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This study examined the impact of digital finance on SME financial inclusion in Africa.

The study obtained data from the International Monetary Fund's Financial Access Survey and World Development Indicators covering the period from 2011 to 2022. Heteroskedastic panels corrected standard errors (HPCSE) and feasible generalized least squares regressions were employed in the analysis.

The findings indicate that digital finance (volume and intensity) significantly improves SME financial inclusion in Africa.

Due to the paucity of data, the study covered only 17 African countries over 12 years (2011–2022).

The findings imply the need for African central banks and other relevant regulatory bodies to establish effective regulations mandating Deposit Money Banks and other financial institutions to operate agent banking. This would facilitate access to financial services for SME owners. Such measures could financially include more unbanked SME owners, especially those in rural areas. Moreover, these initiatives must be strongly supported by introducing user-friendly digital financial technologies and registering more financial technology (fintech) companies.

Implementing necessary measures to enhance access to digital financial services for SMEs in Africa is likely to reduce unemployment and poverty and contribute to the economic growth and development of the region.

This study provides empirical evidence showing how digital finance affects SME financial inclusion in Africa.

This study aims to provide a bibliometric analysis of 1,104 journal articles to explore the multifaceted research field of Islamic finance and banking, explicitly emphasising the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Insights into the evolving trends and dynamics within the academic discourse are presented.

The research highlights different patterns and collaborative networks through co-authorship, co-occurrence and thematic map analyses. Prior to the pandemic, research focused primarily on customer satisfaction and compliance with Shariah principles. However, the pandemic heralded an increased discourse on sustainability, fintech and the financial crisis.

This review describes the prevailing academic terrain and identifies potential avenues for future research, particularly those that examine the socio-economic impact of the pandemic within the context of Islamic finance and banking.

Prominent author such as M. Kabir Hassan, leading institution such as the International Islamic University Malaysia and esteemed journal such as the International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management have been instrumental in shaping academic discussions and creating synergies in research. Moreover, Malaysia’s strong commitment to spatial research, evidenced by its robust global collaborations, underscores its pioneering role in the academic world of Islamic finance and banking.

Funding difficulties are particularly compounded for Muslim entrepreneurs in Nigeria, owing to the dominance of interest-based financial institutions prohibited in Islam. Thus, this study aims to explore the role of awareness of Islamic finance principles in ameliorating financial deprivation and financial anxiety to increase access to Islamic financing among Muslim entrepreneurs.

A quantitative survey method of data collection was used to collect data from a total of 208 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) owners based on hand-delivered questionnaires. The data was analyzed using a partial least square structural equation model.

The result supports the direct negative impact of relative financial deprivation and the positive impact of awareness of Islamic finance principles on access to Islamic finance. However, awareness of Islamic finance principles could not moderate any of the direct relationship.

This study implies that financial deprivation is detrimental to access to Islamic finance, but financial anxiety has no significant impact. In addition, policymakers and MSME owners could directly foster access to Islamic finance through awareness of Islamic finance principles, though it could not redirect the negative impact of relative financial deprivation on access to Islamic finance.

The valuable finding here is that the substantial positive impact of awareness of Islamic finance principles on access to Islamic finance is not enough to redirect the negative effect of relative financial deprivation on access to Islamic finance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the board of directors effectiveness (BODE), financial determinants, Takaful-specific determinants and the Takaful firms’ financial stability are related to the Shari’ah Supervisory Board’s quality (SCQ).

Using hierarchical regression analysis, the authors examine the determinants of financial stability of Takaful insurance and the authors test the moderator role of SCQ over 2016–2022 on a sample of 19 listed Takaful firms in 10 countries in the Middle East and South Asia region.

The findings reveal that SCQ negatively moderates the positive relationship between BODE, the Takaful model, diversification strategy, solvency, liquidity and Takaful financial stability. Shari’ah governance plays a crucial role in improving the financial soundness and the Shari’ah compliance of Takaful insurance.

This paper includes two main limitations. The results are restricted to the Middle East region and South Asia and may not be generalized to other areas. The study presents data from only 19 Takaful firms.

This kind of investigation is of immense relevance to enhance the understanding of governance and soundness of Takaful companies. Furthermore, it serves as a guide to the recruitment of Shari’ah board members, the choice of Takaful model and appropriate strategy to increase its financial stability.

This research studies the financial stability of Takaful insurance and the moderating role of SCQ, unlike the majority of other works that focus on financial performance.

Despite being a Muslim-dominated country, Bangladesh has widely embraced traditional microfinance since its inception in the mid-1970s. However, Islamic microfinance, which has a lot to offer to the poor, is still in its infancy and has yet to gain momentum in the country. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the importance of Islamic microfinance and propose alternative Shariah-compliant microfinance models in Bangladesh.

