What is your understanding of Murabaha? How is Murabaha implemented Bank Muamalat Indonesia’s banking system? What products are financed on the murabaha facility? Murabaha is deemed by many scholars as not a true mode of Islamic finance,

INTERVIEW Name : Mr Ahmad Fauzi Position : Financing, Supporting Division Company : Bank Muamalat Indonesia TimePlace : 05 November 2010, Bank Muamalat 1. What is your understanding of Murabaha? Murabaha is a type of financing provided for customers who wish to purchase an item which will allow them to pay the price in instalments over a period of time. In the case of a bank, the customer would approach the bank, the bank would purchase the item wanted by the customer, and then resell it to the customer at an agreed mark-up. The customer would then pay the amount owed to the bank in instalments. And this is basically the common or universal understanding of murabaha. 2. How is Murabaha implemented Bank Muamalat Indonesia’s banking system? Murabaha is applied in Bank Muamalat Indonesia whereby the Bank will buy any halal goods that you need and then sell them to the client to be paid periodically installments according to their ability. This facility can be used to deal with business needs either working capital or investment: procurement of capital goods such as machinery, equipment, etc. or private needs e.g. purchase of motor vehicles, homes, etc. 3. What products are financed on the murabaha facility? We provide two types of murabaha financing facilities, namely investment murabaha product and murabaha for working capital. The investment murabaha product is utilised for consumable products such purchasing a car, house or even for the purchase of products and materials for renovation. In the case of working capital, say a person wants to expand his business, we provide murabaha facility in assisting the person in developing his business. But we can only provide the materials on a murababa facility and not cash, or labour.

4. Murabaha is deemed by many scholars as not a true mode of Islamic finance,

and has drawn a lot of criticism from muslims and non muslims alike, yet Murabaha is the most popular mode of Islamic finance, why is that? Well if you want to check clearly you can download and check the bank muamalat financial statement for 2007, 2008 and 2009. You will be able to compare all the Islamic financial products such as murabaha, mudharabah, musharaka and ijarah etc. As for the popularity of murabaha, I think it‟s the easiest way in catering for the people‟s needs without getting involved in interestriba.

5. Can you explain the method used in nominating an agent or representitve