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CREDIT CARDS FROM SHAIRIAH PERSPECTIVE

BY

MANAWEE NIRINGJUERAE

G 0914751

COURSE TITLE: ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE

Assoc. Prof. Dr.Muhamad Bin Arifin

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

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Contents

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................3

Statement of the Problem .......................................................................................................3

Hypothesis .............................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER 1 CONVENTIONAL CREDITCARDS ..............................................................4

1.1 Definition .........................................................................................................................4

1.2 Importance of Credit Cards in the Contemporary Society..................................................5

1.3 How Payment System Work? ...........................................................................................6

1.4 Fatwa’s – What Scholars Say? ..........................................................................................8

CHAPTER 2 ISLAMIC CREDIT CARD IN MALAYSIA .................................................. 10

2.1 Background ................................................................................................................... 10

2.2 What does it mean by Islamic credit cards? .................................................................... 10

2.3 Details of Bank Islam Card ............................................................................................ 11

2.4 The Figure of Bay Inah in Bank Islam ............................................................................ 13

2.5 Bai’inah according to Muslim scholar............................................................................ 16

CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................... 20

Reference ............................................................................................................................. 21

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INTRODUCTION

The development of technology has enabled bank to issue product that satisfy

the need of clients. Credit card is one of the latest banking gadgets. It facilitates

people to make transaction without carrying cash since the credit card issuer pays the

proceeds of the transaction on behalf of the buyer. Most goods and services can be

bought either online or at the usual “brick and mortar” sales outlets by using this card.

This convenience has led the widespread of credit card. Therefore, not only

conventional banks interested to issue credit card, Islamic banks which notably have

to comply with the Islamic principle also start to come out with this product.

Statement of the Problem

Credit cards are very important in the contemporary society. The need to use them

has been a necessity in many circumstances although the safety considerations

sometimes have to be compromised. The issue is that whether Islamic law allows the

usage of credit cards. If their usages are allowed, another issue is whether they are

considered as Islamic law compliant. To answer there issue, Muslim Jurist needs to

address them accordingly.

Hypothesis

The best way to address the issue of credit cards is to adopt the principle pertaining to

contracts of credit (aqd-qard) guarantee (aqd-kafalah) and agency (aqd-wakalah) in

Islamic law as the underlying contract for credit cards.

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CHAPTER 1 CONVENTIONAL CREDITCARDS

1.1 Definition

Credit cards are not new. They are some equivalents of them, have existed

since the beginning of last century. The use credit cards originated in the United

States in the 1920s according to some sources.1 As per Tony Dury forms of credit

cards have existed even before 1920; some large department stores in the United

States began to issue “credit cards”.2

A credit card is part of a system of payments named after the small plastic card

issued to users of the system. It is a card entitling its holder to buy goods and services

on the holder’s promise to pay for these goods and services. The issues of the card

grants a line of credit to the consumer (or the user) from which the user can borrow

money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the user.3

The credit card, which is known as ‘plastic money’, is essential mode of

payments in today’s society. People own credit card for various reasons such as to

obtain credit facility, cash advance, easy payment, charge and prestige. It has become

way of life in the society nowadays that different types of credit card such as Master

and Visa and category gold and platinum, represent the wealth status of a person.

Undoubtedly the role of credit card is more than that. It is important role in e-

commerce transaction is undisputable.

1 Peter E. Sayer, Credit Cards and The Law :An Introduction, Fourmat Publishing, London, 1988, p.1.

2 Tony Drury, Charles W Ferries, Credit Cards, Butterworth, London,1984, p.19.

3 See: credit cards and debit card <www.wikipedia.com/creditcard>

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However, how dose Islam accept the role of credit card as a medium of

payment? What are the underlying principle required by Shari’ah in the functionality

of credit card? What would be the possible legal issues and how Islam addresses these

issues? What are the differentiation factors in the Islamic credit card?

