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This paper aims to propose an Islamic compliant approach that deals with the prepayment rebate on debts resulting from cost-plus sales and their accompanied sale-based financing contracts. The proposed approach uses the time value of money concept without charging excessive fees from the debtor in the early settlement of debts.

The paper uses a qualitative analysis via analyzing and reviewing relevant literature. A quantitative analysis is subsequently used with a proposed computation that addresses prepayment rebate accompanied by debts resulting from cost-plus sales.

The proposed approach results in a rebate amount for the debtor greater than those rebate amounts resulting from either conventional finance techniques or current Islamic finance practices.

The application of the descending rebate proposed computation in this paper is restricted to cost-plus sale and their accompanied sale-based financing contracts only. The computation does not address any agreement or deal that may involve a rebate without a selling transaction.

The paper criticizes the prevailing practices for computing rebates in the case of debt prepayment, whether those nominated by conventional finance or others currently employed by most Islamic financial institutions. The paper also introduces a new rebate computation aimed to comply with Islamic finance's real context.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on various modes of Islamic finance and examines their risk and other characteristics by conducting a selective literature review.

Due to the Islamic prohibition of interest and in compliance with injunctions on permissible trade contracts, the savings and investment contracts offered by Islamic banks have a different risk profile than those of conventional banks. This gives rise to a number of regulatory issues pertaining to capital adequacy and liquidity requirements. Operational issues also arise as Islamic banks are limited in their choice of risk and liquidity management tools such as derivatives, options and bonds. All these issues are theoretically examined and various performance indicators of two Islamic banks are also examined to compare them with traditional banks that practice mark up pricing.

The balance sheets and various performance indicators show that there is evidence that Islamic banks in Pakistan tend to engage in little long‐term project financing. However, on the plus side these banks have shown good performance with respect to the returns on their assets and equity and have also demonstrated better risk management and maintained adequate liquidity.

A larger set of banks across various countries needs to be examined before any substantive conclusions can be reached about the relative performance of Islamic versus conventional banks.

These largely pertain to central bank prudential regulations which must ensure that a level playing field is created for Islamic banks to compete with traditional banks.

The paper is a commentary on the risk characteristics of Islamic banks and also analyzes for the first time the performance of the only two purely Islamic banks currently operating in Pakistan.

The objective of the chapter is to discuss the role of wa’d (promise) to mitigate risk in different Islamic banking products. The chapter will illustrate the element of wa’d in different Islamic banking products in Malaysia.

The study has adopted the document review method to get information on different banking products. Moreover, it conducted semi-structured interviews with bankers to get in-depth information.

The study finds out that wa’d plays a vital role in structuring several products including retail products, trade financing products, and treasury products. Along with the unilateral wa’d there is a usage of double wa’d (wa’dan) in some product structures. In most of the products, wa’d is included as a risk mitigation instrument along with other major underlying Shari’ah contracts. Some Shari’ah issues are involved with these products namely the Shari’ah rulings related to wa’dan, “form over substance,” etc.

This is an in-depth field study which adds new knowledge on wa’d-based products. The experience of Malaysia might be a lesson for other countries to minimize risk in their Islamic banking products.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a comparative study of financing small and cottage industries (SCIs) by interest‐free banks in different countries like Turkey, Cyprus, Sudan and Bangladesh.

The objectives are achieved by analyzing data based on an “institutional network” theoretical frame of references. The methodological approach used in the research is of a qualitative nature.

The research result shows that the lender–borrower network relationship, especially in case of financing rural‐based SCIs by interest‐free banks, differ from one country to the other even though the basic principles of interest‐free financing remains the same.

The ideas of interest‐free financing system (IFS) and its specific mode of lending funds towards rural‐based SCIs. The research is useful to both financing organizations based on interest‐free principles also small and cottage industry owners in developing as well as developed nations, where the Shariah‐based IFS is working.

The purpose of this paper is to find out the existing practices of the Islamic banks in providing financing to the customers who have a requirement to purchase a finished property and to examine the existing products used by the Islamic banks in this regard by providing an insight into the modus operandi of these products. In doing this, attempt is made to find out the most famous product offered by the Islamic banks in this regard and to find out whether in reality, Malaysian Islamic banking industry has moved away from Bai Bithaman Ajil (BBA) or not.

This is a qualitative research, largely library-based, and it will consist of secondary sources such as books, journals, articles and other sources related to the Islamic house financing in Malaysia for finished properties. Recent information of the practises of the banks in this regard is obtained from the official websites of the banks.

It is found from this study that majority of Islamic Banks in Malaysia prefer to use the Commodity Murabahah facility for finished property. This finding contradicts with the observations made by some scholars who state that in Malaysia, BBA was initially used, and nowadays, the use of Musharakah Mutanaqisah is more common. The reason why Commodity Murbahah has gained popularity is because of the fact that via the Bursa Suq Al Sila platform, it is easy, swift, reliable, profitable, cheaper, convenient and has zero risk to do this type of transaction at the comfort of the office. It is recommended in this paper to use Musharakah Mutanaqisah, as this contract is an innovative contract that is classified as an equity contract under shariah where risk is shared between the parties. There is need to conduct further research to implement Musharakah Mutanaqisah in Malaysia, specifically to reduce the risk that Islamic Banks will bear by practicing this contract.

