Viability and Legality of Muslims Offering Products or Services Exclusively for Muslims

Abstract

The debate on ‘Muslim-Only Laundrette’ in Johor, a state at southern Peninsular Malaysia has sparked outrageous responses from various levels of the society. Given the fact that there is scant literature to address this issue, by adopting the qualitative approach, this article aims to explore the issue, from a business perspective about where Muslim products and services stand in Malaysia and the legal aspects of offering goods and services exclusively from Muslims for Muslims. The right to segmentise customers based on religious grounds is critically analysed. This article discusses the governance of Muslim businesses, the issue of discrimination of goods and services in comparison with the position in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia. The possibility of mediation services in response to the national call for social harmony is also explored. This article concludes that detailed guidelines to differentiate discriminatory acts from adherence to religious duties should be given to service providers to avoid interreligious misunderstanding. The article further suggests that one of the possible marketing strategies to avoid discrimination claims could be to take a more moderate stand in marketing services such as ‘clean, friendly services' and the like apart from marketing to the Muslim audience through targeted marketing channels, such as Muslim media, local publications in Muslim majority countries, as well as targeted advertisement campaigns.