Ordering something that still has to be made? Start with the specification, price and delivery obligation. Istisna’ helps explain those responsibilities; a financing label alone does not promise a finished asset.
The Istisna’ paper: publication details
The old ISRA route was a numeric download: /media-centre/downloads/finish/22/109/0.html. Blake Goud’s 2 January 2011 Sharing Risk post links to it while reviewing BNM’s parameter reference. Goud is the commentator, not the document’s issuer. This page preserves the planned catalogue title; it does not supply the original download. [H1]
The historical draft is now recovered from BNM’s official Attachment 1: Draft Shariah Parameter Reference 5: Istisna’ Contract (SPR5). Its cover credits Bank Negara Malaysia, shows ©2010 and expressly calls it a draft. BNM’s notice released on 29 December 2010 links this explanation and the accompanying concept paper. No separate exact issue day or numbered edition is printed on the draft cover; its filename is not proof of either. [H2] · [H4]
The accompanying BNM concept paper, BNM/RH/CP 012-7, states that consultation ends on 28 January 2011 under a heading labelled “Effective Date”. That is a consultation deadline, not proof that the draft became a final rule then. Mushtak Parker’s 3 January 2011 Arab News report provides corroborating contemporary context. The January blog citation is also separate from the December announcement. [H5] · [H3] · [H4]
Who must pay, build and deliver?
The recovered SPR5 draft defines a sale of an asset to be made or built to agreed specifications, price and future delivery date (§7). It treats the agreed contract as binding and addresses rejection of non-conforming delivery and seller defects (§§14–16). In its parallel structure, the institution sells to the customer and separately buys from a manufacturer; each party’s work/payment obligations are independent (§§61–64). These are historical draft provisions, not a promise that your project will be completed. [H2]
For a fictional Malaysian workshop ordering a purpose-built machine, ask for the output capacity, acceptance tests, delivery date and payment milestones in writing. If a bank stands between the workshop and manufacturer, identify its role in each contract. A familiar word such as “financing” does not show whether it is a seller, purchaser or agent. No price, approval or completed project is assumed here.
BNM’s 24 February 2015 Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) record separately explains that an undelivered asset belongs to the seller and addresses a purchaser’s independent guarantee for a third party. A guarantee is an additional obligation: ask whether you are also being asked to guarantee the manufacturer. Independent contracts do not mean every party carries the same risk. [SAC]
1 · Two contracts, two sets of obligations
Workshop ↔ bank
Workshop pays the agreed price to the bank; the bank as seller must deliver the specified machine.
Bank ↔ manufacturer
The bank as purchaser pays the manufacturer; the manufacturer as seller must deliver the asset to the bank.
Delivery is a separate step
Later BNM policy: before delivery ownership remains with the seller. It transfers upon possession of the conforming asset. This context is separate from the historical draft.
Full text explanation
Simplified parallel istisna’ model: the workshop is purchaser and the bank seller in contract A. The bank is purchaser and manufacturer seller in contract B. Money moves from each purchaser to its seller; the delivery obligation runs the opposite way. Asset possession and ownership transfer need to be established in each contract. No direct physical handover, price, agency, guarantee or successful completion is assumed.
Read the draft as history, then check today’s documents
The recovered draft’s contents map has five main sections: background, purpose/scope, definition, legitimacy and contract features, followed by a glossary. Features cover binding obligations, asset, price/payment, work, delivery, enhanced arrangements and parallel istisna’. Its price discussion fixes price at entry and does not require disclosure of the production cost (§§25–26). Use it to understand the historical design, then check the later policy and actual terms. [H2]
The later original is Istisna`, BNM/RH/PD 028-1, issued on 23 December 2015. Its §6.1 sets 1 July 2016 as the effective date, except §36, which applied immediately on issuance. BNM’s register entry is dated 7 January 2016. These are three different dates, and none proves the historical SPR5 file is identical. [P1] · [P2]
2 · What each layer of evidence establishes
2 January 2011 citation
Goud links the numeric ISRA download. Establishes the reference trail; not an issue date or authenticated file.
SPR5 / announced 29 December 2010
BNM original Attachment 1: sections 1–4 establish background, purpose, definition and legitimacy; section 5 covers contract features including parallel istisna’. CP 012-7 consultation ends 28 January 2011.
2015 policy / 2016 dates
Issued 23 December 2015; registered 7 January 2016; effective 1 July 2016 except §36 immediately. Useful later context; separate source.
Full text explanation
The citation establishes the old ISRA download link. BNM’s original Attachment 1 establishes SPR5’s draft title, ©2010 cover and actual contents; its official announcement and CP 012-7 establish release and consultation dates. The later policy has its own issue, listing and effective dates. No later document substitutes for SPR5; none of these sources verifies a particular project’s completion, individual remedy or exact old download bytes.
A construction contract is not a completion guarantee
For your quotation, separate the agreed asset price from design changes, testing, professional services, safekeeping, legal costs and any security or takaful arrangement. Ask what is included, who authorises a change, who pays it and how it is documented. Do not add a generic fee percentage from another product.
