Islamic Microfinance: Landscape, Models and Future Prospects

Islamic microfinance is one of the most important sectors of Islamic social finance, which plays a very important role in curbing poverty and improving the standard of living, per capita income, employment level as well as achieving Maqasid al-Shariah, profitability and sustainability. This role of Islamic microfinance has become more crucial in the pandemic period. It has been clearly witnessed in developing countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, how Islamic microfinance institutions helped deprived and affected communities during the pandemic. Another important development during the pandemic was the introduction of blended models of Islamic microfinance such as waqf-based Islamic microfinance, a zakat-based model and the combination of Islamic commercial and social finance. Islamic microfinance institutions also aim to harness the power of digitalization and fintech, but they need to consider the necessary success factors to realize and gain the real benefits of technology. There are some major challenges related to regulations, management issues, lack of skilled human resources, a wide digital divide and low level of financial literacy in developing countries. These challenges need to be addressed to ensure stability, steady growth and sustainability in the sector.

This book is a compendium on Islamic microfinance, including case studies from seven jurisdictions and prospects for the sector. The book will be a major contribution to the literature of Islamic economics and finance and a guide of equal importance for students, academics, institutions, regulators, fintechs, policy makers and the general public.

Hussain Qadri is the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors of Minhaj University Lahore (MUL), Pakistan and Professor in the School of Economics and Finance at MUL. He has been affiliated with the University of Melbourne in Australia as Senior Research Fellow. He is also chairman of Al-Mawakhat Islamic Microfinance limited. Dr. Qadri is the author of fifty books and his 3 recent books published by Routledge UK’s Islamic Business and Finance series; he has more than seventy research articles to his credit which appeared in reputed international journals. His areas of interest are the history of economic ideologies, digital solutions for Islamic social finance, political economy, global trade, and economics of natural resources, Islamic economics, Islamic banking, interfaith tolerance, extremism elimination, management and philosophy.

Hassnian Ali is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, HBKU, Doha, Qatar. He possesses an MA in Islamic Banking and Finance by Research from UNISSA, Brunei Darussalam, and holds the position of Assistant Director of Research at the International Center for Research in Islamic Economics (ICRIE) at Minhaj University in Lahore, Pakistan. He is also a member of the Shariah advisory committee of Al-Mawakhat Islamic Microfinance. He is one of the pioneer researchers and authors in the area of Islamic Fintech, Islamic social finance and Islamic banking. He has presented numerous research papers on Fintech with the combination of Islamic finance at international workshops and conferences. He is the co-author of a ground breaking book "Fintech, Blockchain and Islamic Finance: Building the Future in the New Islamic Digital Economy". Hassnian is an upcoming scholar who will play a crucial role in the Fintech and digital finance industry in the years ahead.