Jurisprudential Investigation on the Future Contract; Its Rules and Effects According to Imamiyyah Jurisprudent

Fiqh study of newly-derived rules and especially the future contracts that has been operationalized in the capital market of our country (Iran) has a very important position in the Islamic financial market. This importance arises from the new character of these types of contracts. This article examined the future contracts, their rules, and their effects from jurisprudential viewpoint. The results of this study showed that the future contract is an example of mutual commitments to carry out cash sale in the future, so that the parties agree on their commitments at the present to carry out the cash sale in the future and the cash sale takes place at the deadline maturity. About the payment of deposit accounts and daily adjustments of deposit accounts, it can be said that as an example of the terms of this type of contract, the parties first agree to leave some amount of money at the disposal of the clearing chamber to guarantee the contract and secondly, they agree to adjust the amounts of this deposit account according to the future market volatility, so that no party to the contract shall be willing to default on the contract, and, if a party defaults, the other party shall suffer no losses. Also, the Fiqh nature of a cash settlement at the maturity or before the maturity was discussed that the cash settlement before the maturity is an example of transfer of obligation that does not conflict with the principles of Islamic financial principles and cash settlement at maturity is permissible due to its non-conflict with Islamic rules including the La Zarar (the principle of no harm) Rule. In addition, all the basic assets of future contracts were discussed and analyzed based on the properties of the sold item. Future contracts of the commodities, stocks, and foreign exchange are permissible, but the Future contract of climate index is unlawful.