Fiqh Muamalah Amid the Digital Economy Tide
Imagine a small trader in a Central Java town who once could only sell at the local market, now able to reach buyers from Sabang to Merauke via the smartphone in their hand. At almost the same time, a housewife in the same town faces terror from illegal loan app debt collectors charging interest many times the reasonable limit. These are the two faces of the digital economy facing the nation: one side opens the door to prosperity, the other conceals a trap that brings misery.
Digital transformation has fundamentally altered the face of the Indonesian economy. Transactions that once required face-to-face meetings have shifted to e-commerce, digital wallets, paylater services, and even crypto assets. Ease of access, time efficiency, and broad market reach have made the digital economy grow rapidly, becoming the lifeblood of contemporary economic life. For MSMEs, this is a great leap; geographical boundaries that once limited markets are now almost meaningless. Yet behind this convenience, new problems emerge that demand scrutiny from the perspective of fiqh muamalah—the branch of Islamic law governing economic and social interactions.
Fiqh muamalah rests on the principle of al-ashlu fil mu’amalat al-ibahah—essentially, all transactions are permissible unless they violate Sharia rules. This principle is inherently open and progressive; Islam does not close the door to innovation. However, this openness is not without limits. A transaction becomes forbidden when it contains riba (unjust additional charges on debt), gharar (harmful uncertainty), maysir (gambling-like speculation), or other forms of injustice that harm one party. This principle should serve as the compass for evaluating every financial innovation emerging today.
Paylater services are among the most rapidly adopted products in Indonesia. Their convenience is tempting: buy now, pay later. However, many of these services impose interest or additional fees determined at the outset of the transaction. In the study of fiqh muamalah, such predetermined additional charges on debt fall into the category of prohibited riba. Regulators are increasingly wary of this phenomenon. The Financial Services Authority (OJK) is even preparing to restrict multi-account ownership for paylater services like ShopeePayLater and GoPayLater, a signal that the risk of accumulative consumer debt from these services has become a serious concern for authorities.
If legal paylater services still operate within a regulatory corridor, illegal online loans operate entirely outside the law—and this is where exploitation is most naked. Data from the Task Force for the Eradication of Illegal Financial Activities (Satgas PASTI) recorded that throughout 2025, 2,263 illegal loan entities were shut down, with total public losses from digital financial fraud reaching approximately Rp8.2 trillion. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, Satgas PASTI again halted 951 illegal loan and fraudulent investment entities. The scale of reporting is equally staggering: from late 2024 to March 2026, the Indonesia Anti-Scam Centre received over 515,000 public reports, with hundreds of billions of rupiah in victims’ funds successfully blocked.
The methods used are increasingly sophisticated—ranging from disguising themselves as official cooperatives, sending unsolicited private message offers, to hacking contact lists and photo galleries for intimidation during debt collection. The interest charged often far exceeds the reasonable limits set by regulators, which according to OJK provisions is around 0.1% per day. Ironically, some perpetrators charge effective interest rates of hundreds of percent per year. In the view of fiqh muamalah, such practices are not merely riba, but a clear form of exploitation that contradicts the principle of justice (al-’adl), which is the very soul of all Islamic muamalah teachings.
Other issues arise in e-commerce transactions, where consumers often receive goods that do not match the description, photos, or promised quality. This kind of uncertainty has the potential to introduce the element of gharar into the sale and purchase contract. Although many platforms now provide consumer protection systems and return mechanisms, honesty and transparency remain non-negotiable foundations in muamalah.
Crypto assets are also not free from lengthy debate. Some view them as a legitimate modern financial innovation, while others highlight the extreme price fluctuations and speculative activities within them that potentially contain elements of maysir and gharar. This debate reflects how contemporary fiqh muamalah must continuously grapple with new objects born from financial technology innovation.
Amidst these various challenges, there is also encouraging progress. The OJK recorded that Islamic banking financing grew 9.82% year-on-year as of March 2026, reaching Rp716.40 trillion—a growth rate higher than the national banking industry average. Islamic banks’ third-party funds also grew 11.14%, while their financing quality remained sound with a relatively low non-performing financing ratio. This data shows that the Islamic economy is not merely a normative discourse, but a growing and resilient real sector—an important asset for efforts to present a more equitable digital financial alternative.
The application of fiqh muamalah in the digital economy faces three structural challenges. First, the speed of innovation.