Ma`rifat Eqtesadi

Qard-al-Hasane is one of the methods of establishing the financial system intended by Islam. This system aims at eliminating usury from the banking system in the mobilization and allocation of savings. Besides Qard-al-Hasane, charity and contracts of partnership and trade provide people with the financial resources. Charity must be allotted to those in great need of funds and contracts in order to make profit whereas Qard-al-Hasane is to be distributed to people who are not indigent enough to be entitled to financial assistance or affluent enough to make sufficient profit to benefit others. Despite the special status of Qard-al-Hasane in the interest-free banking system, after 25 years, the banking system of Iran has not yet been able to satisfy this aim. Throughout this period, the banking system has only used about half of the Qard-al-Hasane resources in granting interest-free loans. Also, the proportion of Qard-al-Hasane deposits and loans in the banking system has steadily decreased. Solving the problem is only possible through active participation of banks as well as the central bank, the government, and the people. In order to win the public trust and thus revive the status of Qard-al-Hasane, the banking system must allocate the entirety of Qard-al-Hasane resources to interest-free loans. It seems that decreasing the legal reserve ratio for Qard-al-Hasane deposits and transfer of various government monetary resources to Qard-al-Hasane deposits can facilitate the revival of this honorable tradition.