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This paper aims to investigate the effect of Islamic microfinance on poor households through the case of the IKSAR Qard al-Hasan Program in Turkey. To achieve this aim, it examined the changes in the socio-economic status of beneficiaries before and after the program.

This paper adopts the convergent parallel mixed method design. It conducted two surveys to micro-entrepreneurs: the first is when they received the loan and the second is when they finished their installments. In addition to the longitudinal data obtained from these two surveys, qualitative data were collected by participant observation and interview technique with visiting these people periodically throughout the interest-free loan (qard al-hasan).

According to the results obtained from the analysis of the pre- and post-surveys, a statistically significant increase of 35% was experienced in the monthly household income after receiving the qard al-hasan loan compared to before. Similarly, a statistically significant increase was found in the monthly expenditures of 23 out of 30 households after receiving the qard al-hasan.

There are two originalities of this study. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first research that examines the only Islamic microfinance program in Turkey. Second, it uses longitudinal data while examining the impact of Islamic microfinance on the welfare of the poor. In the relevant literature, no study has been identified that uses longitudinal data in Islamic microfinance. Similarly, a limited number of longitudinal studies examine the impact of conventional microfinance institutions on the poor.

This paper aims to study the co-movement dynamics of Islamic equity returns to explain international portfolio diversification opportunities for investors having a heterogeneous stock holding period in light of Brexit.

The authors use the following three recent methodologies: the multivariate generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic-dynamic conditional correlations, continuous wavelet transforms and maximum overlap discrete wavelet transform. Dow Jones Islamic country-based indexes are used from 2 September 2013 to 31 December 2019.

There is a high correlation between the United Kingdom (UK) Islamic stock market return with the Canadian, USA, Malaysian and Indian implying lesser diversification benefits for the investors. However, the results tend to indicate that UK Islamic stock market investors who have allocated their investment in Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Japan and Turkey have enjoyed diversification benefits. Besides, there is a declining correlation between UK Islamic stock markets and other selected markets aftermath of Brexit. Turkey seems the most volatile stock over the period, appealing to risk-lover investors to gain from price changes. When the shock occurs in the financial sector, the volatility is mean-reverting faster than other markets in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Malaysia appears to have the least volatility implying a stable financial sector.

The results tend to shed light on effective portfolio diversification benefits in light of the recent shock (Brexit) between the UK Islamic stock index and other selected indexes that vary from country to country depending on investment horizons. This critically confirms the significance of heterogeneity in investment horizons and provides significant inferences for portfolio diversification strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study investigating the Brexit effect on Islamic stocks, guiding Shariah sensitive investors in their diversification strategies, providing information to investors to consider the implications of this incident on Islamic stocks for future shocks.

The purpose of this paper is to indicate the current state of studies on Islamic finance and management through a bibliometric analysis of the only social science citation index (SSCI)-indexed journal in this field.

The paper uses a bibliometric analysis, collecting data from the 319 papers published in the International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management (IMEFM) from 2008 to 2019. Moreover, VOSviewer software has been used to illustrate the citation analysis (including most cited papers, most cited authors and authors’ affiliated institutions and countries) and the keyword map.

The number of papers published in each issue of the IMEFM is found to have significantly increased owing to its unique situation being the only SSCI-indexed journal in this domain. The share of the empirical researches in total papers published annually has steadily risen, reaching 95% in 2019. In terms of case countries, although Malaysia is the most examined country in the papers, other countries such as Indonesia and Turkey are found to have been used as a case country by researchers recently. Islamic banking-related papers are the most prevalent studies, as expected, with mainly their performance being examined. Meanwhile, the number of papers about Islamic social financial institutions has notably grown in recent years. Finally, technology-based initiatives such as crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies are noted to have not yet been the subject of any paper.

The main contribution of this study is its analysis of the only SSCI-indexed journal on Islamic finance and management using bibliometrics. Also, all the papers published in the journal have been reviewed in terms of methodology, case country/country groups and topics/subtopics to lead the way for future research.

The trust in participation banks depends largely on authentic dependence on Sharia, legal financial instruments and fair yet transparent distribution among account owners and banks. Taking into account the economic Islamic principles and those of mudarabah agreement, this study aims to identify problematic areas pertaining to profit sharing in addition to revealing opportunities leading to the improvement of the profit distribution system while developing a new profit distribution system proposal.

This study proposes two hypotheses (H). H1: There are partial deviations between the profit considered to be legal according to the economic principles of Islam and the practice of participation banking. H2: There are partial deviations or loss of right in practice between the mudarabah contract concluded among owners of participation account and participation banks. In-depth interview technique and review of the literature including legislation were used to determine the parameters affecting the distributed profit. The collected data was tested through comparison with the theoretical framework of the mudarabah contract.

There are two separate fund pools used in participation banks, including equity and participation accounts. Managers’ selection of pools set according to their personal goals related to balance sheet profit management may cause profit to pass between participation accounts and equity. Many issues negatively affect the distributed profits. For example, incomes from funding commissions, reserve requirements and idle funds, although they originate from participation accounts, are recorded in the bank’s income. In addition, the bank does not return the profit initially recorded in its own account to participation pools, whether or not profit.

The interviewed officials were cautious to avoid a negative perception of the sector. This made it difficult to determine the real situation of applications decided with initiative in profit distribution. Although the authorization documents have partially been published, it is still difficult to access most licensed documents. There is no independent audit report made considering the interest-free banking principles regarding the profit distribution system of participation banking. The scarcity of the literature on the subject is another limitation. The research does not cause any harm to the reputation of participation banks.

Adopting a single-pool system in line with the global practices will end the shift of right between pools while ensuring a fair and transparent system. In this system, the bank equities, other shareholders’ funds and participation accounts are collected and operated in a single pool. The pool profit and loss are distributed as per the shares in the pool. The profit per each participation account is distributed based on the share of each participation account in the pool and profit-sharing ratio.

Participation banking is expected to support the real economy by means of production, leasing, merchandising based on certain religious, ethical and contractual principles. Bringing funds of conservatives, that does not go to conventional banks for avoiding of interest, in the economy is expected to provide new sources to reduce the foreign dependency for the economy and to supply a financial alternative for the conservatives who stay away from interest-based economic activities. However, if this will represent an alternative to debt-based systems, then products, contracts, business processes and legislations driven according to interest-free banking principles should be developed.

This study introduces and analyzes a new proposal of the profit distribution system of participation banking. A similar methodology is used in interest-free banking on a global scale, especially in Malaysia, and is compatible with the profit distribution decisions in AAOIFI’s depositor accounts. However, this methodology is considered to be new as far as participation banking is concerned. The implementation of this new methodology will eliminate several problems identified in the profit distribution system of participation banks. This research provides an academic contribution to the participation banking profit distribution system and represents a reference material on the subject.