The historical draft discusses possible additional legal costs outside the seller’s liabilities (§34) and separately agreed third-party services (§41). Later policy §§16.7–16.8 starts with incidental construction costs borne by the seller, while allowing the purchaser to agree to bear them. Read the relevant version and signed terms; do not combine the two wordings into an invented fee rule. [H2] · [P1]
Do not assume every facility for an unfinished home is istisna’. Maybank Islamic’s examined Product Disclosure Sheet (PDS) for Commodity Murabahah (CM) Home Financing-i describes commodity purchase, resale for cash and a payment obligation. It also lists fees, rate-change risk and required fire cover for pledged residential premises. That product finances through a different mechanism; this source record does not quote its illustrative rates as a live offer. [M1]
Before relying on a label or signing
Muslim readers may want to verify the religious basis as well as the commercial terms. Non-Muslim readers can examine the same payment, ownership and delivery obligations. HSBC Amanah’s separate personal-financing FAQ expressly allows eligible Muslim and non-Muslim customers; it does not establish eligibility for an istisna’ project. Ask the actual provider for its participation criteria. [A1]
Take these questions to the provider: What contract and dated documents apply? Who is responsible for delivery? When does ownership and its risk transfer? What counts as acceptable work? What if work is late, defective or abandoned? What amounts remain due, and what notices or evidence are required? Am I also a guarantor or agent? Obtain a written answer that matches the actual agreement.
The official historical draft and its contents have been recovered; an exact byte match to the old numeric ISRA download has not. That exact old-file identity remains unverified. This is a new summary and reader explanation, with original BNM links. It is not a personal Shariah ruling or a determination of legal remedies.
References
Original titles are preserved. No PDF is hosted locally. Access dates show when sources were examined, not when their terms took effect.
H1 — BNM Shariah Parameter Reference 5: Istisna'a
Blake Goud’s Sharing Risk post is the recovered historical citation.
Source date: 2011-01-02. Effective date: not established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Confirms the numeric ISRA download link and comments on the parameter reference. Locator: post date, body and actual outgoing ISRA download link.
Its questions are the blogger’s questions, not BNM rulings. The post’s date is not the document’s issue date.
H2 — Draft Shariah Parameter Reference 5: Istisna’ Contract (SPR5)
Original historical draft recovered from BNM’s own Attachment 1, linked by its official announcement. Cover title and issuer verified; 24 PDF pages, 22 numbered body pages.
Cover: © Bank Negara Malaysia 2010. Official announcement: 29 December 2010. Exact printed issue day and explicit edition number not stated. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Defines a made-to-specification sale, binding obligations, asset, price/payment, work, delivery, enhanced features and parallel istisna’. Locators: cover, contents, §§7,14–16,25–26,34,41,61–64.
Draft for historical consultation, not the later final policy. No exact byte comparison with old ISRA download possible. Filename 20101228 does not establish a printed issue date. No full-text reproduction or individual remedy promise.
H4 — New Guideline: Concept Paper on Shariah Parameter Reference 5: Istisna' Contract.
BNM official historical announcement with links to the concept paper, draft and feedback form.
Release date: 29 December 2010. This is an announcement date, not an independently printed date on the draft cover. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Establishes the official source relationship between concept paper and draft Attachment 1.
Old consultation links are historical, not a live invitation to submit feedback. Exact old ISRA file identity remains separately unverified.
H5 — Concept Paper on Shariah Parameter Reference 5: Istisna’ Contract (BNM/RH/CP 012-7)
BNM’s accompanying original concept paper, issued by its Islamic Banking and Takaful Department.
Consultation ends 28 January 2011. Linked from the 29 December 2010 announcement. No separate printed issue day established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Its “Effective Date” heading states a consultation deadline, not a date making the draft a final effective policy.
Applicability references historical 1983/1989/1984 Acts and participating institutions; do not import those as today’s legal framework. Contact/feedback instructions are expired historical context.
H3 — BNM consults market on Shariah parameter for Istisna contracts
Contemporaneous reporting by Mushtak Parker, published by Arab News.
Source date: 2011-01-03. Effective date: not established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Reports December 2010 publication of the SPR5 concept paper and a 28 January 2011 feedback deadline. Locator: byline/date and December 2010 consultation paragraph.
Corroborating reporting, not a recovered primary issue notice; it does not prove an exact day or later finalisation of the draft.
P1 — Istisna` (BNM/RH/PD 028-1)
Later original policy, separately retrieved through BNM’s policy register.
Source date: 2015-12-23. Effective date: 2016-07-01; §36 immediately on issuance. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Used for dated policy context, ownership and independent parallel obligations. Locator: cover; §§6.1,9.1,15.1–15.3,16.7–16.8,28.1–28.2.
Not an equivalent edition of SPR5. The immediate §36 exception concerns submission requirements. Individual executed contracts and remedies remain unexamined.
P2 — Banking & Islamic Banking policy register
BNM’s public policy register lists and links Istisna’.
Source date: entry dated 2016-01-07. Effective date: not established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
The listing date is separate from the printed issue and effective dates. Locator: Istisna’ entry and linked original policy.
Presence in the register is not proof that SPR5 was finalised or that a particular facility applies this contract.
SAC — SAC 156th Meeting
BNM reports decisions from the Shariah Advisory Council meeting.
Source date: meeting 2015-02-24. Effective date: not established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Records ownership before delivery, independent purchaser guarantee and binding-contract matters discussed for the draft standard. Locator: Ownership; Guarantee; Binding.
Later official context, not an interpretation of the exact missing ISRA download. No individual legal outcome inferred.
M1 — Commodity Murabahah (CM) Home Financing-i — Product Disclosure Sheet
Actual provider PDS checked on the access date.
Source date: not stated. Effective date: not established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
Commodity transactions produce cash; fees, payment risks and fire cover are product-specific. Locator: pp1–2, contract description, obligations, risks and other key terms.
No printed issue/effective version was identified. Its figures are illustrations, not a current offer. It is not an istisna’ product example.
A1 — Personal Financing-i FAQs
Provider’s own FAQ.
Source date: not stated. Effective date: not established. Accessed 6 October 2026.
This personal financing is open to eligible Muslim and non-Muslim customers. Locator: “Is this personal financing for Muslim customers only?”.
Participation example only; not evidence of eligibility for an istisna’ project.