Question
Is a promise binding in financial transactions legally?
Answer
I say, and with God's success: Yes, the promise in transactions is binding in terms of legal obligation; there has been a significant need for the binding nature of promises in this time, as most contracts in Islamic banks depend on them, and the branches built upon them in the Hanafi school are countless, to the extent that a rule was mentioned in the Journal of Judicial Rules. In (Article 84): "Promises, by acquiring the forms of conditions, shall be binding. For example: If a man says to another: Sell this thing to so-and-so, and if he does not give you its price, I will give it to you, and the buyer does not give the price, the man is obliged to pay the mentioned price based on his conditional promise." Ahmad al-Zarqa said in the explanation of the rules (p. 425): "Promises that come from a person regarding what can and is legally permissible for him to commit to, when they are accompanied by conditional tools indicating obligation or prohibition, are binding; due to the people's need for them. If they are issued without the form of a condition, they are not binding; due to the absence of anything indicating obligation or prohibition, but rather they are merely a promise, and there is no obligation to fulfill them legally." Ibn Abidin said in (Radd al-Muhtar 5: 84): "In 'Jami' al-Fusulayn' (1: 140): If they mentioned the sale without a condition, then mentioned the condition in the form of the contract, the sale is valid and the fulfillment of the promise is binding; as promises can be binding, making it obligatory for the people's need to engage in sales without mentioning the condition of fulfillment, then if they condition it, it becomes a sale of fulfillment. And this was ruled in 'Al-Khayriyya', and it was said: Our scholars have stated that if they mentioned the sale without a condition and then mentioned the condition in the form of the contract, the sale is valid and the fulfillment of the promise is binding." Our Sheikh al-Othmani said in Contemporary Jurisprudential Research (p. 213): "By considering the statements of these jurists, it can be concluded that the promises of leasing and sale stipulated in the agreement can also be binding in legal terms."