Commercial Contracts
Every clause, checked against Islamic principles and English law.
Most contracts are signed as they arrive, boilerplate and all. We read them the way you would if you had the time and the training, and tell you in plain words what you are agreeing to.
Or call 020 3930 1088
Two systems, one demand
Both distrust vagueness.
What Islamic principles ask
Certainty · Substance · No riba
A defined subject, a known price, obligations both sides understand. Too much uncertainty (gharar) can undo a contract. Any term that turns money itself into guaranteed gain is riba, whatever it is called.
What English law asks
Certainty · Formation · Enforceability
Offer, acceptance, consideration, and terms clear enough to enforce. Courts do not rescue parties from vagueness. English law also adds machinery of its own: implied terms, statutory rights, limits on penalty clauses.
A contract precise enough for Islamic principles is usually a better English contract too: clearer, fairer, harder to fight about.
Clause by clause
Where standard terms need a second look
- Late-payment interest
English law adds interest on overdue business debts by default. There are cleaner ways to protect cash flow: payment on delivery or in stages, deposits, retention of title, shorter terms. The drafting can lean on those instead.
- Penalties and late charges
English law cuts down clauses that punish rather than protect a real interest. Islamic principles are wary of charges on a debtor’s delay that work as disguised interest. Getting this boundary right is craft, not boilerplate.
- Risk, indemnities and insurance
Indemnities can quietly shift open-ended risk onto the smaller party. Is the risk defined, is it priced, and does it sit with the party who can control it?
- Scope and certainty
“Such other services as may be agreed”, prices “to be confirmed”. The vagueness a scholar flags as gharar is the vagueness a litigator will one day exploit.
The work
Read, advise, put right
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Read it in full
Bring the contract, draft or signed, English or Arabic. We go through it clause by clause.
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Advise on the fix
A clause amended, an alternative proposed, or a point conceded knowingly rather than by accident. We tell you which battles are worth having.
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Document it
Amendments, side letters or fresh drafting, written to English standards. Where regulated legal services are required, these are provided by our partner SRA-regulated law firm.
Common questions
Before you sign, or after you already have
Can interest clauses be removed from a standard contract?
Often, yes. Counterparties agree to more changes than people expect, especially when a workable alternative is offered. Where a term cannot be moved, we tell you exactly what you would be accepting.
What about contracts we have already signed?
A signed contract binds you, and keeping your word matters in both systems. But existing agreements can be reviewed, renegotiated at renewal, varied by consent, or simply understood for the first time.
Is a contract based on Islamic principles enforceable in England?
Yes. It is an ordinary English contract whose terms have been chosen with more care. Nothing about avoiding interest or defining risk makes it less enforceable.
Related service
Book a consultation
Bring the contract to the first meeting.
An hour with the actual document tells you more than a month of wondering about it.
Or call 020 3930 1088