In this system, if financing is meant for a commercial purpose, it can be based on the concept of profit and loss sharing, for which mushārakah (joint venture) and mudārabah (profit sharing) have been designed since the very inception of the Islamic commercial law.
There are, however, some sectors where financing on such modes is not workable or feasible and for such sectors, contemporary scholars have suggested some other instruments which can be used for the purpose of financing, as explained below;
• Musharakah (joint venture) literally means sharing. This is a joint enterprise formed for business where all the partners (bank and customer) contribute capital and share the profits according to a specific agreed ratio while any possible loss is in turn shared according to the capital contribution by the parties.
Diminishing musharakah is where the share of the bank in joint enterprise is divided into a number of units and purchased periodically by the customer, thus increasing his own share until all the units of the bank are purchased making him the sole owner of property.