Poverty Alleviation thorough Islamic Mircofinancing-A case study of Bangladesh

In most developing countries of the world, financing micro-enterprises (microfinancing) is considered a “new paradigm” for bringing about development and alleviating poverty. Bangladesh is one of the biggest Muslim countries of the world. This paper is an effort to examine the existing role of Islamic microfinance institutions in alleviating poverty in Bangladesh. The paper will also examine how the existing role of such institutions will be strengthened by combining their role with the role of traditional Islamic institutions and NGOs, on the one hand, and traditional microfinance institutions, on the other. The main sources of Islamic micro financing are Islamic Banks, Islamic Insurance Companies, Islamic NGOs and traditional Islamic institutions like zakat, awqaf, qard hasan, al-maniha (gifts), etc. On the other hand, the major sources of traditional microfinancing are commercial banks, both public and private, insurance companies and NGOs like ASA, PROSHIKA, BRACK, GB, BRDP, etc. T