What is the ruling on participating in the preparation of uncovered bank guarantee documents (i.e., not 100% covered), which are issued for a fee to the bank and with a guarantee from the governmental guarantee fund?

An uncovered letter of guarantee is considered a bank's surety for a company, and it is not permissible to charge a fee for it because surety is a gratuitous contract. Charging a fee may lead to usury, as a fee on surety is considered interest on a loan if the guarantor pays on behalf of the guaranteed party. Scholars have unanimously agreed that it is impermissible to charge a fee for surety, and that such a contract is void.

An exception to this is the bank charging administrative fees for issuing the letter of guarantee, or fees for gathering information and studying the project, provided that these fees do not exceed the customary charge and are not linked to the guarantee amount. The Islamic Fiqh Academy confirmed this, stating that a letter of guarantee with coverage is an agency that permits a fee, while surety is a gratuitous contract for which compensation is impermissible.

The "Sharia (definition) Standards" and the First Islamic Banking Conference in Dubai also stipulated that it is impermissible to charge a fee solely for a guarantee, as it is a surety. However, it is permissible to charge a fee for agency, and in estimating this fee, the costs incurred by the bank in issuing the letter of guarantee should be taken into account.