Murabaha
Cost-plus sale. The financier buys the asset and resells at a disclosed mark-up, in instalments.
Fiqh al-mu‘amalat, applied
Most Muslims in business are not looking for permission to stop. They are looking for a way to keep going that they will not have to answer for. Describe the deal in your own words and you get a verdict, the exact clause that causes the problem, and the contract that replaces it — each carrying scripture retrieved while answering, never recalled from memory.
“A friend puts 500,000৳ into my business and I return 550,000৳ in a year, whatever the business does.”
The extra 50,000৳ is fixed on a deferred debt — riba al-nasi‘ah. Calling it a profit share does not change it: a profit share moves with the profit, and this does not.
وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا
“…but God has allowed trade and forbidden usury.”
Al-Baqarah 2:275 · Abdel Haleem · cited in the answer as [Q 2:275]
Why this exists
There is a quiet assumption that doing business inside the Shariah means accepting less — slower growth, fewer instruments, a permanent handicap against competitors who take the bank’s money without a second thought. It is a false trade, and it costs Muslims real businesses every year.
Nearly every conventional structure has a Shariah-compliant equivalent that does the same commercial work. The financing still happens. The risk is simply placed where it belongs — with whoever earns the return. This exists to find that structure for you, in the deal actually in front of you.
فَانتَشِرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَابْتَغُوا مِن فَضْلِ اللَّهِ
“…disperse in the land and seek out God’s bounty… so that you may prosper.”
Al-Jumu‘ah 62:10 · Abdel Haleem · [Q 62:10]
“…if both parties spoke the truth and described the defects and qualities, then they would be blessed in their transaction; and if they told lies or hid something, then the blessings of their transaction would be lost.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 2079, narrated Hakim bin Hizam · [H bukhari:2079]
The lens
A ruling is not a vibe. Every consultation is worked through the same ten screens, in order, rather than reacting to whichever word you happened to use — so the answer does not change because you phrased it differently the second time.
The conversion
Not a workaround, and not the same loan with an Arabic name on it. A different contract, in which someone genuinely owns the asset and genuinely carries the risk. Four you will recognise — and each costs something real, which the answer tells you too.
A bank term loan for the business — 50 lakh at 14%, fixed monthly instalments for four years, secured on the factory.
riba al-nasi‘ahMusharakah مشاركة
The money enters as equity in a defined venture, not as debt. Profit splits by an agreed ratio; loss follows capital share. The financier is a partner, so it is exposed to the same year you are.
Costs you: open books, and part of the upside in a very good year.A mortgage on the shop floor or the family home — the bank advances the price, registers a charge, you repay over 20 years at a floating rate.
riba al-nasi‘ah + jahalaDiminishing Musharakah مشاركة متناقصة
You and the financier co-own the property in recorded shares. You rent its share and buy that share out in steps. Three separate legs, not one bundled loan — and the rent falls as its share shrinks.
Costs you: heavier administration, and registration fees in some jurisdictions.An overdraft or cash-credit limit for a trading business — a 1 crore line you dip into for stock, interest charged on the daily outstanding.
riba al-nasi‘ahMurabaha مرابحة
The financier stops lending money and starts buying goods. For each purchase you actually need it buys those identified goods, takes title and carries the risk, then resells to you at a disclosed mark-up in instalments.
Costs you: the revolving convenience. You plan procurement instead of dipping in.Export packing credit — you borrow at 9% against the LC to buy raw material, then discount the receivable after shipment.
riba al-nasi‘ah + bay‘ al-daynSalam سلم
You are no longer borrowing against future goods — you have sold future goods and been paid in full today. Full prepayment is the defining condition, against a precise specification and a fixed delivery date.
Costs you: a fixed price. If the market doubles before delivery, you still deliver.The instruments
Classical instruments, still doing commercial work. The answer names the one that fits your facts, and what changes in your paperwork.
Cost-plus sale. The financier buys the asset and resells at a disclosed mark-up, in instalments.
Joint equity. Profit by agreed ratio, loss strictly by capital share.
Co-ownership you buy out in steps, paying rent on the share not yet yours.
Capital from one side, work from the other. Financial loss sits with the capital.
Lease of an asset’s use, or hire of a service, for a known rent over a known term.
Paid in full now for precisely specified goods delivered on a fixed future date.
Order to manufacture or construct to specification, with flexible payment.
Agency. Someone acts on your behalf for a known fee — the basis of takaful.
A benevolent loan repaid at exactly the principal. No increase of any kind.
The rule it is built on
A language model can produce a verse that sounds right and is not. So this one is forbidden to quote scripture it remembers. Every citation must come from a live lookup in the same answer — the sources are called, the text comes back, and only then is it quoted.
Qur’an references are checked a second time, independently, before you see them. Where a hadith could not be verified against a source, the answer says so rather than quietly presenting it as sound. Hadith numbering differs between collections, and a remembered number produces a real-but-wrong narration — which is precisely the failure this rule exists to prevent.
Every [Q 2:275] and [H bukhari:2079] in an answer came from a call made while writing that answer.
Qur’an references are verified a second time against an independent source.
An unverifiable hadith reference is labelled unverified rather than presented as sound.
A roundel ١ on this page marks a real retrieval, nothing else.
Precision
All the schools agree on what the Qur’an and Sunnah prohibit. They differ on the conditions that decide whether the clause in front of you is valid — and that difference is the part that costs money.
Left on no preference, it answers for everyone at once: the mainstream position with the disagreement flagged — in practice the strictest common denominator and a longer list of caveats. Select your school and it applies that school’s actual conditions, so the answer stops describing a range of opinion and starts telling you what your document must contain.
No hedging
Every consultation ends on one of these. There is no fifth option and no diplomatic blur — if the wording carries a condition, it is conditional, not permissible.
Nothing in the structure offends. Proceed.
Workable, but something specific has to change first.
As described — with the exact clause that causes it.
A missing fact would flip it. It asks rather than guesses.
It is not a religious ruling, and we are not your mufti. It is a structured, evidence-backed analysis: enough to understand your position, find the defect and know what to ask.
For anything consequential — a large sum, an irreversible commitment, a novel structure — take it to a qualified, God-fearing ‘alim or mufti who specialises in fiqh al-mu‘amalat and can read the actual contract. Every answer says so too.
Questions
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Describe a deal in your own words and it works. Five commands shape the answer if you want a particular shape: run a full compliance screen, test by test; assume it fails and show the compliant version; compare how the four schools rule on the point of difference; give the evidence alone; or turn the contract into a due-diligence checklist you can tick off before signing.
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By default, none — you get the mainstream position with the disagreement flagged, which in practice is the strictest common denominator. Choose Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi‘i, Hanbali or Ja‘fari in Settings and it applies that school’s conditions instead.
It is optional, and it is treated as sensitive: a madhhab reveals religious belief, so it exists to shape your rulings and is never used for anything else.
Qur’an from quran.com, hadith from sunnah.com and hadithapi.com — retrieved while the answer is being written, never recalled from memory. Qur’an references are then checked a second time, independently, before you see them. A hadith that cannot be verified against a source is labelled unverified rather than quietly presented as sound.
English, বাংলা and العربية. The interface, the answer and the translation of every retrieved verse follow the same choice.
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