1.2 Importance of Credit Cards in the Contemporary Society

Credit cards have become essential means of exchange in the economy

because they provide consumers and merchants considerable advantages over cash

and cheques. There is a lot of security risk involved in carrying cash. Cash is easier

to steal and harder to trace once lost or stolen. Perhaps this is why most people do not

like to carry to much cash of it on them. Cheques have their own disadvantages. To

begin with, chequebooks are in convenient to carry. They are often difficult to use

outside one’s local community because of the risk of bad cheques.4

Credit cards can offer certain advantages to the holder. Firstly, they provide

easy means of obtaining credit for an interest free credit period from a week to a

mouth. Secondly, credit card can easily be used to withdraw cash over the counter or

from an Automated machine (ATM).5 Furthermore, credit card may also offer the

holder an additional protection such as, in the event of loss, damage or theft of an item

bought by the card holder, he may be indemnified under the insurance.6 And with the

4 David S. Evans, paying with plastic: The digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London,1999, p.30-31.

5 Pheng, Banking Law, Bangkok,2000, p 232.

6 See http:// www.mtscil.org/skills budget-12.html

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development of high technology and the internet, credit card also allow their holders

to purchase goods from anywhere around the world over the phone or online.

Nevertheless, there are some disadvantages of credit cards, the holder will be

encouraged to spend more money than they need. This is because the most credit

cards do not limit the balance to pay off each month. Although the card holder, only

has say, RM 100.00, he may still be able to spend up to RM500.00 or 1,000.00 on his

credit card. While this may seem like ‘free money’ at the time, the customer will have

to pay it off and the longer he waits the more money

1.3 How Payment System Work?

Visa, Switch and MasterCard all operate four party payment schemes. Any

card transaction made through one of these schemes involves four main participants.

These are:

• The customer, who makes a payment using the card;

• The card issuer who supplies the card to the customer and operates the account from

which payment is made;

• The retailer (or ‘merchant’) who exchanges goods or services for the

customer’s card details and consent to make the payment;

• The merchant acquirer who recruits retailers to the scheme, reimburses the retailer

and obtains funds from the card issuer.7 The merchant acquirer often has an existing

customer relationship with the merchant, but need not do so. A payment will involve

7 Adil Manzoor Bakhshi, Developing a financial model for Islamic credit card for the UK. Master

dissertation, University of Salford 2006, p.5

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both a flow of assets - money and goods - and also a flow of information about

transactions that are taking place. These are shown on the diagram using solid and

dashed lines respectively.8

Figure: 1 (Cruick shank, 2000) Main parties involved in credit cards system.

The transaction starts with a customer deciding to buy some goods from a

retailer at a given price. The customer gives his card details to the retailer and

confirms his identity, for example with a signature. For some transactions the retailer

may be required to seek authorization from the card issuer, for example to check that

the card is not stolen. The retailer then sends transaction details to the merchant

acquirer. Transaction details may either be sent in a batch at the end of the trading day

or online. The acquirer in turn forwards transaction and cardholder details to the

relevant card issuers– usually through a telecoms network under the control of the

scheme. The merchant acquirer pays the retailer the retail price less a fee, known as a

merchant service charge (or MSC). The issuer in turn pays the merchant acquirer the

8 Adil Manzoor Bakhshi, “Developing a financial model for Islamic credit card for the UK”, Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of MSc in International Banking & Finance, University of Salford 2006, p.6.

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retail price less a further fee known as an interchange fee. The timing of the payment

from issuer to acquirer is typically determined by the rules of the payment scheme.

The timing of the payment by the merchant acquirer to the retailer is determined by

agreement between these two participants.

The final stage is for the issuer to debit the customer’s account - this might be

a credit card account or a current or savings account, in the case of a debit card. The

issuer will typically provide the customer with transaction details through a regular

statement. The customer will be debited the retail price, plus any fees specified in the

terms of the account.

1.4 Fatwa’s – What Scholars Say?

There are many questions pertaining to credit cards whether or not Muslim can

or cannot use the credit cards. Some Muslim scholar, it is permissible if certain

conditions are met. However, there is a large group which considers conventional

cards are prohibited.

