A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western finance that complies with Sharia, Islamic religious law. Because the traditional Western interest paying bond structure is not permissible, the issuer of a sukuk sells an investor group the certificate, who then rents it back to the issuer for a predetermined rental fee. The issuer also makes a contractual promise to buy back the bonds at a future date at par value.

A term used in Islamic finance to refer to the obligation that an individual has to donate a certain proportion of wealth each year to charitable causes. Zakat is a mandatory process for Muslims in order to physically and spiritually purify their yearly earnings that are over and above what is required to provide the essential needs of a person or family.

Istisna’ means asking someone to construct, build or manufacture an asset. In Islamic finance, istisna’ is generally a long-term contract whereby a party undertakes to manufacture, build or construct assets, with an obligation from the manufacturer or producer to deliver them to the customer upon completion. In practice, the key advantage of an istisna’ contract is that it can provide flexibility to the customer, where payments can be made in installments linked to project completion, at delivery or after project completion. In contrast to istisna’, for salam contract the payment has to be made in full, in advance.

Musharakah is a word of Arabic origin which literally means sharing. In the context of business and trade it means a joint enterprise in which all the partners share the profit or loss of the joint venture. It is an ideal alternative for the interest-based financing with far reaching effects on both production and distribution. In the modern capitalist economy, interest is the sole instrument indiscriminately used in financing of every type. Since Islam has prohibited interest, this instrument cannot be used for providing funds of any kind. Therefore, musharakah can play a vital role in an economy based on Islamic principles.