Thirty years since they began operating in Indonesia, the market share of Islamic banks is still small (6%). Additionally, their share of financing to the construction segment is only 7 percent of the industry’s total. It is imperative to identify why Islamic banks are trailing in this segment and to recommend how they may improve their position. The study aims to investigate the current practices and approaches of Islamic banks to finance infrastructure constructors and to propose musharakah as a financing solution. The study also aims to support Indonesia’s Islamic Economy Masterplan. The study, therefore, aims to accomplish three objectives: (1) to investigate the current practices and approaches of Islamic banks in Indonesia to finance construction companies, in particular infrastructure contractors; (2) to identify the reasons for the low share of financing from Islamic banks to infrastructure contractors; and (3) to determine the appropriateness of musharakah contract to fulfil the financing needs of infrastructure contractors. This study is qualitative in nature. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with key personnel of Islamic banks, infrastructure contractors, and an Islamic finance authority to answer the research questions. The study also used secondary data from annual reports, websites, and other relevant documents. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. For the first research objective, the study found that Islamic banks perceived contractors only as a component of the construction process. They have not set infrastructure contractors as their target segment. As a result, Islamic banks and infrastructure contractors have rarely been in a financier-customer relationship. This creates information asymmetry between both parties. For the second objective, the reasons for the low share of financing of Islamic banks to infrastructure contractors include changes in ownership and limited area of operations of some Islamic banks. Additionally, some banks follow the policies set by their parent banks, which do not focus on infrastructure contractors. Most Islamic banks also have not considered contractors as potential customers. For the third objective, it was concluded that musharakah is ready to be used to finance infrastructure contractors. Islamic banks must carry out proper marketing activities so that infrastructure contractors become more aware of the offerings of Islamic banks. The thesis contributes theoretical and practical knowledge concerning musharakah. It also contributes to the knowledge of infrastructure contractors of non-interest-based financing. The findings are expected to be useful for Islamic banks to gain new customers and increase market share. For construction companies, the findings inform them of non-usury financing alternatives.

Pawnbroking is the solution to the need of fund in short-term credit financing of the micro customers with no riba. Pawnbroking in Indonesia started operation early since the Dutch era, and operation with syariah principles since 2003 by PT.Pegadaian (Persero). Pawnbroking in Malaysia had been existed since sultan Malaka era, continued operation with Islamic principles since the 90th, when three pioneers started the operation of pajak gadai Islam, they are Maidam, Yapeim and Bank Rakyat. The research is qualitative, by observing tertiary data on the internet sites of Islamic banking and Islamic finance institutions in Indonesia and Malaysia. The research finds that not all banks provide Islamic pawnbroking. The figures of business operation in present period indicate decreasing in the operations of Islamic pawnbroking in Islamic bank and non-bank, in both countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Keywords: Indonesia, Malaysia, Islamic Pawnbroking, Rahn, Gadai

Financial planning and independence are commonly reserved for the middle- and upper-classes of the society. Islam recognizes several methods to alleviate the burden of the poor, mainly through financial assistances in the form of alms, endowments, and charity. Without financial literacy, however, the poor may not benefit from these supports effectively. Therefore, this paper proposes wealth management for the poor via a social business approach. This initiative could become an alternate solution to reduce poverty.

Pada awal Februari 2020, berita telah mengumumkan melalui seluruh saluran media bahawa sejenis virus baharu iaitu Coronavirus 2019 atau nama singkatannya iaitu COVID-19 telah ditemui dan tersebar di daerah Wuhan, China. Pada awalnya, virus ini dikenali dengan nama virus Wuhan iaitu dari tempat asal ianya merebak. Walaubagaimanapun sebulan kemudian, seorang pesakit telah ditemui di Indonesia iaitu di Depok dan dengan pantas telah merebak ke seluruh Jakarta. Tindakan awal telah diambil oleh gabenor Jakarta, dengan melaksanakan Perintah Kendali Pergerakan (PKP) di Jakarta bermula pada pertengahan Mac dan kemudian dilanjutkan kepada penangguhan aktiviti-aktiviti ekonomi hampir keseluruhan sektor di Indonesia., Namun begitu, hanya lima belas sektor yang dibenarkan beroperasi dan salah satunya adalah sektor pembinaan. Persoalannya bagaimanakah situasi pandemik COVID-19 ini telah mempengaruhi pembiayaan bank-bank Islam terhadap sektor pembinaan? Kajian ini akan menggunakan data sekunder daripada laporan sedia ada seperti statistik bank Indonesia dan laporan pembinaan industri bagi membantu membuat keputusan kepada pihak berkepentingan dalam menangani persoalan kajian.

