Some commentators have noted that the interplay of form and substance for UK tax purposes has parallels with the relationship of form and substance for Shari’ah purposes. From a Shari’ah perspective, substance can also take precedence. However, given the novelty of the modern Islamic finance industry, the uncertainty regarding permissible transactions and the importance placed on Shari’ah compliance, industry participants have tended to emphasise the form of a transaction.

Adherence to approved forms provides some assurance that the transactions represented by those forms comply with Shari’ah. In this sense, the use of old transaction structures such as Murabaha appears conservative. However, many critics of the Islamic finance industry target adherence to these structures as one of the chief problems with the industry. These critics argue the structures have been used by equity investors and financial institutions to mimic conventional interest-bearing transactions such as loans, and to therefore circumvent the substance of the transactions that the structures should record.

Islamic jurisprudence encompasses the methods of exegesis by which Islamic Shari’ah may be derived