Loans, Tawarruq, discounting, financing of business : loan for investment

Fatawa Question

Assalamu Alaykum, Dear Mr. Kahf, According to my humble understanding, you are the most appropriate brother for this matter. I have tried to get in touch with various scholars trying to obtain an answer to a serious question regarding bank loans but I, for some reason, did not receive any so far. This may be a classic one for you and you might feel that an answer to such question is found in many sites, but I have my reasons to believe that it isn't so due to some facts that I would like to share with you... I have written my question in Arabic and in English, please take few minutes of your time to read. عندي سؤال يحتاج إلى عنايتكم يتعلق بأخذ قرض من البنك بغرض إنشاء مشروع : أنا من سكان قبرص اليونانية أقطن فيها من عام 1985 أنوي إنشاء مشروع عماري كبير إلى حد ما على قطعة أرض امتلكها، أنا متعهد بناء و مهندس عمارة لا يوجد معي سيولة لأبدأ بمشروعي. لا أَملك أَي شيء آخر لأبيعه و أستثمر ثمنه. بيع الأرض لَيس حلا مجديا بالمقارنة مع العائد المادي الذي يجنى من خلال العمل الإنشائي عليها. لا يوجد عندنا بنوك إسلامية و لا نوافذ إسلامية ضمن بنوك تقليدية (ربوية) نظام المرابحة غير متوفر عندنا بالنسبة لَلبنوك الربوية و التي تعد المصدر العلمي و المنطقي الوحيد تأخذ فقط 5 بالمائة و لكن هذا ربا .إن وجد شخص ممول راغب في استثمار أمواله فإن حصته من الربح قَد تصل إلى 50 بالمائة و الذي يعتبر إجحافا في حقي و خيارا غير سليم إذا ما قورن بالبنوك. ناهيك عن المضايقات التي يمكن أن تنتج عن هكذا شريك. هل لي أَن آخذ قرضا من البنوك الربوية أَم أنكم ترون لي حلا آخر. انطلاقا من مغترب في بلاد لا يتواجد فيها بنوك إسلامية و انطلاقا من اهتمامي بأمر الحلال و الحرام فإني أتطلع إلى رأيكم فيما ورد أعلاه و أتمنى الحصول على حل عملي يمكنني من بدء مشروعي. لعلمكم، هذه الحال تنطبق على الكثير من المسلمين القاطنين في هذا البلد فما العمل برأيكم. جزاكم الله عنا و عن المسلمين كل خير I have a rather important issue that has to do with my career as well as my business and it does involve some Muslims in the west specifically in Cyprus as it applies to friends and colleagues alike. -I live and work in Cyprus since 1985. -I intend to develop a piece of land that I have. -I am a building contractor and an architect. -On the other hand… -I have no money to start my project. -I do not have anything else other than this specific land (to sell and use money to invest). -There are no Islamic banks in this country. -I am in need of cash to begin my project but… -Banks (which happen to be the only logical and reasonable source of financial support) in this part of the world take interest (Fa'edah) which is prohibited. -The system of "Murabahah" is not available around here. -If an investor, other than banks, is found who may be willing to invest money and become a partner, he or she will demand a very big share of the prophet that may reach 50 % which is not a fair cut nor a wise decision from my side (if compared to banks). What is possible to do in my case and how is it possible for me to develop myself if such constraints exist. Please advice as soon as possible as I find it very irritating to skip banks and search for other solutions and insist on saying that Islam is based on ease ! Please forgive my words if I sounded aggressive in anyway. God bless you and thank you for your concern and cooperation. I have read this Fatwa and I have my concerns about it and about a specific matter, could you comment on it please : obviously, any ruling is subject to an exception, in case of necessity ; that is when life, religion, mind, posterity and property are threatened by destruction or heavy damage. In this case a ruling is relaxed to protect any of these things. Applying the rule of necessity here, we can notice that there is no necessity in taking Riba or writing or being a witness to its contract. In other words, a necessity, if it happens, applies only to giving or paying Riba. To claim that it is necessary to take interest-based loans from banks cannot be justified by real life. What supports this argument is also the fact that many people survive without taking interest-based loans or getting involved in usurious deals. In fact, banks do not give loans to those who desperately need money for their survival or for the protection of any of the five things mentioned above. As it is usually said, banks give you the umbrella only on clear days but when it is rainy, banks tend to withdraw their umbrellas. Having the need of selling the land as a second option does count as "destruction" in my opinion because I’ll be throwing away "Ne3ma" that god almighty have granted me. This is due to the drastic difference in benefit if the case of selling my land (on the one hand) is compared to developing it (on the other). -For me, it's not possible to decide whether or not this is considered destruction or otherwise. -I need this loan to proceed with my career -Not many options are available -Sometimes, when I discuss the matter of construction with people of the island who have no idea about what is Riba of what is Halal and Haram, I get the same opinion "it's them saying that the bank is the best source !!" It’s a bit confusing. Thank you sir for your time, and may Allah reward you for your concern. Salam and god bless you.

Fatwa

Click hereto view more

Publication Date

2008-03-16

Main Subjects

Economics & Business Administration
Financial and Accounting Sciences
Islamic Studies

Topics

• Banks
• Islamic jurisprudence
• Investments
• Bank loans
• Projects

No. of Pages

3

Data Type

Fatawa

Language

English

Record ID

BIM-729669

• APA
• MLA
• AMA