THE ISLAMIC LAW APPROACH TO ECONOMIC REALITIES IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY: A CASE STUDY OF BAY‘ AL-SALAM (FORWARD SALE) IN NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/Keywords:
Islamic law, Economic Realities, Pluralistic Society, Bay' al-Salam, NigeriaAbstract
Islamic law has never been an island to itself throughout history. It emerged within a pluralistic society and was nourished and cherished therein with all other religions. All its system carries global outlook and do not over-emphasize the religious trend of Islam. Its economic system served the realities of the past as it is serving the realities of the present. This paper examines Islamic economic principles as an aspect of Islamic finance with an example of Islamic transaction in agricultural dealings that is, bay‘ al-salam using Nigeria as a case study. Through doctrinal legal research, the finding of the paper is that Nigeria being an agrarian society stands to gain a lot from the institution of bay‘ al-salam because it will serve as alternative to loan which is very difficult to access at present due to the current economic problems. The paper concludes that Islamic law provides alternative ways of transactions which are not anathema to human nature and it is not exploitative and amenable to all epochs and eras. The paper recommends that there is need for collaboration of strategy between the farmers, Islamic financial institutions and the potential buyers to build strong customer allegiance to achieve the expected objective.
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