Notes first — from the instructor
“Girls I uploaded the slides but don’t depend on them
The questions
will be worded just like the notes not the slides”
Boxes marked
From the slides add detail from the
instructor's slides. Where the slides and the notes differ, answer with
the notes.
SLIDE BLOCK 1
01 Term Analysis — the three roots
"Contemporary Financial Transactions" is built from three separate
ideas stacked together. Take each root apart before trying to memorize
the whole phrase.
Transactions
The lawful rules regulating financial dealings carried out between
people.
Finance
Comes from "money" — anything with material value among people,
whose use is permitted, given ease and free choice.
Contemporary / Modernity
Simply: the recent, modern age.
Mnemonic
T-F-C: "Trading Follows Custom" —
Transactions (the rules) +
Finance (the money/value)
+
Contemporary (the era) = the full term. If you can say what
each of the 3 words contributes on its own, you can rebuild the
definition from scratch in an exam.
SLIDE BLOCK 2
02 Transactions: the 4 categories
"Transactions" isn't just buying and selling — the lecture splits it
into four categories. This is a classic short-answer/matching exam
item.
Bargains
Sale and leasing.
Donations
Grants, will, and endowment (waqf).
Dropping
E.g. abolishing / ending a debt.
Documentation
Mortgage, bail (warranty), and draft (transfer of debt).
Mnemonic — "B.D.D.D."
Think:
Buy it,
Donate it,
Drop it,
Document it. Four verbs,
four categories, in that order. If a question gives you "waqf" and
asks which category — it's a gift with no return, so it's
Donations, not a Bargain.
Common mistake
Students confuse
Dropping (ending an obligation, like
forgiving a debt — nothing is exchanged) with
Documentation (proving/securing an obligation, like a
mortgage). Dropping ends a right; Documentation protects a right.
From the slides
The slides give the Arabic names: Dropping =
Isqatat (إسقاطات), Documentation =
Toutheeqat (توثيقات).
SLIDE BLOCK 3
03 Finance & Contemporary — quick recap
These two are short but easy to blank on under pressure because they
sound almost too simple to be exam material — which is exactly why
instructors like to test them.
Finance
Anything that has material value among people, where using it is
permitted, especially where there is facilitation and choice involved.
Contemporary / Modernity
The recent or modern age — nothing more complex than that. Don't
overthink this one; it's a one-line definition.
Mnemonic
"Finance = value you're free to use." "Contemporary = right now." Two
short definitions, two short mnemonics — don't let their simplicity
make you skip reviewing them.
SLIDE BLOCK 4
04 Full definition, assembled
Once you have the three roots, the full definition is just them
combined with one extra idea layered on: change.
"They are financial cases which emerged in the contemporary age —
cases that changed in their rules because of progress or changed
circumstances, and cases that bear new names, or consist of many old
forms."
— Definition of Current Financial Transactions
Notice the definition itself already previews the four categories
you'll meet in the next block: new cases,
updated rules, new names, and
combined old forms.
Mnemonic
"NEW • CHANGED • RENAMED • COMBINED" — say these four words in order
and you have the full definition without memorizing it word for word.
SLIDE BLOCK 5
05 Identifying the Definition — 4 cases
This is the highest-yield section of the lecture. Four distinct
scenarios, each with its own textbook example. Exam questions love to
give you the example and ask which category it belongs to.
1. Cases unknown in earlier ages
Things people deal with today that simply did not exist for earlier
jurisprudents to rule on.
Examples: corporate companies, banknotes.
2. Rules updated due to progress / changed circumstances
The underlying transaction is old, but the *procedure* changed because
the world changed. Example: jurisprudents once
required physically handing over the key to transfer property
ownership after a sale — this is no longer required now that Property
Registry Offices exist.
3. New names, same old ruling
Originally these are the exact same transactions jurisprudents already
ruled on — only the label changed. Example: bank
interest is still riba (usury) even though it's called "interest," not
"riba." Changing the name never changes the ruling.
