The Promise in the Contract of Islamic Law: A Special Focus on Promise Contract

Hibah is one of the voluntary contracts in the Islamic law. Transferability through hibah requires the rigid conditions regarding the ownership status of the hibah property. However, these conditions can be avoided by using the principle of the promise of hibah. The main objective of this article is to highlight “promise of hibah” concept as an alternative instrument of estate/property planning existing in Islamic teaching. This article explains about the promise of hibah from the perspective of Islamic law. The discussion began with a review of the status of ‘promise’ in the matter of the contract. Hence the promise of hibah concept, formation and implementation was discussed by taking into account the views of scholars from various schools of thought in the Islamic law and the current practices in Muslim countries. This research use content analysis approach where data is gathered from several primary sources in Islamic law. In terms of implementation of hibah concept, several law existing in Islamic country that has codify hibah in their law is used as reference. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p135