Islamic Mortgage

Islamic Mortgage

A mortgage made according to the sharia, or Islamic law, which forbids the payment or receipt of interest. An Islamic mortgage may be an interest-free loan, but often it is a more complex transaction. For example, a bank could buy a house for cash and then re-sell it to the "borrower" for a profit through amortized payments such that the profit is the same as the bank would have made had it extended a regular loan. Other types involve the bank becoming a partner with the "borrower" so that both co-own the house or business, a scenario in which the borrower gradually buys the bank's share of ownership with a series of payments.