الإجارة المنتهية بالتمليك وتطبيقاتها في البنوك والنوافذ الإسلامية العمانية : دراسة تقويمية

Abstract

The lease-to-purchasing contract in the Islamic banks of Oman and their desks is one of the most important applied contracts. There is hardly any Islamic bank or desk in the Sultanate which does not offer this contract. The share of this contract almost reaches the lion's share as estimated by some with 90% of the financing share. This research aimed to study the terms and conditions of the lease-to-ownership contract as carried out by Islamic banks and desks as well as analyze and evaluate them in accordance with the provisions of Shariah, its standards and collective decisions. Then, the Islamic ruling would be identified on these contracts based on analogical reasoning. In efforts to actualize the objectives of this research, the researcher employed an inductive approach by which to trace and extrapolate what has been written on the topic. An evaluative analytical approach was also adopted to study the nature of the lease-to-purchase contract, the conditions governing it. Using a field approach, the researcher conducted an interview with the Shariah Supervisory Boards at banks and desks for the purpose of obtaining information about lease-to-purchasing contracts and their applications in those institutions. By a statistical approach, the researcher prepared two questionnaires to measure the awareness of employees and customers of lease-to-purchase contract. Then, the responses were statistically processed to arrive at results the most important of which is that the terms and conditions of the lease-to-purchase-contracts are in compliance with the provisions of Shariah, and that some of them contain legal confusions that require amendment and re-examination. Some of these terms and conditions are subject to ambiguity. The study also revealed a low level of awareness among employees in Islamic banks and desks in Oman. As for the customers, the results of the questionnaire indicated a low awareness among them.