The qirad (also known as Muqaradah by Hanafi and Hanbali scholars) was one of the basic financial instruments of the medieval Islamic world. It was an arrangement between one or more investors and an agent where the investors entrusted capital to an agent who then traded with it in hopes of making profit. Both parties then received a previously settled portion of the profit. The agent was not liable for any losses, provided these did not exceed the capital subscribed. (In later Hanafi jurisprudence, the agent had no authority to incur liabilities in excess of the capital, and so would have to bear any further losses personally.)