Sharia Case Study

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amic Finance
Introduction
Definition
“A financial service principally implemented to comply with the main tenets of Sharia (or Islamic law)”.
“Islamic Finance is governed by the Sharia (Islamic Law), sourced from the Quran and the Sunnah”.
Islamic finance is a term that reflects financial business that is not contradictory to the principles of Sharia. Conventional finance, particularly conventional banking business, relies on taking deposits from, and providing loans to, the public. Therefore, the banker‑customer relationship is always a debtor‑creditor relationship. A key aspect of conventional banking is the giving or receiving of interest, which is specifically prohibited by Sharia. For example a conventional bank’s fixed deposit product …show more content…

Prohibition of Riba, a term literally meaning “an excess “and interpreted as “any unjustifiable increase of capital whether in loans or sales” is the central tenet of the system. More precisely, any positive, fixed, predetermined rate tied to the maturity and the amount of principal (i.e., guaranteed regardless of the performance of the investment) is considered Riba and is prohibited. The general consensus among Islamic scholars is that Riba covers not only Usury but also the charging of “interest” as widely practiced. This prohibition is based on arguments of social justice, equality, and property rights. Islam encourages the earning of profits but forbids the charging of interest because profits, determined ex post, symbolize successful entrepreneurship and creation of additional wealth whereas interest, determined ex ante, is a cost that is accrued irrespective of the outcome of business operations and may not create wealth if there are business losses. Social justice demands that borrowers and lenders share rewards as well as losses in an equitable fashion and that the process of wealth accumulation and distribution in the economy be fair and representative of true productivity. Under the Sharia, it is not permissible to charge, pay or receive interest. The Sharia does not recognize the time value of money and it is therefore not permissible to make money by lending it. Money must be used to create real economic value and it is only permissible to earn a return from investing money in permissible commercial activities which involve the financier or investor taking some commercial risk. This prohibition is the main driving force behind the development of the modern Islamic finance

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