A paper presented to the International Islamic Fiqh Academy at its Twelfth Session, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Majallat Majmaʿ al-Fiqh al-Islāmī (Journal of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy) Session 12, pp. 784-810 (in al-Maktabah al-Shāmilah)
In the name of Allah; all praises be to Him, and prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.
This paper is divided into two sections: the first section is on supply contracts, and the second is on tenders. In the section on supply contracts, I will discuss the components, as much as possible, that were requested by the Academy for this session. I already presented a paper on tenders in the ninth session in 1415AH/1995CE. Therefore, in this (supplemental) paper I will confine the discussion to the elements that were requested by the Academy and which I did not discuss in my previous paper.
Here I have to mention the following:
First: When commissioning this article, the Academy limited it to a minimum of 16 pages and a maximum of 32, and I will comply with this, though I may not be able to thoroughly discuss all the required components and plumb the depths of the discussion needed on this thorny and subtle topic. However, I shall give priority to the most important thereof over the [merely] important as much as I can.
Second: The reader may observe that I sometimes refer to some contemporary references only, for brevity. That is because I do not find any reason to refer to the original sources unless there is something that needs verification, reassurance and addition.
Third: The reader may notice this paper discusses the views of some scholars. I hope they will not be discomfited by it, as the views of all of them could be taken or rejected. Furthermore, the objective is not justification of the self, or of any personality, or any school of jurisprudence; rather, the only goal is to stand up for the religion, knowledge and the rigour of the Academy’s resolutions without excessive decorum.
In their research on emerging issues, scholars must try to apply the principles of jurisprudence that they recorded in their books and taught to their students. They should not forgo them, neither slightly nor greatly, as doing so would provoke astonishment, or [the perception of] contradiction or a lack of concern. We should avidly seek, as far as possible, to avoid any gap or conflict between research and discussions on the one hand and the Academy’s resolutions on the other hand.
Allah is the source of all success.
