ANSWERED: Halal Mortgages?

[Raeesa]

Asalamu-alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

I've always known them to be fine to use such as Amaanah from HSBC... but i've recently heard that these "halal" mortgages are not considered halaal either?

Anyone know any info about them inshallah?

[eat-halal guy]

Asalamu-alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu

I've always known them to be fine to use such as Amaanah from HSBC... but i've recently heard that these "halal" mortgages are not considered halaal either?

Anyone know any info about them inshallah?


Walaikumussalam wrwb,

From what I understand, they are fine. Especially since they are overseen by such expert scholars in Islamic finance...

http://www.amanahfinance.hsbc.com/amanah/hsbcaf.nsf/Pages/ShariahSupervisoryCommittee

Allah knows best.

[eat-halal guy]

Have you heard any reasons as to why they are not Halal? Like why are people saying they are not Halal? :confused:

[Raeesa]

Hmmm... A couple of reasons but apperently theres more...
the ones i've heard mainly consist of how a loan is taken with interest from the company who is giving the halaal mortgage, so theyre going into haraam themselves..
Also, how some companies make their money by interest (maybe HSBC becuase of its other interest stuff it does) so the company itself is mainly based on haraam sources itself...
However, I'm unsure about this but I have been told that its not the position of the person whose getting the money to question its source?

Personally, I'm pretty confident about HSBC.. because Mufti Taqi Usmani is behind it all and i went to a talk where he did explain it, although at that time I was pretty ignorant about the whole mortgage stuff.
But HSBC works out to be really expensive, its a major drawback for Muslims who are trying to find a home without dwelling in haraam. *Sigh*

[abuhajira]

:salam:

just to add some more information for the querry...

from askimam.com

Can you please list any Interest free Sharia compliant Loans or mortgage companies or institutions in the United States other than HSBC bank? Guidance Financial ??
Recently, my mother in law advice me to purchase a house and she would help me by providing me with a large down payment. I told her to be patient because we are still waiting for Guidance Financial to answer the South African ulema’s concerns. Also, I am a bit hesitant with LaRiba. My mother in law has been very generous to provide a large amount of money for my wife and I. She advice us to purchase a house. Also, can i take a loan from overseas with sharia compliant bank. But we would need to take a Loan. Please assist us by provide any banks and institutions that this respected Ulema may know of.

We had looked into this scheme some time ago, and according to the information available to us, this scheme involves Riba (usury). It is hence not permissible to finance one’s house through such a scheme.

Note: Before arriving at the above answer, various attempts were made to contact Guidance Financial and get input from their side.

Many months ago, we received a query similar to yours. We requested the brother to obtain all available documentation in regards as to how the scheme operates, and what the terms of the contract were.

After studying the documents, we picked up a number of issues which were clearly non-Shari’ah compliant. We then prepared a questionnaire, which was sent via email to the company on 15 August 2002. This was then followed up by a number of reminders, which did not yield any results.

We then pursued this with a fax dated 17 September 2002. We finally managed to elicit a response. The spokesman of Guidance Financial, Mr. Ahmed Attia, acknowledged receipt of our initial email, and said that the matter was under consideration. He explained that he had forwarded our queries to his Shari’ah Board, and that we could expect a reply by early October 2002.

October came and went, and yet there was no reply. We then followed this up with an email sent on 5 December 2002. In this email we stated that should no answers to our questions be forthcoming within 15 days, we will have to make a decision based on whatever documentation we have available with us. Still too there was no response.

To date (2003-01-24) we have not received a reply to our queries.

Guidance Financial claims to have an independent Shari’ah Board who have researched and approved their scheme. It thus implies that this Board ought to have done its homework well before the scheme was offered to the public. If this was the case, we find it difficult to understand why more than five months are required to give answers to issues that, it would be expected, were deliberated and resolved before the public offering of this financial product was made.

The non-co-operation of the company itself raises questions regarding its integrity.

and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Ml. Imraan Vawda
FATWA DEPT.

CHECKED AND APPROVED: Mufti Ebrahim Desai
___________


However after the afore mentioned date, Albalgh posted this from Mufti Taqi Uthmani himself

Guidance and Amanah Finance. Followup Questions

By Mufti Taqi Usmani
Posted: 2 Rajab 1424, 30 August 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q.) Is it permissible to use interest rate as a benchmark for pricing a permissible contract? Have you approved Amanah Home Finance scheme?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



A.) (1) I have already mentioned that I have approved the scheme of Guidance after vetting all their documents. It is not possible for me to explain to every individual the reasons for each and every clause of the documents. However, if someone finds a clause in clash with Islamic principles, he can copy that particular clause and send it to me along with his objection.


(2) The issue of using interest-rate as a benchmark for pricing a permissible contract has been fully discussed in my book "Islamic Finance" in the chapter of Murabaha. Those interested may consult it.


(3) I am not in favor of posting my Fatwas about particular Institution on Websites. This may give an impression of marketing their products and defending them which I wish to avoid. Those who may rely on me, it should be enough for them that I have approved the Scheme after studying the documents thoroughly.


4) I have also approved the HSBC Amanah Home Finance Scheme both in US and UK.



:salam:

[Raeesa]

hmmm interesting.. those opinions really clash :/

I hadn't seen the fatwa by Mufti Desai before. And i wish Mufti Taqi Usmani would explain its permissability a little more :p

He's also part of the shariah board with Al Manzil, which has much nicer rates... http://www.iibu.com/shariaa_board/sboard.htm

[eat-halal guy]

While it would be nice to have more details, I understand that it can be difficult for Mufti Taqi to explain everything, as fiqh and finance make for a complex couple.

Nonethless, since he is quite the expert in finance and fiqh (among other things), if he says its okay, then I say that it's okay.

After all, not everyone can understand everything.