However, there are various areas of interpretation that enable some Muslims to

believe that credit card usage can be done within religious beliefs by paying off the

full outstanding balance every billing month and never rolling over any balance to

next statement period and avoiding cash withdrawals. According to them, by not

carrying any outstanding balance to next billing period and avoiding cash

withdrawals, riba can be avoided and thus, using a card in this way could be halal.

This argument can be supported further by stating that all deeds are by intention and

since the intention is to clear the full balance every time and not withdraw cash, card

is halal.

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Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) argues that a contract of this

type is not permissible, because it involves riba which is the price of the card, and it

also means committing to pay interest if payment is delayed. (Shaykh, 2002)9

In another fatwa he issued he states that credit card transaction is haram, because the

one who enters into it commits himself to paying riba if he does not pay on time. This

is an invalid commitment, even if he believes or thinks it most likely that he will pay it

before the time is up, because circumstances may change and he may not be able to

pay it off. This is a matter that is in the future, and no one knows what will happen to

him in the future. So dealings of this type are haram. (Shaykh)

9 Ibid, p.20

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CHAPTER 2 ISLAMIC CREDIT CARD IN MALAYSIA

2.1 Background

On 23rd of July 2003, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd has issued a shariah

compliant credit card named Bank Islam Card (BIC). This first Islamic credit card in

Malaysian market was issued to response the need of its Muslim clients. It is also the

first credit card in Southeast Asia adopting the Europay-Mastercard-Visa (EMV)

Smart Card with the “chip” technology. The card has all features as payment

instrument, however, profit rate is only charged to clients who fail to pay back the

minimum repayment within the 20 days grace period.10.

Malaysia is considered as one of the development of the Islamic banking and

finance system and has continued a lead position in the field. In this chapter we are

going to study how Islamic bank in Malaysia practice credit cards as well as the point

of view of Islamic scholars pertaining to this issue.

2.2 What does it mean by Islamic credit cards?

Massey defined Islamic credit card as a payment instrument that meet with at

least three criteria of Islamic principles. Firstly, the card must meet the shariah

requirements on lending, which vary from region to region. In general, it must avoid

the three essential prohibitions in Islamic finance, which are riba, gharar and maysir.

Riba, as applied in the interest concept, is clearly proscribed in the Holy Qur’an and

the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad peace be on him. Therefore, an Islamic credit card

is not allowed to charge any interest to payments even if the user is late in paying.

Gharar, or uncertainty, in the practice of Islamic credit card should be avoided by

10 Ilham Reza Ferdian, Miranti Kartika Dewi, Faried Kurnia Rahman, The Practice of Islamic Credit

Cards: A Comparative Look between Bank Danamon Indonesia’s Dirham Card and Bank IslamMalaysia’s BI Card, No date status.

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excluding a charging scheme where the monthly repayment or service charges are

variable based on a number of factors. Maysir or gambling is also prohibited. Thus,

apart from preventing the card holder to access sites such as online gambling, Islamic

cards need some other form of insurance cover. Secondly, an Islamic credit card must

have certainty to be accepted widely. It has to use international payment schemes,

such as MasterCard or Visa. Besides that, the card should provide facilities that are

not available on debit cards such as CVV numbers for “card not present” transactions

and hold amounts. Furthermore, the merchant charges and issuer’s fees should not be

withheld. Thirdly, an Islamic credit card should not encourage behavior that is

considered haram. This includes all manner of forbidden behaviors and transactions

of an inappropriate nature.11

To look forward on the application of Islamic credit card, this paper will

discuss the practice of Islamic credit cards in Malaysia, by taking a closer look on BI

Card which is issued by Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd.

2.3 Details of Bank Islam Card

The holders of the card are only permitted carry out halal transactions, which

exclude transactions related with six categories that don’t meet shariah requirements.

These categories are bars, discos, night clubs, purchase of beers, escort and massage

services and gambling. Operation of BIC involves three aqad (contract), namely Bay

al inah,Wadiah, and Qard al hasan.

Bay al inah consist of two agreements. In the first agreement the customer

buys merchandise from the bank at a stipulated price. Whereas, the bank buys back

11 James Massey, What is so special about Islamic credit cards? ,MONEY works , September 2007

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the merchandise from the client at a lower price. The bank’s profit from this

transaction is derived from the difference of the two prices. The profit rate levied by

Islamic bank is known in advance.

