An Inquiry into the Extraction of Righteousness and Fairness Standards in the Interest-Free Banking

It requires some standards and measures to be able to examine the interest-free banking operations law’s first clause which describes “establishing a monetary and credit system on the basis of righteousness and fairness and consistent with the ‘Islamic standards’ for adjusting the proper circulation of money and credit for the sake of the economy’s health and growth” as one of the banking system’s goals, through which it appears that one can assess this system’s success in reaching the determined ends. In the present article, besides introducing such standards as “economic efficiency”, “equality in the access to bank resources” and “priority of granting Qard-ul-Hasanah accounts alongside Qard-ul-Hasanah facilities” as the standards of bank resources’ just distribution, and such measures as “preserving national currency’s value”, “information clarity” and “regulation” as the principles of protective justice, and “balance of the banking system’s elements” as justice as the balance between the elements of a system, we have shown how the banking system has actually done in following and achieving this goal. Our results show that “property return” index is generally not favorable as a standard for assessing efficiently granting facilities. The average ratio of Qardul- Hasanah facilities to Qard-ul-Hasanah accounts has been approximately 43 percent. “Preserving national currency’s value” standard has not either been observed. Examining the two principles of “clarity” and “regulation” implies some deficiencies in this respect, and Iranian banking system’s elements don’t enjoy an appropriate balance with each other.