA International Journal of Islamic Finance (Scopus Q4). Publication date: 31 July 2020). Additionally, he presented a paper, called ‘Overcoming Inflation and Unemployment Through Zakat: Revisiting the Tradeoff Theory’, at the 12th Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance, organised by Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (IZU) and IRTI IDB, 14-20 June 2020.

Ahmad Badri Abdullah published An Occasional Paper Series (OPS – Series 10) which he co-authored with Dr. Shahino Mah, Dr. Muhammad Adha, Muthanna Saari and Dr Muhamad Fakhrurrazi entitled ‘Preserving Human Dignity When Adopting RESEARCH, PUBLICATION AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATION 10 July - August 2020 11 Artificial Intelligence: An Islamic Perspective?’ in August 2020. He also published a policy brief entitled ‘Challenges Facing the Halal Vaccines’ and an op-ed entitled ‘Beware of unintended consequences when searching for solution’ for the News Straits Times. He submitted two Policy Issue Papers; entitled Restricting Early Marriage As Measure to Preserve Children Wellbeing’ and the final version of a PIP with the title: ‘‘Islamic Ethical Guide in Developing Artificial Intelligence Framework’. He also submitted an article for TAHFIM Journal (IKIM), with the title: ‘The Relation Of Halal Cosmetics Adoption Among Young Consumers In Klang Valley Selangor’ – co-authored with Dr. Nor Azaruddin Husni bin Nuruddin & Dr. Narizan binti Abdullah. He is also working on a blind peer-review of a book entitled: ‘Collective Ijtihād as a Mechanism of Rationalizing Fatwā’ for the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) publication.

Shahino Mah Abdullah's article on “The potential to increase self-control and intelligent through fasting” was published in the NST on 5 May 2020. He also contributed a viewpoint namely, “Social challenges in a human-robot relationship” in ICR June 2020. He also contributed articles for bulletin no. 56 and no. 57 namely, “The rights to privacy and protection of data from Artificial Intelligence: An Islamic perspective” and “COVID-19 and Post-lockdown impact to the nature (Part 1)”. In 12 August 2020, he delivered a presentation entitled, “Managing references using Endnote software in academic research,” in the IAIS Online Research Camp 2020. Currently, he is revising his reviewed PIP on “Islamic Ethical Guide to Develop Holistic Artificial Intelligence Framework”. Accordingly, he is preparing a Policy Brief namely, “Towards an Ethical and Holistic Artificial Intelligence Code and Framework”. For future work, he is now preparing a viewpoint on “Pandemic, post-lockdown, and the environmental impact” for ICR Vol.12 (December 2020) and two chapters in books of different topics on COVID-19 and ecological sustainability.

M. Fakhrurrazi’s article, ‘Memperihalkan Semula Percubaan Menteri Agama’, was published by Malaysiakini on 8 June 2020 and ‘Sistem Wakaf Perlu Sejajar Perubahan Zaman’ was published by Berita Harian on 7 September 2020. He also prepared a webinar report on ‘COVID-19 from the Perspectives of Islamic Theology and Spirituality’ for IAIS Bulletin. He moderated two sessions during the IAIS Online Research Camp for Academic and Policy Research (‘Tips and Strategies for Writing a Newspaper Op-Ed’ and ‘The Do’s and Don’ts of Legal Research’). He participated in the launch of Malaysian 15th National Economic Conference (PERKEM) and its webinar series on COVID-19: Challenges & Strategies for Reaching the Poor. He was a steering committee member of the Forum Kemerdekaan & Aspirasi Belia Negara 2020: Hubungan Agama dan Ideologi di Nusantara: Generasi Muda Pewaris Legasi Tanah Air, which was jointly organised by Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Office, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Pertubuhan LEGASI, Hadhari Global Network, Nahdlatul Ulama’ and GPMS. He produced a video on ‘Sambutan Kemerdekaan & Hari Malaysia 2020’ with IAIS TV and contributed articles for IAIS website. His ongoing research projects include book chapters on Islam and Ecological Sustainability and Islam and COVID-19: A Multidimensional Perspectives by IAIS Malaysia, and a book chapter on The Philosophy of Halal Life by Hadhari Global Network and Kyoto University.

Apnizan Abdullah had published a short article entitled, “Legal and Shariah Governance Framework for Islamic Financial Services in Luxembourg featured in IAIS Bulletin (May-June 2020 issue). She has completed two articles, namely “Sadaqah as a social finance instruments in Malaysia: Selected Proposed Models” and “Value-Based Intermediation (VBI): A maqasidi approach within Islamic banking and finance framework in Malaysia” to be featured in our journal. Apnizan has also finalised an article entitled, “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on The Commercial Contracts In Malaysia: A Legal Appraisal”. She is currently working to complete a policy issue paper on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Wan Naim Wan Mansor, with Prof Kamali and Dr Azam, recently published a Policy Issue Paper entitled “Death Penalty in Shariah and Contemporary Law: A Comparative Analysis”. He has two ongoing book projects as an editor and contributor, one in its final stages, which is “Maqasid Shariah in Public Policy and Governance”, and the other tentatively titled “Islam and COVID-19: A Multidimensional Perspective”. He has also written two reports, on “The US Racial Unrest: Muslims, Social Justice, and Beyond”, and “Rukun Negara: Revisiting Its Role as Pillars of National Unity”, both for the IAIS Bulletin. Also in the works are a Policy Issue Paper related to peaceful coexistence within the Malaysian context, and a journal article related to maqasid al-shariah and public policy. In general, Wan Naim’s ongoing research projects cover topics on Malaysian Political Islam, Shariah-oriented policies (Siyasah Shar’iyyah), and inter-faith engagements.

Sayuti Mansor has written two short articles entitled ‘A Religious Bureaucrat with Contemporary Underpinnings’ and ‘Pemandu Mabuk, Pengharaman Arak dan Limitasi Kebebasan Ruang Peribadi,’ published by New Strait Times and BebasNews respectively. He also helped Prof Kamali in doing preliminary research, collecting data and completing the final report for a research project under UN Peacemaker Mediation Support Unit entitled ‘Mediation and Peace-making by Religious Authorities and Organisations in the Muslim World.’ Currently, he is finalising his book chapter in IAIS’s Book Project Islam and COVID-19: A Multidimensional Perspective entitled ‘COVID-19 and the Need for Islamic Ethics.’