"People among my Ummah will drink Khamr, calling it by another name."
— The Prophet ﷺ
4. Transactions formulated from several old forms combined
A single modern contract that merges more than one classical contract
type.
Examples: murabaha, and leasing contracts that merge selling and
renting.
Mnemonic — "N.U.R.C."
New (companies, banknotes) →
Updated
procedure (key → registry office) →
Renamed, ruling
unchanged (interest = riba) →
Combined old forms
(murabaha, leasing). Say "NURC" and unpack each letter into its
example.
Common mistake
Students mix up category 2 and category 3. Category 2 = the
*method/procedure* changed (key vs. registry) but the underlying
transaction concept is untouched. Category 3 = only the *word* changed
(interest vs. riba) while the ruling stays forbidden. Ask yourself:
did the process change, or just the name?
SLIDE BLOCK 6
06 Relevant Terms
Jurisprudents used several near-synonyms for "newly emerged issues
that need a ruling." You just need to recognize these as a set, not
necessarily distinguish subtle differences between them.
- Emerged cases
- Occurrences
- Incidences
- Fatwa
Mnemonic
"E.O.I.F." —
Emerged,
Occurrences,
Incidences,
Fatwa. All four point at
the same idea: a new situation that needs a jurisprudential ruling.
From the slides — answer with the notes
The slides list only three terms — emerged cases, incidences
(
Waqeaat, وقائع), and fatwa — and leave out "occurrences".
Exam questions follow the notes, so keep all four.
SLIDE BLOCK 7
07 Characteristics of Transactions in Islamic
Jurisprudence — overview
This is the second big pillar of the lecture, with four
characteristics. Learn the four headline names first — the evidence
for each comes in the next four blocks.
-
Based on general bases and principles (not detailed
like acts of worship)
- Original rule is permissibility (al-ibāḥah)
-
Based on reasons and benefits (ta'līl / maṣlaḥah)
- Both flexible and constant
🧠 Mnemonic — "Please Permit Reasonable Flexibility"
Principles (general, not detailed) →
Permissibility (default ruling) →
Reasoning (benefit-driven) →
Flexible-yet-fixed. The sentence gives you the order
and the content in one line.
From the slides
The slides compress the four characteristics into four tiles: based on
general bases and principles; the original ruling is permissibility;
based on
logical reasoning and what benefits the people; and
both flexible and constant — with a "how so?" prompt, answered in
block 11.
SLIDE BLOCK 8
08 Characteristic 1 — General bases and
principles
Transactions jurisprudence shares the same divine source as worship
(Qur'an + Sunnah), but differs in how it was legislated: it
rests on broad principles and integrity rules rather than exhaustive
detail. This deliberately leaves room for jurisprudents' own reasoning
(ijtihād) to handle newly introduced forms.
Evidence a — Surah An-Nisaa 4:29
"O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly
but only in lawful business by mutual consent..."
📖 Evidence b — Surah Al-Baqarah 2:275
"Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest (riba)."
📖 Evidence c — Hadith, narrated by Ibn Omar
The Prophet ﷺ "prohibited the Gharar (uncertainty) sale" — a
transaction where there's no guarantee the seller can deliver the
goods paid for (e.g. selling a runaway slave, fish still in the sea,
or an unborn camel's fetus).
Mnemonic
"Mutual Consent, No Riba, No Gharar" — the three evidences (a, b, c)
map onto three one-word red flags:
consent required,
riba forbidden,
gharar forbidden.
SLIDE BLOCK 9
09 Characteristic 2 — Original rule is
permissibility
This is the single most important contrast in the whole lecture:
Acts of worship
Restricted by default — nothing is added unless there's a text
permitting it (to avoid inventing new religious practice).
Transactions / contracts
Permitted by default — nothing is forbidden unless there's a
truthful, clear text prohibiting it. No evidence of prohibition =
permissible.
