A Proposed Model for Social Impact Sukuk

Despite the fact that humanity has totally embraced the 21st century with its technological and innovation outcomes, poverty and social disparity still haunt most of the world’s leaders. This disturbing reality is also a major concern in Muslim countries. Although Shari’ah considers prosperity and the well-being of Muslims as one of its top priorities, most Muslim countries still suffer from high poverty rates and underdevelopment, which impede their prosperity and emergence as economic powers. This paper aims to propose concrete solutions for Islamic finance practitioners that combine both the profit-oriented feature of sukuk, risksharing principle and socioeconomic support to Muslim communities through a proposed Social Impact Sukuk model. The proposed structure is mainly based on the partnership contract (mudarabah), which is considered a cornerstone of Islamic finance. The structure involves a partnership between a Non-Government Organization (NGO) (mudarib) and the investors (rabb al-mal) where the State could be considered as a guarantor. Ultimately, the burden on the State will be optimized through a bilateral partnership between an NGO and private investors.