Islamic Banking

Many people have enquired about the permissibility under Sharee’ah of the so-called Islamic ijara mortgages recently announced by banks such as HSBC. As it is in the interest of all Muslims to have a current and accurate understanding of the issues involved here, I have concluded the following judgement based upon the Quran and Sunnah in accordance with the understanding of the main school of thoughts.

This article is a brief discussion of the definition of riba, its rulings and the wisdom behind its prohibition.