Furthermore, the cash proceeds of the second agreement are deposited into the

wadiah account of the customer. Wadiah is a contract of safekeeping where the

custodian is not allowed to use or benefit from the asset. However, if the asset is

destroyed or damaged he is not held liable unless proven negligent. The wadiah

account is created and maintained by the bank. Then, the customer can use his or her

card to purchase goods and services same as the conventional credit card. The only

difference is that BIC card is backed by cash held in the wadiah account.12

The last contract used by Bank Islam in the operation of BIC is qard al hasan.

The bank enables the customer to withdraw more than the available balance in his

wadiah account. No financial charge is levied on that extra amount used. However,

the client is required to settle it in a specific time later.

Moreover, for BIC the profit is calculated monthly and it is based on the sum

of transaction made during that particular month, the profit is not compounded unlike

conventional bank and the total profit cannot be more than the profit stated in the

contract of bay al inah. However, for conventional credit card the interest rate

imposed is undetermined.

Similarly, the fee charged for withdrawal service is not exorbitant as compared

to conventional bank because when a client withdraws RM 1,000 or below, a fee of

RM 12 is charged. On the other hand, in the case if conventional credit card, a fee of

12 Obaidullah, M 2005, Islamic Financial Services, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz University, 5 February 2008, <http://islamic-finance-net/ifs/ifstitle.html>

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3% or RM 50 is charged for every withdrawal.13

2.4 The Figure of Bay Inah in Bank Islam

First of all, bay al’inah as the underlying contract consists of two separate

contracts, the property sale agreement and the property purchase agreement, which are

executed separately with a difference in both selling price. The transaction of the said

contract works in the following fashion:

Step 1: Bank sells the its asset to the customer (hereinafter called card holder) on a

deferred repayment basis. This transaction affects the debt payable by the customer to

the bank.

13 Ilham Reza Ferdian, Miranti Kartika Dewi, Faried Kurnia Rahman, The Practice of Islamic Credit

Cards: A Comparative Look between Bank Danamon Indonesia’s Dirham Card and Bank IslamMalaysia’s BI Card, No date status.

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Step 2: Bank buys the same asset from the card holder on cash basis at a lower price

than the price it sold under step 1.

Step 3: The bank disburses the amount of cash proceeds from the “buy back”

transaction into the card holder’s wadi’ah marginal account.

Step 4: The bank creates an Islamic credit card account for the card holder.

Step 5: The credit card is issued to the customer to utilize the balance available in the

wadi’ah marginal deposit account

Step 6: The card holder makes a credit purchase from a merchant. In cases where the

card holder makes purchases over the financing limit and exceeds his available

balances, the bank in its jurisdiction, will decide whether or not to give the card holder

qard al hasan on a case-to-case basis. If the bank decides to allow the card holder an

overdraft, he will not be levied with extra charges or fees but will be required to repay

the amount used.

Step 7: The merchant transfers his right to claim the debt to the bank under the

contract of hawalah mutlaqah (absolute transfer to debt).

Step 8: The card holder settles his outstanding balance and that results in his line of

credit being revolved.14

Suppose Aminah intends to obtain BIC card from BIMB. Firstly, she will be

asked to fill up an application form, notifying her annual income to the bank. Based

on Aminah‟ financial circumstances, the bank will offer different types of BIC card.

Premium card (gold or platinum) with large amount of credit will be offered if her

annual income is pretty high. Let us assume that Aminah is qualify to have a gold BIC

card with credit facility up to RM11,000. In granting the said amount to Aminah, the

14 See http://www.bankislam.com.my/product_pgnpempiyck01_e.htm

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bank will execute a bay' al-Inah transaction. BIMB will identify a specific asset, for

example a piece of land which will then be sold to Aminah, say for RM15,000 in

deferred sale. Immediately, the bank will buy back the land from Aminah for

RM11,000 in cash. When the second transaction is executed, Aminah who formerly

came to the bank with empty pocket now will have a substantial amount of cash to

spend with. The bank will disburse the cash (RM11,000) which is the proceeds of the

second agreement into Aminah's BIC wadi‘ah account. Having the money, Aminah

now can use her BIC card for various commercial transactions just similar to the

conventional credit card. She is required to pay back the money she had used from the

account within a given period. Otherwise, the bank will impose additional payment for

the late settlement.

