A Sharia’h Perspective of Minimum Account Balance Requirement in Islamic Banking

ABSTRACT: Banks charge fee on saving and current accounts or downgrade them when the balance drops below a threshold point. This could be justified in conventional banking on pure business grounds; however, it is an issue of concern in Islamic banking because of the underlying Shari’a (Islamic Law) issues in this practice. While some Islamic banks charge incidental fees, as practiced by conventional banks, on accounts with low balances, others simply stop paying profits on such savings accounts and some even downgrade them by stopping some of the free sendees. This conceptual paper addresses the Shari'a aspect of such practices in Islamic banking. The paper first presents a broader picture of Islamic banks’ practices in relation to this issue and then explores relevant Shari'a principles. The current market practices are then analyzed in light of Shari’a principles. The findings reveal that imposing restrictions/ charges on low-balance savings and current accounts are against the basic tenets ofShari’a principles. The implications of the paper are twofold. Firstly, it opens up a whole new dimension of literature in the field of Islamic banking by instigating an important untouched area. Secondly, it strongly recommends that Islamic banks reconsider their practices in this regard in order to stay viable in the long run. The paper also gives alternative recommendations for addressing the problem in a Shari’a compliant way

Failure Creteria for the Design & Stability Anlaysis of Tunnels in the Rock Mass Environment of Kp Using Numerical Modeling

The stability of a tunnel in rocks can be evaluated through different methods. Empirical design methods are commonly used supplemented and validated with numerical design methods to improve the stability. Each and every design method requires certain rock and rock mass parameters as input. Empirical design methods include Rock Mass Classification systems as integral part. Strength and/or stiffness parameters are frequently required for Numerical design analysis. Rock mass properties can either be determined directly or predicted, however, the direct determination is not always viable and these are generally predicted. Rock mass strength and deformability is realistically well predicted through the use of rock mass classification systems in conjunction with appropriate empirical failure criteria such as Hoek-Brown failure criterion and empirical expressions using rock mass classification systems respectively. However, the use of such relations requires right, precise and authentic input data. The thesis focuses on devising better ways and means for approximating the input parameters needed for engineering design of tunnels in rocks. The first part of this research focuses on fitting of failure criterion to laboratory data to get a suitable failure criterion for the local rock mass environment and optimize the strength parameters for numerical design purposes. The second part describes the empirical estimation of rock mass deformation modulus. The Hoek – Brown failure criterion 2002 version and its variants are fitted to full scale laboratory rock data of Kohat Tunnel as well as Diamir Basha Dam Diversion Tunnels using linear and multiple regression methods and Microsoft Excel optimization tool "Solver". Analysis shows that for majority cases/ rock types, the ―Globalized‖ variant of the Hoek – Brown failure criterion is best fit based on error of estimation. For the deformation modulus, previous equations (based on Rock Mass Rating, Q index and Geological Strength Index) are divided into 10 groups on the basis of input parameters and modeled using ―Sigmoidal‖ and ―Gaussian‖ functions in Microsoft Excel solver optimization tool. Eight new generalized equations are presented, among which, the sigmoidal function was the best. iii It is observed that the displacement values from the modeled deformation modulus (sigmoidal function based on GSI using the 2D Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Phase2 tool) was very close to the actual displacement monitored in the field.