 In this module, we would be looking into some of the applications of Islamic legal contracts in the context of Islamic banking and finance. This module is important for one particular reason because it highlights the aspect of modes of financing related with Islamic contracts. So there is a difference between Islamic contracts, the individual contracts and their use in the context of Islamic banking and finance, which could be termed as Islamic modes of finance. Now Islamic legal contracts and Islamic modes of financing, they are actually quite different in terms of application. And in this course, we would look into these applications in greater detail, as and when we are discussing some particular structures of Islamic financial products. We must keep in mind that Islamic legal contracts were developed centuries ago and their application in the context of Islamic banking and finance would pose some challenges. And this is something every practitioner in Islamic banking and finance knows. And of course, they face these limitations when it comes to structuring Islamic financial products. Now contemporary Sharia scholars, they have developed their own views and opinions around this whole theme. And as a result of that, we have new slash contemporary opinions of scholars on these Islamic legal contracts, which are also known as Islamic nominated contracts. The best compendium of the contemporary opinions of Sharia scholars is actually in the form of Sharia standards of accounting and auditing organization for Islamic financial institutions, which is an organization based in Bahrain. And it is an umbrella organization offering advice to Islamic banks all over the world on the matters related with accounting, related with Sharia and related with some ethical aspects of doing Islamic banking and finance business. Another thing which is very important in the context of Islamic modes of finance or Islamic modes of financing, that these contracts, which we have looked into in the previous modules, like Muraabaha, like Musharaka, like Mudaraba, like Salam, and so many others, which we have covered so far, they are actually used in conjunction with some other arrangements. Many a times they are combined as well. Although there is a concern on combining contracts in Islamic law, and this is something we would look into in some detail in a separate module. So keeping that aside, we observe that Islamic legal contracts are actually used together to form, to structure Islamic banking products or to be used as Islamic modes of financing. There is hardly any Islamic financial product in the world which actually doesn't combine Islamic legal contracts. So this is a very important aspect of the practice of Islamic banking and finance. And in general, Sharia scholars and those guiding bankers and finance practitioners, they say that this is possible to combine different contracts in a structure. However, it is very, very important that some rules and regulations governing, combining the contracts are observed. If we do not observe those rules and regulations, then they would come under the prohibition of combining two contracts in one contract, which is prohibited by the prophetic tradition by one hadith. Islamic modes of finance. Before this, when we talked about Muraabha, we said Muraabha is an Islamic legal contract. When we talked about Mushara, we said this is an Islamic investment contract, or this is an Islamic partnership contract. When we talked about other contracts, then we talked about their legality. But these are all used as Islamic modes of financing. So when we discuss Muraabha as a mode of financing, there are many other structures. Muraabha, and we would look into quite a few structures based on Muraabha. So Muraabha as a mode of financing is not just Muraabha as a contract but an arrangement, which combines a lot of contracts and other arrangements. Similarly, when we say Mushara is based on home financing, then we do not say that this is just Mushara. We also bring in contracts with Mushara. We also bring in agency for the procurement of services. We also bring in contracts with Mushara. We also bring in contracts with Mushara. So all these things actually, in combination, they represent our mode of financing. The contract which is the most visible or the contract which is most essential for a structure, we call it Mushara is central to the whole thing. We call it Mushara mode of financing. So we name the main contract, but there are many other things involved with it. So what is the difference? When we say Muraabha as a contract, we are only talking about Muraabha. When we say Muraabha as a mode of financing, then it is not just Muraabha. There are many other arrangements, and these arrangements and details of Islamic modes of financing, we would be looking into in the context of Islamic banking and finance and different products which we are going to discuss in the future module.