Suspicions of those who permit the issue of investment certificates an exposition and discussionشبه المبيحين لشهادات الاستثمار

Authors

Professor Mahamod Ahmed Abu Leil, Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence at the College of Law, United Arab Emirates University and the Mufti of the Judicial Department - Abu DhabiFollow

Abstract

The study deals with the suspicion s relied upon by those who admit the issue of investment certificates. The suspicions are: I - Plea of interest: an argument which cannot be accepted because the interest is considered to be a plea only if we are short of a text, while usury is prohibited by conclusive texts. 2 - Plea of prevailing custom: a weak argument too because a reck­oned custom is that which has been prevailing at the time of the descent of The Qur'an . A contingent custom at variance with a le­gal text cannot be relied upon. 3 - Plea of need and exigency : but the authorization of acting because of need and exigency is an extraordinary exception arising from the circumstances of the person authorized; and it does not consti­tute a public transacting system. 4 - Plea of "no usury between a state and its citizens”: an unaccept­able argument because it is no more than an unestablished evi­dence, as long as the state citizens are subject to the same rules. 5 - Plea of difference bet ween a consumable and a productive loan: an argument which can be rebutted by remembering that prohibit­ ting texts are common and i t is very difficult to differentiate be­ tween the two categories of loan s i n practice . 6 - Plea of Prohibiting usury only and not 'mere interest' : an un­ acceptable argument also as true hadiths admonished "interest" ir­respective of its amount. 7 - Plea of circumscribing prohibition on Jahilia interest only i.e. the excess of debt on maturity date as a consequence of the inabili­ty of the debtor to pay. This argument can be rebutted also by indication that the criterion is the generality of term and not the exclusivity of cause. 8 - Plea of prohibiting 'sales interest' only 'as this is the only interest referred to in Al-Sonnah' : an argument which can be rebut­ ted by denoting that a debt interest is mentioned in both Qur'an and Sun nah. The writer concludes his study by considering investment certifi­cates to be a type of illegal usury.

Recommended Citation

Abu Leil, Professor Mahamod Ahmed (1992) "Suspicions of those who permit the issue of investment certificates an exposition and discussionشبه المبيحين لشهادات الاستثمار," UAEU Law Journal: Vol. 1992: No. 6, Article 1.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/sharia_and_law/vol1992/iss6/1