The Source of Shari’aa and Edicts (Fatwa) Used by the RF Bank This is per-
haps one of the most serious concerns for an RF bank, because it directly
impacts its reputation and credibility. When the board of directors at
LARIBA and at the Bank of Whittier discussed which model to use and
which scholars to follow, we were extremely careful and deliberate.
Many issues came up. The first was where the scholar was from. As it is
known, opinions on Shari’aa—and, for that matter, general legal
Shari’aa-based interpretations and opinions—vary from one country to
another. In addition, some have a personal preference for a certain
scholar while others do not. These concerns were especially serious when
dealing with the first-generation immigrant communities. To avoid any
conflicts or disputes, we decided to:
1.Focus on the sophisticated and educated Americans who prefer to read
carefully what they’ll commit to and who are Internet- and computer-
savvy. This way they can read and understand clearly the foundations
of our models.
2.Publish all the models used by all the scholars on our Web site and
include a disclaimer that states that displaying these edicts (fatwa)
and models does not mean that we claim that we have a fatwa
from a certain scholar about what we do. We have presented the
fatwa because we believe that the customer should decide based on
carefully reading the foundation upon which the LARIBA model
was developed. It is also believedthat the eminent scholars’ names
should not be used along with the faith as a marketing tool to
‘‘sell’’ more loans.
3.Make our Shari’aa scholar and supervisors, who are well-versed in the
application of Shari’aa, available to directly answer any inquiries about
the model, the details of applying it, and the ways in which other mod-
els differ from the model we pioneered. In fact, the supervisors spend an
average of 3,000 minutes on the cellular phone every month communi-
cating directly with prospects and clients.
4.Document many of the questions asked and the answers given by the
Shari’aa supervisor on our Web site.
5.Closely supervise company operations, including responses to in-
coming calls and inquiries to the RF finance officers (who are sala-
ried employees and are not paid a commission based on the volume
of loans they originate), the company telephone operator, the servic-
ing department, and everyone else involved, to ensure they abide by
Shari’aa. To do so means they must always state the truth and be
cordial and helpful; they must never use clever and misleading sales
techniques that claim lower rates to lure new customers; misstateOperating an RF Bank in the United States 353