This research paper was prepared in response to a gracious invitation extended by His Excellency Dr. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in Jeddah, to participate in the proceedings of the Academy’s 25th session, held in October 2021. The commissioned research specified the subject as “Contemporary Rulings on the Applications of Debt Restructuring (Qalb al-Dayn) and on Composite and Hybrid Ṣukūk”. The assignment encompassed a number of key issues, which the author has aggregated into two main topics:
Topic One: Applications of debt restructuring and the treatment of non-performing debts in financial institutions.
Topic Two: Applications of composite and hybrid ṣukūk.
This paper focuses on the first topic, while a second, independent study is dedicated to addressing the second one.
The aim of the research is to clarify the points of juristic contention within the issues grouped under each theme, to identify the key legal attributes necessary for conceptualising each issue, and then to determine the appropriate Sharīʿah ruling. This is done through critical analysis and study as a contribution to the Academy’s collective efforts to issue a resolution regarding it.
By: Shaykh Dr. Abdul Bārī Mishʿal, Member of the Fiqh Academy of North America, United States of America
