current equity. This method allows for floating rates according to the current market rate such as the BLR (base lending rate), especially in a dual-banking system like in Malaysia. However, at least one critic (M. A. El-Gamal) complains that this violates the sharia principle that banks must charge 'rent' (or lease payment) based on comparable rents for the asset being paid off, not "benchmarked to commercial interest rate[s]". Asset-backed financing Asset-backed or debt-type instruments (also called contracts of exchange) are sales contracts that allow for the transfer of a commodity for another commodity, the transfer of a commodity for money, or the transfer of money for money. They include Murabaha, Musawamah, Salam, Istisna’a, and Tawarruq. Murâbaḥah Murabaha is an Islamic contract for a sale where the buyer and seller agree on the markup (profit) or "cost-plus" price for the item(s) being sold. In Islamic banking it has become a term for financing where the bank buys some good (home, car, business supplies, etc.) at the request of a customer and marks up the price of that good for resale to the customer (with the difference clearly stated to the customer) in exchange for allowing the customer/buyer to defer payment. (A contract with deferred payment is known as bai-muajjal in Islamic jurisprudence.) Murabaha has also come to be "the most prevalent" or "default" type of Islamic finance. Most of the financing operations of Islamic banks and financial institutions use murabahah, according to Islamic finance scholar Taqi Uthmani, (One estimate is that 80% of Islamic lending is by Murabahah.) This is despite the fact that (according to Uthmani) "Shari‘ah supervisory Boards are unanimous on the point that [Murabahah loans] are not ideal modes of financing", and should be used when more preferable means of finance—"musharakah, mudarabah, salam or istisna—are not workable for some reasons". Murabahah is somewhat similar to a conventional mortgage transaction (for homes) or hire purchase/"installment plan" arrangements (for furniture or appliances), in that instead of lending a buyer money to purchase an item and having the buyer pay the lender back, the financier buys the item itself and re-sells it to the customer who pays the financier in installments. Unlike conventional financing, the bank is compensated for the time value of its money in the form of "profit" not interest, and any penalties for late payment go to charity, not to the financier. Economists have questioned whether Murabahah is