Principles

Mutual Funds are groups of stocks and other investmentinstruments (Bonds, Certificate of deposits, ...etc.)managed by a "professional" and pooling money fromthousands of investors and leveraging the aggregatedamount of the pooled money in buying stocks and bonds.

Mortgage is a long term loan, usually for a person or family topurchase a house over a long period (30 years). This is fairlycommon in Western societies (perhaps the only way onecould afford or buy a house in those societies).

This practice barely exists in Muslim countries, at least for now.

This involves interest (and a lot of it!), and therefore alternativeshave to found to this method.

In Western societies, Financing has become a way of life. The basic form of financing is to buy a certian product or service (e.g. TV set,Car, clothings, ...etc.) and pay in installments and interest.

Loans in the prevalent economic system involves interest, which is prohibited in Islam.

Aside from that, loans often encourage consumerism, where people buy things they don't need with money they do not have!

Conventional Bank Accounts fall into two main categories:

• Saving Account:
  Here you keep your money in the bank (for safety reasons) as well as earn a fixed interest rate on it.
• Checking Account:
  This normally doesn't have interest paid by the bank.

Credit Cards is a very convenient method of making purchases without carrying cash. This convenience has has caused their proliferation, and almost everyone has one.

The way a normal credit card works is that you make purchases using your card and the bank issuing the card will pay on your behalf to the merchant providing you the product or service.

Debit Cards, also known as Check Cards, is a special form ofcards that look to the merchant just like a Credit Card, with the VISA or MasterCard logo on them. However, this card is actually an ATM card that allows you to withdraw money from ATMs (directly from your checking account) without incurring interest. Also, the purchases made are debited (thus the name) from your account instantly. Therefore there is no monthly statement, no interest, nothing.

Trading one currency for another is, in principle, permissible in Islamic law. Trading currency on a forward basis is not permissible.

Contemporary forex trading also involves a lot of speculation and volatility. Therefore scholars differ on whether this is permissible or not, much like Day Trading in stocks.

For an in-depth analysis, please refer to the extensive Islamic Forex Trading article by Dr. Mohammed Obaidullah.

Commercial Insurance has been deemed unacceptable under IslamicSharia law by many scholars. This includes property insurance (house,car), life insurance, and health insurance.