BIMB contends that its additional payment for the late settlement is legitimate

since it is regarded as profit not interest. The profit is referred to the difference

between the sell and the buy back prices (RM15,000 – RM11,00) in the bay' al-Inah

transaction executed earlier. In other words, through the act of selling land to Aminah,

BIMB is actually entitled RM4000 of profit. However, the profit is only claimed on

Aminah when she struggles to pay her debt on time. The maximum additional

payment however is fixed (RM4000 in our example). According to BIMB, the fixed

maximum profit demonstrates BIC card main advantage over its conventional

counterparts. This is because in the conventional credit card system, the interest is

perpetuate as it is charged compounded until cardholders‟ outstanding debts are been

settled.

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2.5 Bai’inah according to Muslim scholar

The main issue here is how does the shari’ah regard such a contract: should the sale

be allowed or disallowed because motive behind the sale is to legalize that which is

illegal or usurious? There are two different opinions on this matter.

First: Shafi’i Opinion

According to Imam Shafi’i, “if a man buys from another goods on debt which

he received it from the seller, there is no harm that the buyer sells it back to the same

seller or to another person either at a lower price or higher one. There is no

relationship between the first sale and the second one.”15 The contract is valid as long

as the condition of the contract is fulfilled. The real intention is left to God there is no

way we can discovered it. The unlawful intention (niyah,qasd) of the parties is

immaterial and it is dose not invalidate their act, unless expressed in the act. For that

Shafi’i takes the example of someone who marries his wife for a short term. This

marriage, however, is valid because others do not know the real intention. Although

the said marriage is reprehensible (makru), it is valid, whereas a temporary marriage

(mutah) is invalid.16 Furthermore, Shafi’i above view is only applicable in the case

where the true intention of the parties is hidden and unknown.

According to al-Imam Nawawi, Bay’al-inah is not of the prohibited sale. It is

to sell a person an item on deferred payment and hand over the item to him. Then the

seller buys it from the same person on the spot with a lower price cash before

receiving the previously agreed upon payment. Likewise, it is permissible to purchase

15 Muhammad Idris al shafi’I, Kitab al-umm, Dar al-kutub al ‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1973, Vol.3, p.95.

16 Ibid, p.74

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an item on cash and later sell it back with an increased price on a deferred basis,

regardless of the fact whether the first seller received the price or not and weather or

not the inah becomes the dominated culture in the country.17

Second: Hanafi’, Maliki and Hanbali Opinion

Hambali and Maliki assert that the contract of inah is not valid. According to them,

the permissibility of the contract is determined by the motive of the parties. In the

case of BIC, the motive of the parties is to get the loan. Hence, invalid. And the sale

is not valid because it constitutes a legal device (hilah) to obtain a loan with interest

which should be averted at all cost according to the Shairi’ah.18 Another Hambali

scholar said that if someone sells his grape to someone else and knew that the buyer

would use it for the purpose of making wine, this contract is void. This is analog of

bay al inah.

Furthermore, nowadays there are documents indicating the objective of the

contract. Since the sale and contract is a cover up to give a loan, then this is

considered as invalid contract.19

The Hanafi view is base on a narration pertaining to Aisha’s disapproval of

Zaid bin Arqam’s practice of bay’ al-inah:

17 Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf al-Nawawi, Rawdat al-talibin, Dar al-kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut,

142H/2000, vol.3 pp.85-86.

18 Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd, Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al Muqtasid, Beirut, vol.2,

p.58. see also al-Zuhayli, al-Fiqh a-Islami wa Adillatuh,pp.3457.

19 Ilham Reza Ferdian, Miranti Kartika Dewi, Faried Kurnia Rahman, The Practice of Islamic Credit

Cards: A Comparative Look between Bank Danamon Indonesia’s Dirham Card and Bank IslamMalaysia’s BI Card, No date status.