Evidence — Hadith
"If anyone introduces in our matter something which does not belong to
it, it will be rejected." (Restriction principle — applies to acts of
worship/bid'ah.)
📖 Evidence — Qur'an (subjection of sea/heavens/earth)
Allah subjected the sea, the heavens, and the earth to people so they
may seek His bounty and reflect — used by scholars to support that the
general ruling for worldly transactions is permissibility.
Evidence — Hadith on conditions
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Muslims must keep to the conditions they have
made, except for a condition which makes unlawful something which is
lawful, or makes lawful something which is unlawful."
Mnemonic
"Worship: Wait for permission. Worldly deals: Walk freely unless
blocked." Two mirror-image defaults — ibadah is restricted, mu'amalat
is permitted.
Common mistake
Students apply the "restriction" default (used for worship) to
financial transactions by mistake. Remember: transactions flip the
default — permissible unless proven otherwise.
SLIDE BLOCK 10
10 Characteristic 3 — Based on reasons and
benefits
Islamic rulings on transactions track the underlying
reason (illah) and the community's benefit (maslaha) —
necessities, needs, and overall improvement of society. When something
is prohibited, the Qur'an often states the reasoning explicitly.
📖 Evidence — reasoning for prohibiting wine & gambling
"Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through
intoxicants and gambling, and to avert you from the remembrance of
Allah and from prayer." — the harm (enmity, distraction from worship)
is the stated reason.
📖 Evidence — hadith on gold/silver (riba al-fadl)
"Do not sell gold for gold except like for like... do not sell silver
for silver except like for like... do not sell silver for gold, one at
hand and the other delayed... I fear riba for you."
The ultimate goal of transactions is
conserving money/wealth — one of the five necessities
of Islam. Islam forbids earning through prohibited means or theft, and
instead encourages growing wealth through investing. It legalizes
contracts (sale, lease, dealing, bargaining) to meet needs and ease
dealings — and goes beyond bare necessity toward improving people's
living standards, while still forbidding extravagance and waste.
❓ The lecture's own question — "What are the five necessities Islam
conserves?"
The five necessities (al-Ḍarūriyyāt al-Khams) referenced here are the
standard Maqasid al-Shariah:
Religion (Dīn), Life (Nafs), Intellect ('Aql), Lineage/Progeny
(Nasl), and Wealth (Māl). Wealth (māl) is the one directly tied to financial transactions.
Mnemonic — "DR. LIN-W"
Deen,
Life,
Intellect,
Nasl (progeny),
Wealth — five necessities, last one (Wealth) is the
one this whole course protects.
SLIDE BLOCK 11
11 Characteristic 4 — Flexible yet constant
Transactions jurisprudence holds two things at once without
contradiction:
Constant (unchanging)
The bases and reasoning behind rulings are general guidelines
drawn from fixed Islamic texts and never change — e.g. mutual consent
is always required, injustice is always forbidden, preserving wealth
is always the goal.
Flexible (changeable)
The methods that implement those constant principles can
change over time. Example: money is just a means to
value goods — it used to be gold or silver, then became metal coins
and paper. Money stays legitimate even when its material changes,
because the underlying principle (a trusted store/measure of value)
hasn't changed.
Mnemonic
"The
why never changes; the
how can." Principles =
constant. Tools/methods = flexible. Gold coin or paper note — same
underlying money principle.
Common mistake
Don't confuse this with Characteristic 3. Characteristic 3 is about
why a ruling exists (reasoning/benefit). Characteristic 4 is
about
whether a ruling itself, or just its method, can change
over time.
SLIDE BLOCK 12
12 Flashcard glossary
Click a card to flip it. Go through the whole set without peeking — if
you hesitate, that's the one to re-read above.
SLIDE BLOCK 13 · FINAL CHECK
13 Pop quiz
15 questions covering every block above. Click an option to check
yourself — you can retry each question until you get it, but don't
fool yourself: if you had to guess twice, go re-read that block.