Legal Thoughts on Murabahah and Mudharabah Financing Contracts in Islamic Financial Institutions

Abstract

Financing based on murabahah and mudharabah contracts is the main instrument in the operations of Islamic financial institutions in Indonesia. Murabahah, as a sale contract with an agreed-upon profit margin, dominates financing practices because it provides certainty of repayment and relatively low risk. In contrast, mudharabah, as a profit-sharing partnership contract between the capital owner (shahibul maal) and the capital manager (mudharib), offers an ideal participatory economic model but faces challenges in its implementation, such as moral hazard, limited business oversight, and lack of transparency in customer financial reporting. This study aims to analyze Islamic law and positive law perspectives on both contracts by highlighting the fiqh basis, views of classical and contemporary scholars, national regulations, and practical issues in the field. Normatively, murabahah and mudharabah have Sharia legitimacy based on the Qur’an, hadith, ijma’, and the fatwas of DSN-MUI. Positive regulations such as Law Number 21 of 2008 on Sharia Banking as well as the Compilation of Sharia Economic Law (KHES) also provide a clear legal basis for their implementation. Nonetheless, there is a tendency for the overdominance of murabahah, which results in the profit-sharing based Sharia economic idealism not being fully realized. Mudharabah financing is considered more in line with the principles of distributive justice and the strengthening of the real sector, but it requires regulatory reformulation and the strengthening of supervisory mechanisms