Editing Islamic banking and finance (section)

====Microfinance====
[[Microfinance]] seeks to help the poor and spur economic development by providing small loans to entrepreneurs too small and poor to interest non-microfinance banks. Its strategy meshes with the "guiding principles" or objectives of Islamic finance, and with the needs of Muslim-majority countries where a large fraction of the world's poor live,{{#tag:ref|("Half of global poverty reside in Muslim world ..."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alhudacibe.com/imhd/news22.php|title=Islamic Microfinance A Real Hope for Poor|access-date=18 January 2018|archive-date=15 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115130250/http://www.alhudacibe.com/imhd/news22.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>|group=Note}} many of them small entrepreneurs in need of capital, and most unwilling or unable to use formal financial services.<ref name="Honohon-2007">Honohon, Patrick. 2007. "Cross-Country Variations in Household Access to Financial Services." Presented at the World Bank Conference on Access to Finance, Washington, D.C., 15 March., p.1</ref>

According to the Islamic Microfinance Network website (as of {{circa|2013}}),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imfn.org/|title=Islamic Microfinance News |work=imfn.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Khan|2013|p=301}} there are more than 300 Islamic microfinance institutions in 32 countries,<ref name="AHCIBE">{{cite web|last1=Mughal|first1=Muhammad Zubair|title=Funding Sources for Islamic Microfinance Institutions |url=http://www.alhudacibe.com/imhd/news43.php|website=alhudacibe.com|publisher=AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking & Economics|access-date=6 August 2015|archive-date=2 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102064100/http://www.alhudacibe.com/imhd/news43.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> The products used in Islamic microfinance may include some of those mentioned above – ''qard al hassan'', ''musharaka'', ''mudaraba'', ''salam'', and others.<ref name="microworld.org">{{cite web|title=What is islamic Microfinance ?|url=https://www.microworld.org/en/news-from-the-field/article/what-islamic-microfinance|website=microworld.org|access-date=7 September 2017|date=17 April 2013|archive-date=14 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914035646/https://www.microworld.org/en/news-from-the-field/article/what-islamic-microfinance|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A number of studies<ref name="NKIM2008:1">[[#NKIM2008|Karim, "Islamic microfinance", 2008]]: p.1</ref><ref name=Dar_2012:184/>{{sfn|Khan|2013|p=301}} have found "very few examples" of microfinance institutions "operating in the field of Islamic finance" and few Islamic banks "involved in microfinance".<ref name="Segrado-2005-4">{{cite book|last1=Segrado|first1=Chiara|title=Case study "Islamic microfinance and socially responsible investments"|date=August 2005|publisher=MEDA PROJECT. Microfinance at the University. University of Torino|page=4}}</ref> 
One 2012 report<ref name="Dar_2012:184">Dar, Humayon A. Rizwan Rahman, Rizwan Malik and Asim Anwar Kamal, ed. 2012. Global Islamic finance report 2012. London: Edbiz Consulting.</ref> found that Islamic microfinance made up less than 1 per cent of the global microfinance outreach, "despite the fact that almost half of the clients of microfinance live in Muslim countries and the demand for Islamic microfinance is very strong."{{sfn|Khan|2013|p=301}}