Is Mudharaba Term Deposit in Bangladesh Islamic banks Sharia Compliant?

· 26 Safar 1439 AH1 min readFatwa 39339English

Question

I would like to know the permissibility of Mudarabah term deposits arranged by Islamic Banks. Here in Bangladesh, most Islamic banks have Mudarabah term deposits (MTDR) wherein the 'provisional profit rate' is declared beforehand (please refer to the following link for an example). However, the actual profits may be more or less. Are these term deposits Shariah-compliant?

http://www.siblbd.com/home/profit_rates

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Bank serves as mudharib [working partner]. Depositors are rabbul maal [investors]. Bank is predicting profits and possible returns and not the exact return. This is based on their calculation. There is nothing wrong with this. However, the depositors should be informed that this is an estimation and they are not entitled to that. They are entitled to the exact percentage of profit.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Ridwaan Ibn Khalid Esmail [Kasak]

Student Darul Iftaa
Katete, Zambia

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai with the following comments:

Our answer is specific to the concept of a provisional profit rate of a general mudharaba account. Our answer should not be taken as approval of the mudharaba accounts in Bangladesh as we have not studied the contracts and applications of the contracts.

Answered by
Ridwaan Ibn Khalid Esmail [Kasak]
Checked & approved by
Mufti Ebrahim Desai with the following comments
Questions about this ruling, answered only from the archive with sources.

Where scholars differ, it’s safer to take the more cautious view.

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