This study is based on the desk research method, which relies on existing literature to collect secondary data on key concerns of traditional microfinance programs. In addition, institutional-level secondary data were also collected from the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) of Bangladesh. Guided by the Maqasid-al-Shariah, this study then proposes several Islamic microfinance models to overcome selected challenges faced by the microfinance industry in Bangladesh.

This study suggested three composite Shariah-compliant microfinance models, which are likely to help the underprivileged and thus ensure the achievement of the sustainable development goals in Bangladesh. The first model explained how the operational strategy of incumbent microfinance institutions (MFIs) could be restructured, while the second proposed the organizational strategies for establishing a new MFI. The third model used the notion of Sadaqah (charity) to address the multiple borrowing issues of the industry. Meanwhile, the successful transformation of the conventional microfinance industry to an Islamic one is dependent on the effective collaboration between the regulatory authorities, practitioners and MFIs.

Albeit the paucity of literature on the topic, the findings of this study will guide policymakers/practitioners in designing relevant microfinance models to help transform conventional microfinance into Islamic microfinance in Bangladesh.

This paper aims to examine the effect of external Sharia audit on the performance of Islamic banks in Bahrain and Oman, which are countries that implement it. This study aims to explore the role of external Sharia audit in preventing prohibited profits and mitigating the risks of noncompliance with Sharia principles.

This paper opted a quantitative approach and collected data from the employees of the Sharia Supervision Board & Sharia Audit in the Islamic banks. This paper studied how external Sharia audit affects the financial profitability and compliance with Islamic Sharia principles of Islamic banks, using partial least squares structural equation modeling technique.

The results indicated that external Sharia audit had a significant positive effect on both financial profitability and compliance with Islamic Sharia principles in the Islamic banks under study. This means that external Sharia audit enhances the financial performance and the adherence to Islamic Sharia principles of the Islamic banks.

This study has some limitations that suggest directions for future research, such as expanding the sample to other countries and measuring more performance indicators for Islamic banks.

This study suggests that external Sharia audit enhances the performance and compliance of Islamic banks and urges the regulators to adopt it and standardize it.

This study contributes to the literature on Islamic finance and external Sharia audit by providing empirical evidence on the impact of external Sharia audit on the performance of Islamic banks.

The purpose of this study is to analyze studies on halal tourism in Scopus from 2010 to 2021 and reveal trends, impacts, the most influential articles and future research trends.

The study used data from Scopus in 2010 to 2021 with the topic of halal tourism and obtained 122 data publications. This study uses bibliometric analysis with Biblioshiny analysis tools.

Halal tourism attracts the attention of academics and practitioners. This study analyzed 122 publications from 2010 to 2021 in Scopus, showing an increase in author contributions of 39.1% per year, peaking in 2021. The most influential article was the work of Battour and Ismail (2016), which emphasized Islamic principles in halal tourism. Mohamed Battour is the lead author, with Indonesia and Malaysia as the leading countries. Future research trends include halal tourist motivation, marketing strategies, mobile applications and artificial intelligence in supporting halal tourism. Collaboration between halal destinations and other industries is also important.

Database searches were only performed on Scopus, so publications not scanned here could not be analyzed. The search for data from this research is also only based on the title regarding halal tourism. Thus, another article that discusses halal tourism but does not have the word “halal tourism” in the title cannot be analyzed.

This research is different from previous research in that this study examines literature published in Scopus on the study of halal tourism from 2010 to 2021.

This study aims to draw lessons from the financial technology (FinTech) ecosystem literature through a systematic literature review.

This study systematically studied a sample of 134 articles from the Scopus database to assess the pattern of research development within the scope of the FinTech ecosystem over the last 15 years (2008–2023).

The results obtained indicated that the current research focus leads to several aspects: digital technology and financial inclusion, FinTech and customer behavior, FinTech ecosystem, business model, as well as aspects of governance and regulation. In the effort to develop Islamic FinTech, some aspects that might be targeted include aspects of business development and the Islamic FinTech ecosystem in general, extending financial inclusion to governance and managerial implementation of Islamic FinTech itself.

This research has limitations because it did not focus on the study of more specialized sectors, such as insurance or microfinance institutions, in adopting FinTech, requiring the use of other specifications of institutions in addition to Islamic banking.

This research has substantial theoretical implications in mapping the intellectual structure of Islamic FinTech research, which has been underexplored by previous researchers, as well as providing essential information about which sectors should be prioritized to encourage inclusiveness and overall performance of financial institutions.

This research explores more deeply with a comprehensive approach so that it becomes a pioneer in the study of FinTech ecosystem literature for the development of Islamic FinTech.