A Secure Electronic Murabaha Transaction

Conventional credit card transactions are not consistent with Islamic principles, as exemplified by the Islamic banking system and the ‘Murabaha sale’. Thus, if Islamic principles are to be applied to e-commerce, where credit card transactions are the norm, a new and secure electronic payment process is required. In this paper we present a method for secure electronic Murabaha transactions. After introducing the notion of Murabaha sale within the Islamic banking framework, we describe a general model for a secure electronic Murabaha transaction, and then consider the associated security risks. Security requirements are then identified for a secure electronic Murabaha transaction. We then present the Secure Electronic Murabaha Transaction (SEMT), designed to address the identified security requirements. Finally, we analyse how the proposed protocol matches the identified security requirements.