Third, we propose that Islamic banks form a fiqhi' committee...

Third, we propose that Islamic banks form a fiqhi' committee consisting of prominent scholars, and further, that the mujtahids in al-'t al-`ilmi'yyah (Islamic theological schools) undertake a study about the legitimacy and plausibility of the proposed economic, financial, and banking systems from the viewpoint of Islamic laws and constantly express their opinions concerning new forms for such systems.

Bay` al-salam [forward sale], and bay` al-salam al-muma'thil [fungible forward sale], bay` al-is[manufactural sale], tawri'd [mutual forward] contracts, murabahah [resale with stated profit] contracts, and so on are examples of economic institutions that provide banks with more alternatives for economic activities.

This is what the late Shahi'd al-@adr proposed a quarter of a century ago through his famous proposal known as riba'-free banking and what I put forward as the draft law for the prohibition of riba' in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ijtiha'd is indeed a source of blessing and Islamic rules are overflowing reserves that can undoubtedly help us to safeguard the Islamic character and spirit and overcome the difficulties caused by the developments of modern life.

Endnotes These goals include, for example, Qur'a'n's emphasis on avoidance from creating a situation that causes exclusive circulation of wealth only among the rich, and its emphasis on the necessity to prohibit the manipulation of the property which Allah made the sustenance of the ummah, or the emphasis by some nu#u'# on the view that the purpose of trade is to extract benefits or on the prohibition of if its opening results in evil consequences and so on.…