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دخلت وأنا ام ولد زید : وھي ان العالیة بنت ایفع قالت : عائشة رضي اهللا عنھا لما روي من قصة زید بن ارقم مع السیدة اني بعت غالما من زید بن أرقم بثمانمائة درھم : (فقالت أم ولد زید بن أرقم، بن أرقم وامرأتھ على عأشة رضي اهللا عنھا

أبلغي زیدا أنھ قد أبطل ، شریت و بئسما شریتبئسما : فقالت عائشة) أي حالة: (ثم اشتریتھ منھ بستمائة درھم ، الي العطاءوتبایعوا ، ادا ضن الناس بالدینار والدرھم: وقال صلى اهللا علیھ وسلم) جھاده مع رسول اهللا صلى اهللا علیھ وسلم ان لم یتب

.دینھمفال یرفعھ حتى یراجعوا ، أنزل اهللا بھم بالء، وتركوا الجھاد في سبیل اهللا، واتبعوا أدناب البقر، بالعینة

‘Aisha binti Awfa’ said: the wife of Zaid, the mother of his child and I visited Aisha,

then the mother of his child said: “I sold ‘Aisha’s slave to Zaid ibn ‘Arqam in

exchange for 800.00 Dirhams deferred, then I bought him back for 600.00 Dirhams in

cash”, Aisha said: “Woe to what you sold and what you bought, tell Zaid that he has

voided his jihad with the Prophet unless he repents”. ‘The Prophet, may Allah bless

him and grant him peace, said: When people are miserly with their Dinar and

Darhams and siver coins, (comprising the currencies being used at his time), trade in

ina, follow the tail of cows, and disert the striving in the cause of Allah, Allah will

send unto them a suffering that he will never lift until they rediscover their

religion”.20

In bay’ al-‘inah, the object of sale is made to exist only to fulfill the

requirements of contract (‘aqad) as the buyer has no intention to use the object of sale

(mahallul ‘aqdi). Likewise the seller too is interested to conclude the deal as doing so

brings profits to the bank. He can only make a loan with a contractual extra payment.

However, both will not enter into a contract of debt bearing a contractual returns, but

will use the contract of sale (al-bay’) to achieve the same end as any profits made

from sale is deemed permissible (halal) in Islam.

20 Sunan al- Dar Qutni, Kitab al-Bayu’, Hadith no 2983, Dar al Kutub al ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2003

19

Now, some may say the intention of the buyer and seller is not sincere, as there is no

real intention to consume or utilize the object of sale. The object (‘ain or ‘in) holds a

mere fictitious function. This transaction is pursued only to legalize making loan with

interest. At least this is what many Middle-eastern jurists have been saying all along.

Whatever suspicion one has about bay’ al-‘Inah, the Shafi’ school of fiqh still

considered legal and valid contract. The Shafi’ school says the intention or niyyah is

not a significant element in determining the validity of a contract. This is the

viewpoint taken up by the Shari’ah scholars in Bank Negara and the Securities

Commission. However, the niyyah element is a crucial factor in the Hanafi, Hanbali

and Maliki schools.21

In credit card transaction, the doctrine of Bai Al-Inah is used to validate the

transaction. The argument of validity of bai al Inah is debated between Muslim The

doctrine of bai al-Inah or buy back sale is not recognized by some scholars including

the Ulama from the Middle-East. But in Malaysia, the doctrine of Bai Al-Inah is

recognized, and is used as one of the basis to justify the implementation of credit card

under the Shariah discipline.22

In the primary sources there are no clear indications of validity in Bai Al-Inah

transaction. But there is one hadith saying that this type of transaction is not valid

however the authentic of the hadith and the class of the hadith is unknown.23 In the

21 Prof. Saiful Azhar Rosly, Critical issues on Islamic banking and financial markets”, Authorhouse, 2005.www.authorhouse.com Some viewpoints on Bay’ al-‘Inah,

