Assalam alaikum
If I go to a conventional bank with no Islamic finance operations whatsoever and they agree to give me financing under a Shari’ah compliant arrangement, will it be permissible to deal with them?
Wa alaykum salaam,
I would be extremely surprised if this took place. In the hypothetical scenario that it does take place, I would encourage you to consult a Mufti to review the agreement for Shariah compliance.
This actually was a hypothetical question. Somebody told me this and I wanted to confirm.
I believe some Islamic banks and/or Islamic mortgage providers arrange financing for their clients from conventional financial institutions under shari’ah compliant agreements so he was justifying that.
Wasalam
May Allah bless you.
I have never heard of such a thing. The onus is on this person to prove his claim.
This, however does not mean that fraud isn’t real for Islamic banking and finance. Many people have falsely claimed to offer shariah compliant products when in reality, the products are impermissible.
Similarly, some may fake shariah certificate, whilst long ago I heard that certain shariah scholars were tricked into certifying products.
Hence, there are many regulations and standards in place to prevent things like that from happening.
Unfortunately, there will always be people with personal interest who will take advantage of others’ religion and morality.
And Allah knows best!
And Allah knows best!
Jazakallahu khayran for the reply. So can I say that the answer to the original question is no?
Just to clarify further: Assume I am an Islamic mortgage provider but I don’t have the capital required to give out mortgages. I team up with Barclays (as an example) and agree for them to be my partner. All the money for the halal mortgages comes from Barclays and I make sure the documentation is shari’ah compliant. Barclays has no interest in shari’ah compliance but is just following the structure I devised to provide financing – for them it is just another mortgage loan.
Wa alaykum salaam,
This has potential to be Shariah compliant depending on all the relationships and agreements between you, Barclays and the customer.
Jazakallahu khayran.
Could you please also shed some light, at a high level, on the reasoning behind this, considering Barclays’ primary earnings are unlawful?
The earnings of a non Muslim are not of consequence. If they were, any Muslim shopkeeper would be in a problem accepting money from non Muslims due to the chance of impure income.
The principles of halal earnings do not apply to non Muslims in non Muslim lands.