Participatory financing schemes, including Musharakah and Mudarabah, are theoretically claimed to be the ideal modes of Islamic financing, but their practice is restrained by several factors. That is why Islamic banks have a consistent tendency to avoid participatory financing on the assets side throughout the world. However, recently this trend has started changing in Pakistan and Indonesia where the share of participatory finance has raised significantly in the financing portfolio of Islamic banks. The present paper explores this recent spur of participatory finance in Pakistan in terms of its domains of applications and the responsible factors. The findings lead to a novel posteriori framework which shows that the shift towards participatory financing is primarily characterized by increase in working capital financing and commodity operations financing through Musharakah mode Islamic banks. Moreover, five factors contribute to the spur of participatory financing including: (i) introducing varieties in Musharakah, (ii) enhanced applicability, (iii) high volume projects, (iv) government interventions, and (v) regulator’s role. The framework can significantly advance understanding with respect to the implementation theory of participation financing within Islamic banking and related Shariah compliance and regulation.

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The extant literature describes and justifies stakeholders' wellbeing as the essence of Islamic Banking and Finance (IBF). This infers the compulsion on Islamic banks to devise their operations based on inclusive wellbeing, and a greater perspective from the Maqasid al Shariah framework, and not merely converging on the compliance rulings. This paper presents a review and analysis of the present literature on Maqasid al Shariah and Stakeholders' wellbeing and synthesizes a framework for gauging the theoretical association between the classical Maqasid al Shariah and Stakeholders' wellbeing. The proposed framework can be used as a dependable framework for policy implication and future research in IBF. Moreover, concentrations of research efforts are identified from the present review and directions for future research are proposed.

Purpose This study aims to describe the role of knowledge diffusion in evolving governance principles for Islamic banking. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a discursive theoretical debate using the discourse analysis method on the Sharīʿah principles related to interest (Riba), excessive uncertainty (Gharrar) and profit and loss sharing and their convergence with the conventional banking principles of profitability, solvency and liquidity. Findings The study proposes a novel framework that describes how knowledge diffusion bridge-up the Sharīʿah and banking principles in terms of integration of banking principles by Sharīʿah scholars, integration of Sharīʿah principles by managers and the resultant, emergent principles for the governance of Islamic banking. Practical implications The proposed framework can inform professionals on how knowledge of banking practices and Sharīʿah can help them in governing Islamic banking. The Board of Directors may adopt a holistic approach for encouraging enhanced interactions between Sharīʿah scholars and managers. Such interaction may be increasing harmony, reducing conflicts and better coordination resulting in Sharīʿah-compliant and market wise viable products and services, thus increasing banking profitability. Originality/value This is the first study, which acknowledges and illustrates the role of the knowledge diffusion process in evolving governance principles for Islamic banks. This paper contributes to the theory of corporate governance by using the knowledge, aptitude and practice theory lens to examine conceptually how Islamic banking governance principles emerged through the knowledge diffusion process.

The participatory modes of Islamic financing including Musharakah and Mudarabah are widely accepted as the ideal modes of financing among the jurists of Islamic banking and finance. However, paradoxically, these are not the most popular modes of financing in practice. The practice of the participatory financing in Islamic banking is constrained by several factors. Therefore, Islamic banks are applying the adapted variants of Musharakah. The present study aims to explore the prevailing variants of participatory financing in the Islamic banking industry of Pakistan using multiple case studies strategy. Findings suggest that Islamic banks adapt the participatory financing to make these fit for SME financing, corporate financing, consumer financing, and commodity operations financing within the embedded contractual variants of Musharakah namely diminishing Musharakah and running Musharakah, while pure Musharakah and Mudarabah are not applied in practice. The study also provides insights into the design of participatory financing arrangements and the procedures adopted by Islamic banks for assessing and mitigating the underlying risks associated to the participatory financing, particularly the risk induced by asymmetric information including adverse selection, and moral hazards.