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What is the ruling on purchasing a car from Kuwait Finance House in Bahrain when there are two clauses in the contract that raise doubts about the bank selling what it does not own in an Islamic Murabaha transaction?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Murabahah to the purchase orderer, includes a binding promise from the client to purchase the commodity after the bank buys it. This obligation means either fulfilling the promise or the client bearing the damages incurred by the bank due to his retraction. The Islamic Fiqh Academy has permitted the bank to receive compensation for actual damages. It is permissible for the bank to request a down payment from the client to ensure his seriousness. If the deal is completed, the down payment is counted as part of the price. If the client retracts without a valid reason, the bank keeps the down payment in exchange for the damage. In the event of the client's retraction, the bank is permitted to dispose of the commodity by selling it or otherwise, because it remains in its possession, and a mere promise does not transfer ownership to the client.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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