Murabaha

Murabaḥah or murabaḥa (Arabic مرابحة, more accurately transliterated as murâbaḥah) is a particular kind of sale, compliant with shariah, where the seller expressly mentions the cost he has incurred on the commodities for sale and sells it to another person by adding some profit or mark-up thereon which is known to the buyer. As the requirement includes an "honest declaration of cost", Murâbaḥah is one of three types of bayu-al-amanah (fiduciary sale). The other two types of bayu-al-amanah are tawliyah (sale at cost) and wadiah (sale at specified loss).

It is one of the most popular modes used by banks in Islamic countries to promote riba-free transactions. Different banks use this instrument in varying ratios. Typically, banks use murabahah in asset financing, property, microfinance and commodity import-export.

The seller may not use Murâbaḥah if mudarabah or musharakah is practicable. Since those profit-sharing modes of financing involve risks, they cannot guarantee banks any income. Murabahah, with its fixed margin, offers the seller (i.e. the bank) a more predictable income stream. A profit-sharing instrument, conversely, is preferable as it shares the risks more equitably between seller and buyer.

There are, however, practical guidelines in place which aim to ensure that the Murâbaḥah transaction between the bank and the customer is one based on trade and not merely a financing transaction. For instance, the bank must take constructive or actual possession of the good before selling it to the customer. Whilst it can be justified to charge an additional margin to the customer to reflect the time value of money in terms of actual payment not being received from the customer at time zero, the bank can only impose penalties for late payment by agreeing to purify them by donating them to charity.

The accounting treatment of Murâbaḥah, and its disclosure and presentation in financial statements, vary from bank to bank.