The paper goes on to review the guiding principles of best practice microfinance and gives examples of how Islamic banking and microfinance share common aims, such as the disbursement of collateral-free loans in certain instances and character-based lending. Three basic instruments of Islamic finance are examined for their potential for inclusion in a successful microfinance programme, i.e. mudaraba (trustee financing), musharaka (equity participation) and murabaha (cost plus markup).

The authors conclude that these techniques could, if used, give thousands of entrepreneurial poor access to microfinance but that more experimentation and practice in the field is needed.