Financing to the construction segment from Islamic banks in Indonesia for one decade had been always at a low level compared to loans from conventional banks. Infrastructure construction in Indonesia for one decade from 2010 to 2020 is predisposed by unordinary policies and conditions. In the year 2017, there had been a significant change in the infrastructure budget, by end of the decade in the year 2020, there was a pandemic happened that made some segments of business stopped, but not to the infrastructure construction sector and the banking sector. The number of contractors and the change of budget in the infrastructure construction segment had not yet followed by the opportunity for Islamic banks in financing the sector. The objective of the study is to discuss some aspects that relate to Islamic bank financing to the construction sector. The research using a qualitative method by observation on secondary data that are available publicly which are related to financing and infrastructure construction. The study revealed that it is not much different on the cost of financing from both Islamic and conventional banks, and the study exposed that there were higher on the level of nonperforming financing in construction segment of Islamic banking.

Construction has become a prominent research topic by many authors from different areas but not in the field of Islamic finance. In financing the infrastructure contractors, the banking industry might be faced with evaluating the overall infrastructure project or the capability of an infrastructure project themselves. Therefore, financing for the construction project or contractor is in a grey area. This paper aims to analyse the topic of study in academic articles authored by scholars about financing the infrastructure construction sector by Islamic banks, in particular infrastructure contractors. Many papers related to financing by Islamic banks discuss fiqh, law, and economic aspects. This is a systematic literature review and was conducted by screening three databases namely Scopus, Ebscohost, and ProQuest from 2001 to 2021. The search was initiated by using three combinations of keywords: Islamic banks, contractors, and infrastructure. The result found that there was a gap in the theoretical and practical knowledge of financing the contractors by Islamic banks. Many papers discuss construction financing using Islamic finance and banking for the full-phase construction segment rather than discussing the contractors.

Musharakah is an Islamic financing contract. This study analyzed articles on musharakah using bibliometrics and a literature review on articles from Indonesia and Malaysia. While bibliometric analysis of Islamic economics and finance has been previously conducted, it has not been carried out on musharakah in particular. The analysis began by using musharakah as the initial keyword and analyzing other keywords which are part of Islamic economics research from the specified databases. This study found that Indonesian and Malaysian scholars authored many articles on musharakah. Relatively less research on musharakah has been published in Scopus-indexed journals. The earliest articles on musharakah in Scopus-indexed journals were published in 1999. In the past 10 years, musharakah articles in Scopus-indexed journals were authored mainly by Malaysian and Indonesian academics.

Islamic banks play a pivotal role in providing financial support to various sectors, encompassing both retail and corporate clienteles. The robust expansion of Islamic banking in Indonesia has received substantial backing from the government, manifested in the formulation of Islamic bank roadmaps and the establishment of an Islamic economics masterplan. However, despite the government's emphasis on infrastructure sector development, there has been no significant upswing in financing allocation from Islamic banks, particularly to the contractor segment. This study recognizes that contractors operate with an operational concept akin to musharakah contracts and, therefore, suggests the implementation of musharakah contracts in financing for contractors. To substantiate this proposal, the research leverages observation data extracted from the annual reports of Islamic banks and conducts interviews with key stakeholders within these institutions. The findings of this study underscore the dominance of a single Islamic bank in financing the contractor segment. Interestingly, in previous years, before a merger, one of these Islamic banks also held a dominant position in this sector, while other Islamic banks did not demonstrate any strategic intent to finance this particular segment. This research makes a noteworthy contribution to existing knowledge by shedding light on information asymmetry within the Islamic banking sector and revealing that the construction segment is not a focal point for Islamic banks.