The Reality of Administrative Fees Imposed on Loans from the Point of View of Islamic Bank Employees in Jordan

Administrative fees are one of the contemporary jurisprudential issues that appeared on the economic scene after the development of Islamic banks and the expansion of their services. Among these services are loans; which are based on the principle of providing assistance to the needy without seeking to achieve any material profit from the lender. Islamic law has set strict controls related to loan costs and the administrative fees resulting from them, so that these fees are not a pretext for usurious interest, such as the fee being equal to the actual expenses of the services provided for the loan in particular. The fee should be fixed and not related to the loan amount or term, and its amount should be known, in exchange for an actual service, or an intended and evaluated benefit in the legal view. Therefore, this study aims to identify one of the obstacles that prevent adherence to Shariah controls in Islamic banks in Jordan, especially with regard to the application of administrative fees imposed on loans, and to measure the extent of employees' knowledge of Shariah rulings, as well as to know the extent of banks' commitment to Shariah controls. To provide responses to the research objectives, Jordanian Islamic bank employees were interviewed and most of them confirmed that Islamic bank employees are versed and committed with the implementation of Shariah controls, although they have limited training on many modern dimensions in Shariah controls.