Penalty and Compensation in Financial Commitments-A Critical Shariah Review

The aim of this paper is to critically review the position of Shariah and contemporary ijtihād on penalty provisions in financial commitments. It is also to show that some relevant fiqh resolutions have dealt differently with similar issues despite the absence of any grounds for such differentiation and to show how penalty provision in contracts has been expanded to include what cannot be accommodated by Shariah principles. All this necessitates a review of those stances, as they may have both unnecessarily burdened the Islamic finance industry and challenged some Shariah principles.