ISLAMIC SOCIAL FINANCE ECOSYSTEM AND THE ROLE OF CROWDFUNDING: A PROPOSED MODEL

Abstract

Social finance is a naïve concept in the mainstream of social entrepreneurial and finance literature. Particularly, in Islamic finance environment it could not attract significant attention from the researchers, academicians, and practitioners. Though, some studies have discussed the tools of Islamic social finance, however, the focus on developing a practicable conceptual framework remained least attentive in recent studies. This study aims to fill this gap and attract the attention of all stakeholders to augment the Islamic Social finance theory and provide grounds for practitioners and academicians to implement technological tools to enhance its social impact. This study uses a qualitative library research approach to develop the spectrum of Islamic social finance and identify the issues faced by the key players within the spectrum. Likewise, technological advancement in the form of crowdfunding is exclusively proposed for the Islamic social finance spectrum in order to overcome all related issues and meet the objectives of SharÊ‘ah i.e., MaqÉÎid al SharÊ‘ah which are embedded in its CSR values. This study is envisioned to open the doors of debate for academicians to further enhance the general theory of Islamic Social finance. Moreover, this study also expects to pave the way for practitioners to further improve the suggested model through blockchain technology.

Keywords

• zakat
• waqf
• sadaqah
• Islamic social finance
• crowdfunding