This part of question 3 asked for an explanation of the nature of a mudaraba (equity) contract and a brief discussion of how this could finance a planned business expansion. This was the first time that Islamic finance had appeared in an F9 examination and many answers were of a good standard, identifying correctly some of the key features of a mudaraba contract, such as the absence of interest (riba), the establishment of a partnership between the provider of finance and the provider of business expertise, the sharing of profit at a rate agreed in the contract, and so on.