Question Summary:
Is FNB/Wesbank Islamic finance still Shariah compliant?

Question Detail:

Asslaam 

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

As you may have been aware, our Mufti Ebrahim Desai Saheb was the initial head of the Shari’ah Board at FNB Islamic Division. During his tenure there, he had approved only one product, namely the Asset Lease Product. Due to disagreements with the FNB Management, he resigned as the head member of the Shari’ah Board after consulting various senior and prominent businessmen.

At present we do not have any information about the products and its procedures. Furthermore, we cannot simply place reliance on the fact that the Islamic Division has a new Shari’ah Board. Unless and until we have not studied the current products in detail, we cannot approve the products being offered.

Our advice would be to abstain until absolute clarity is obtained.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Admin - Darul Iftaa.