Question :
What is the ruling of Sharia on purchasing a commodity via Murabaha to the purchase orderer conducted by the Orphans Fund Development Foundation although the latter doesn`t have actual possession of the commodity itself?
The Answer :
All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May Allah`s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
As far as we know, the Orphans Fund Development Foundation-as stipulated in its internal system-deals in compliance with the rules of Islamic Murabaha and has recently deleted the forbidden penalty clause, which used to be stipulate in its contracts of Murabaha sale.
Consequently, it is permissible to deal with the above Foundation so long as it complies with the rules of Islamic Murabaha. For instance: the Foundation takes actual possession of the commodity before selling it to the potential buyer, as stipulated in the Foundations` transactions. If a misapplication happened, then the concerned employee is to blame, not the internal system of the Foundation. Thus, the purchase orderer can insist that the Foundation takes actual possession of the commodity before selling it to him, and had the latter checked with the officials of the above Foundation regarding this matter, it would have been better. And Allah the Almighty Knows Best.