Sharia-Compliant Mortgages

Sharia-Compliant Mortgages

Until recently, mortgages were a religious obstacle to any Muslim who wanted to buy a home. Muslims must be sure that the mortgage complies with Sharia (Islamic) law. The biggest problem for a British Muslim who wants to buy a house is that either paying or charging of interest is prohibited.

Most UK mortgages involve the house-buyer borrowing the money and paying it back with some interest charged on top. No good for Muslims. To avoid the issue of paying interest, Muslim mortgages usually involve the bank buying the property and then the buyer purchasing it from them and renting it over a length of time at a slightly increased price.

Muslim mortgages also involve making other aspects of the mortgage Sharia compliant, for instance making sure that the money the banks use to buy the property comes from permissible sources.

Until July 2002 only one financial institution in the UK offered Islamic mortgages (The United Bank of Kuwait). The shortage of Muslim mortgages was due to a combination of technical and cultural problems.

Stamp duty was one of the biggest problems. Stamp duty is a one-off tax that is charged on every property sold. But stamp duty was being charged twice on Islamic mortgages because in a Muslim mortgage the property is in theory bought twice (once by the bank and once by the buyer).

Banking institutions also lacked knowledge not only of Sharia, but also of the Muslim community itself, and this probably held up the development of Sharia compliant products. All financial products for Muslims must be checked by a panel of Muslim scholars, and bankers were not used to working with religious experts and were unfamiliar with the language of the Qur’an.

The law on stamp duty has been altered – double stamp duty was abolished on Islamic mortgages in April 2003 – and the government began urging banks to work with Muslims. One of the first results came in July 2003 when HSBC, one of the biggest banks in the UK, brought out a range of Sharia-compliant mortgages. By the end of 2005 there were five banks offering Islamic mortgages, including Lloyds TSB and the Islamic Bank of Britain.

What’s the difference?

This new interest in Islamic finance may seem like a dream come true for Muslims, but some remain cynical about the mortgages on offer. UK banks need to work on gaining the trust of the Muslim community. They have ignored the needs of Muslims for a long time so it is not surprising that many Muslims are concerned that the banks are not really taking Muslims’ ethical concerns seriously.

A big concern for Muslims is that they have to find more money in the beginning than borrowers going for a traditional mortgage. Sharia mortgages usually involve paying a large deposit, often around thirty percent of the total cost.

Arshad Majid, who helped to set up Sharia-compliant mortgages in the US, says that this is not necessarily a bad thing. “You could argue that the larger down-payment is actually decreasing your costs over time. It’s giving you a greater percentage of equity in the property at a faster rate.” Arshad also stresses that following Sharia law is about doing what is right, not saving money. “No one says that Islam is an easy religion to follow, but we believe that the rewards of being a Muslim are great as well. Halal food costs more money than regular food, yet nobody thinks twice about buying halal meat. Why would you think twice about doing Islamic banking?”

Some Muslims are not convinced that banks will test their products rigorously enough. But Nizam Yaquby, a highly respected Sharia scholar who advises banks, has been impressed by the way HSBC has approached Muslim finance. Scholars were called in to advise on the Sharia-compliance of the new mortgages and he says he is satisfied with their efforts.

Others are concerned that the banks may be using money in non-permissible activities (like financing breweries or non-halal meat companies). Many scholars concede that laws regulating money in the UK cannot be as strict as they would be in Muslim countries while still making sure the products on offer conform to Sharia.

It may take some time and some changes within the Muslim community before Muslims are happy with the mortgages on offer but home ownership is an important step forward for Muslims that should lead to greater financial stability and greater social inclusion.

Interviewing the experts

At The Islamic Real Estate Finance conference in London in July 2003 these experts spoke about Sharia law and how the new interest in Islamic banking will affect British Muslims.

Shaykh Nizam Yaquby is a member of the Sharia boards for several Islamic financial institutions and has contributed important research on modern Islamic finance and is one of the world’s leading experts in the field.

Arshad Majid (pictured above) is a US attorney who represents purchasers and sellers of property. He has been involved in the creation of finance solutions for Muslims. Clients include Citybank and

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/living/mortgages.shtml