The findings of this paper might create confusion among readers, as some may perceive that the finding of the paper is not new as BBA has been dominating Islamic house financing industry from the inception of Islamic banking in the country, and BBA and Murabahah are similar in nature, and as such, commodity Murabahah is also a Murabahah transaction. The reality that needs to be understood is that the way BBA was or is practised in Malaysia in relation to Islamic house financing is that in the name of BBA, the transaction actually followed the Bai’ ‘inah contract, which is a controversial contract among the shariah scholars. Likewise, commodity Murabahah is also a different contract than Murabahah, as it actually refers to tawarruq. As such, this research finding is important to the Islamic banking industry to understand that Malaysia has moved away from the Bai’ ‘inah contract practised in the name of BBA in Islamic house financing, and there are new products introduced by the Islamic banks in Malaysia to replace this practice which were criticised by Shariah scholars.

Points out that the small and cottage industry (SCI) sector is often neglected despite its potential for contributing to economic development, especially in the third world; and reports an investigation of the use of the Bai‐Muajjal (BM) method of financing in the Bangladesh SCI sector. Explains the theoretical basis and methodology of the study, the possible sources of funds for SCI owners, the particular characteristics of Islamic banks and the fund investment methods they offer. Describes the BM lending activities of one such bank with 40 “grass root level” SCIs (poultry farming and handloom industry), which require borrowers to create groups, undergo monitoring and open savings accounts; and assesses their effects on SCI owners’ saving habits and the mobilization of savings towards productive ends. Identifies many social and economic advantages in the BM system and welcomes it as a way to channel savings productively and reduce poverty.

The aim of writing this paper is to demonstrate how societal sector institutions influence the lender‐borrower network relationships.

The objectives are achieved by analyzing data based on an “Institutional Network” theoretical frame of references. The methodological approach used in the research is of a qualitative nature.

The research result shows that the societal sector institutions, like country culture, religion, political system, legal system, government, and family/clan, have direct and indirect impact on the lender‐borrower network relationship, especially in the case of financing rural‐based small and cottage industries by interest‐free banks.

The ideas of an interest‐free banking system and its financing towards rural‐based small and cottage industries. The research is useful both to financing organizations based on interest free principles and also to small and cottage industry owners in developing as well as developed nations, where this specific financing system is working.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the appropriateness of faith‐based model (FBM) as a veritable policy response to the issue of poverty alleviation and actualisation of the millennium development goals (MDGs) in Nigeria.

The paper combined qualitative and quantitative date to validate the appropriateness of FBM, to tackling poverty issues in Nigeria. The first section presents a brief introduction on poverty issue in Nigeria. The second section outlines the theoretical and methological approaches adopted in the paper. The third section casts a cursory look at the conceptualisation of poverty in the literature. The fourth section explores poverty‐eradication efforts in Nigeria. The fifth section highlights the failure of previous poverty reduction strategies (PRS) in Nigeria. The sixth section presents a background to MDGs. The seventh section show‐cases application of Islamic economics models (faith‐based model and business system model (BSM)) to MDGs. The eighth section is devoted to data projections, analysis and interpretation. The final section concludes with policy prescriptions.

On the basis of projection which is hinged on Shari'ah assumptions (minimum zakatable wealth and 2.5 per cent Zakat rate), the paper shows that Zakat and Sadaqat collections from year 2009 to 2015 would amount to N357,038 billions and N31 billion, respectively. These funds would go a long way in helping to alleviate poverty and actualisation of MDGs in Nigeria.

The faith‐based poverty reduction strategy enriched by BSM as conceptualised in this study can be used to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1), achieve universal primary education (MDG 2), promote gender equality and empower women (MDG 3), reduce child mortality (MDG 4), improve maternal health (MDG 5), combat, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDGs 6), ensure environmental sustainability (MDG 7) and develop a global partnership for development (MDG 8).

The results of this paper support the Islamic economics view that Zakat and Sadaqat are viable fiscal mechanisms for poverty alleviation where adopted. The FBM as conceptualised in this paper would therefore complement and pose a positive challenge to contemporary PRS in use in many poverty‐ridden nations where economic indicators have justified prevalence of poverty, despite the various PRS put in place by policy makers.

Islamic microfinance institutions (IsMFIs) have used diverse models and tools, as they seek to provide financial and non-financial support to the farming communities. A majortity of IsMFIs focus on provision of micro-credit to farmers alone as a means to enhance food security, following an approach similar to that of the conventional microfinance institutions. Others adopt a “finance-plus” approach and provide support in a multitude of areas other than finance, such as, technology, production, marketing, business development, capacity building, and thus, ultimately steering the project to success. The purpose of this paper is to examine the models and tools of Islamic agricultural finance for the rural poor that display major variations and draw lessons from a policy perspective.

The study undertakes a comprehensive review of the principles, modes and models of Islamic agricultural finance targeted at small-holder farmers. It uses a case study method to review several winning initiatives by IsMFIs across the globe. It highlights the various risks and challenges confronting the projects and how the same are sought to be mitigated.

Islamic agricultural finance for the rural poor involves a range of modes, mechanisms and institutional structures. Credit-based and sharing-based modes work well under specific conditions and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for financing the rural poor. Case studies of successful initiatives reveal that composite models involving the integration of philanthropy-based, not-for-profit as well as for-profit components may provide ideal solutions. Additional factors critical for success include provision of safety nets, involvement of community, non-financial support in a multitude of areas other than finance, such as, technology, procurement, production, marketing, business development and institutional capacity building.

The paper addresses a fundamental issue in financing the poor farmers in Muslim societies – whether to opt for a credit-based approach that would ensure greater outreach or to go for a holistic intervention involving financing of the entire value chain. The findings are based on personal interaction of the author with professionals directly involved in the projects.