In 2002, the French president Jacques Chirac famously opened his speech with these words Notre Maison brule et nous regardons ailleur.” Our house is burning down and we're blind to it.” Chirac became the first world leader to warn of the danger of climate change. He said: “Nature, mutilated and overexploited, can no longer regenerate [...]
We are all familiar with the ‘Me Too’ movement following the sexual misconduct scandal which struck Hollywood a few years ago. The famous director Harvey Weinstein was at the centre of several sexual allegations. In the UK, another prominent figure, Philip Green, was similarly accused of sexual abuse allegation in relation to some of his [...]
There are two opinions according to contemporary scholars on the use of tawarruq is Islamic banks: It is not permissible. This is the opinion of International Fiqh Academy and of most contemporary scholars such as Dr Siddiq Darir, Dr Ali Saalus, Dr Sami Al Suwailem, Dr Yusuf Shubayli, Monzer Kahf, and Ahmad Islambuli. They argue [...]
Is it permissible to have a sukuk structure with trademarks as underlying assets? According to the International Fiqh Academy, it is permissible to trade intellectual property rights that are shariah compliant. If the sukuk are structured in a way that is also shariah compliant, then it will be permissible to have intellectual property rights as the underlying assets. [...]
A bank wishes to borrow from another bank an amount in US dollar. The other bank agrees with the condition that, the first bank lends them another amount, in Euro currency. Is this permissible? There are four opinions regarding the execution of back to back loans: According to the four schools of jurisprudence, this sort [...]
Company A enters into an agreement with company B to purchase barrels of petrol for £10m in total. The delivery date of the barrels is fixed to the 1st of June of next year. The number of barrels will be determined according to the price of a barrel on the delivery date. For example, on [...]
According to most contemporary scholars and AAOIFI, if a Murabaha transaction is constructed around a variable profit rate, then this will not be permissible. This is due to the element of uncertainty present in such agreement. Dr Yusef Al Shubaily is of the opinion that such agreement is allowed since there is no proof for [...]
Can you tell us what is the difference between Bai’ al Musawamah and Murabaha? In a Musawamah transaction, the buyer of an asset is not aware of the cost incurred by the seller. In contrast, in a Murabaha transaction, the seller must inform the buyer of the cost of the underlying asset. Ibn Rush (the [...]
According to most contemporary scholars, it is not permissible to buy or sell option contracts. This is also the opinion of the International Fiqh Academy, Mufti Taqi Uthmani, Dr Darir, Dr Wahbah Al Zuhayli and Sheikh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah. The main argument for its prohibition is that options are like gambling which is prohibited in [...]
Can a financial institution acquire a specific asset to lease it to a customer, if the customer then leases back the asset to the institution? The customer benefits from the price difference and the institution According to the Hanafis, it is not permissible to lease an asset back to its owner. However, according to the [...]