22 Mohd. Ma’sum Billah Islamic Credit Card in Practice, No date status, p.5

23 Ibid, p.6

20

context of bai Al Inah, the use of doctrine Al Masalih Al Mursalah is adopted in order

to justify the using of such transaction in the credit cards. In the new era of

globalization, many financial dealings were not exactly the same to the practice in

time of prophet (peace be upon him) People try to innovate a new thing that can make

life better off. This is not only goods and service innovation but to the financial

products as well. The idea was to ensure a comfortable life, which is also a wish of

Allah(s.w.t.) as evident in the following ayat:

“ Allah (s.w.t.) intends every facility for you; He does not want to put you to

difficulties”24

The used of Masalih Al Mursalah can be applied in the credit card transaction, since

Allah want us to have easiness in the life but off course to be harmonized with the

Quran and Sunnah so it will not deviate from the Shariah teaching.

CONCLUSION

Islamic credit card is issued by the Islamic banks especially to meet the need of

Muslim customers to make transactions without holding any cash on hand. Despite of

It’s function to let those customers to do transaction that in line with Islamic

principles, the Islamic credit card also has invited debates among jurists. Some of

them said that the aqad used in the operation of this card is like another form of

interest which is applied in the conventional credit card. Others argued that Islam

permits the use of a credit card so long it does not involve the element of riba, e.g.

24 Al Quran, surah Al Baqarah 2:185

21

however, In the credit card transaction among the advantages of using it is

convenience to the buyer, security wise, and cost effective are considered to benefits

the user in tern of giving comfortable life. Thus, the principle of Maslahah Al

Mursalah can be applied in the credit card transaction, since Allah want us to have

easiness in life but of course to be harmonized with the Holy Quran and Hadith of

Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. so it will not deviate from shariah teaching.

Reference

1. Al Quran, 2. Adil Manzoor Bakhshi, “Developing a financial model for Islamic credit card

for the UK”, Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of MSc in International Banking & Finance, University of Salford 2006

3. Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf al-Nawawi, Rawdat al-talibin, Dar al-kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 142H/2000,

4. Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Rushd, Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al Muqtasid, Beirutsee

5. David S. Evans, paying with plastic: The digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing, Cambrige, Massachusetts, London,1999

6. James Massey, What is so special about Islamic credit cards? ,MONEYworks , September 2007

7. Peter E. Sayer, Credit Cards and The Law :An Introduction, Fourmat Publishing, London, 1988

8. Tony Drury, Charles W Ferries, Credit Cards, Butterworth, London,1984 9. See:www.wikipedia.com/creditcard 10. Sunan al- Dar Qutni, Kitab al-Bayu’, Hadith no 2983, Dar al Kutub al

ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2003 11. See http:// www.mtscil.org/skills budget-12.html 12. See http://www.bankislam.com.my/product_pgnpempiyck01_e.htm 13. Pheng, Banking Law 14. Ilham Reza Ferdian, Miranti Kartika Dewi, Faried Kurnia Rahman, The

Practice of Islamic Credit Cards: A Comparative Look between Bank

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Danamon Indonesia’s Dirham Card and Bank IslamMalaysia’s BI Card, No date status.

15. Obaidullah, M 2005, Islamic Financial Services, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz University, 5 February 2008, <http://islamic-finance-net/ifs/ifstitle.html>

16. Ilham Reza Ferdian, Miranti Kartika Dewi, Faried Kurnia Rahman, The Practice of Islamic Credit Cards: A Comparative Look between Bank Danamon Indonesia’s Dirham Card and Bank

17. Muhammad Idris al=shafi’I, Kitab al-umm, Dar al-kutub al ‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 1973,

18. Mohd. Ma’sum Billah Islamic Credit Card in Practice, 19. Prof. Saiful Azhar Rosly, Critical issues on Islamic banking and financial

markets”, Authorhouse, 2005.www.authorhouse.com Some viewpoints on Bay’ al-‘Inah,

20. Ilham Reza Ferdian, Miranti Kartika Dewi, Faried Kurnia Rahman, The Practice of Islamic Credit Cards: A Comparative Look between Bank Danamon Indonesia’s Dirham Card and Bank IslamMalaysia’s BI Card