Murabaha

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Murabaha ( Arabic مرابحة, DMG Murabaha ) is a Islamic finance in use financial instrument , which is compliant with the Sharia . Here the bank acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller. "The bank buys goods from a third party on behalf of its customer, which it then later resells to its customer at a premium that includes its own costs and a profit mark-up."

Forms of Murabaha

In practice there are different forms:

  1. The simplest form, if there are only two contracting parties, is the bank and the customer. In this case, the bank is itself the seller and therefore also bears risks, which it has to pay in the form of a surcharge.
  2. The second possibility is the bank acting as an intermediary between a seller and the customer. The bank then concludes a separate purchase agreement with both the seller and the customer. This is the most common form of Murabaha.
  3. The customer can also negotiate directly with the seller. The bank then pays for the buyer. This minimizes the risk of customer dissatisfaction with the product.

Murabaha is therefore a kind of trade finance and, according to a lawyer specializing in Islamic finance law, accounts for almost 80 percent of Islamic banking. In the Koran , economic activity is expressly allowed, but riba ( interest ), which in some places also translates as usury , is not. Buying a Murabaha house would in any case be equated with exchanging goods for money and is therefore not prohibited. However, the main difference between Murabaha and a normal loan deal is that the bank's profit mark-up is a time-independent payment for the service provided, such as B. the search for the most attractive price for the desired product and the processing of the purchase represents.

Murahaba contains an honest explanation from the seller about the cost of the goods and is mainly used by banks as part of Islamic banking to make it clear to customers that the offers are not subject to usury. Typical business areas in which Murabaha is used are:

Thanks to the fixed deposit amount, investors have the guarantee of a minimum profit margin. With Mudaraba, on the other hand, the profit is divided between the investor and the borrower on a contractual basis, so that there is no inflow in times when there is no profit generation.

Criticisms

However, it is controversial to what extent Murabaha is actually an interest-free instrument, because like a “real loan”, the profit premium is based on reference interest rates such as B. the LIBOR and the creditworthiness of the customer.

The scholar Umar Ibrahim Vadillo also criticizes the fact that according to authentic Islamic fiqh , Murabaha contracts are to be viewed as two sales in one - and thus as prohibited. Correctly, Murabaha is just a sale. In the variant practiced by the banks, however, the bank already buys on behalf of the customer, the actual buyer.

Another point of criticism is that the bank, as a buyer and seller, can cover numerous risks so that there is practically no risk of loss if, for example, the value of the asset changes.

Approach to real estate acquisition in Murabaha

Procedure of a Murabaha

Buying real estate in Murabaha

  • Finding a suitable property by the buyer
  • Negotiation between buyer and seller about the price of the house
  • Inquiry from the buyer to the bank as to whether a Murabaha contract can be concluded
  • Checking the buyer for his creditworthiness and the house for its value
  • If all requirements are met, the house is bought by the bank directly from the seller
  • The bank initially owns the house and increases the selling price by an amount that is determined in advance and known to the buyer
  • Sale of the house by the bank to the buyer. Buyer pays monthly installments to the bank
  • Thus, no interest has been paid by the buyer

Consistent with Sharia and the market

The contractually agreed premium of a few percent on the original price for the Murabaha is in accordance with Sharia law. Because from the point of view of Islamic law, this is not about interest, but rather, through the installments, a return on economic performance. This is associated with legal and (real) tax law problems in Germany. Thus, some laws would have to be changed in order to make Murabaha processes possible for the Islamic population in Germany.

See also

literature

  • Michael Saleh Gassner, Philipp Wackerbeck: Islamic Finance. Islam-compliant financial investments and financing. Bank-Verlag Medien, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-86556-211-1 .
  • Wolfhard Peter Hildebrandt: Islamic economic ideology. Klaus Schwarz Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-87997-531-0 , p. 15.
  • Zamir Iqbal, Abbas Mirakhor: An introduction to Islamic finance. Theory and Practice. John Wiley & Sons (Asia), Singapore 2007, ISBN 0-470-82188-4 .
  • Michael Mahlknecht: Islamic Finance. Introduction to theory and practice. Wiley, Weinheim 2009, ISBN 978-3-527-50389-6 ( Wiley plain text ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hildebrandt: Islamic economic ideology . 1996, p. 15xt
  2. ↑ M. Mahlknecht: Islamic Finance: Introduction to Theory and Practice . Wiley, 2009, p. 102
  3. ↑ islam.de
  4. ↑ Iqbal: Mirakhor . 2007, p. 90
  5. ↑ finanz-lexikon.de
  6. ^ Saeed: Islamic Banking and Interest . 1996, ISBN 978-3-638-64280-4
  7. ↑ islamische-zeitung.de
  8. ↑ von Pock: Strategic Management in Islamic Finance . 2007, ISBN 978-3-8350-0723-9 , p. 29.
  9. ↑ islam.de