The Time of Concluding the Contract in E-Commerce from Islamic Legal Perspective

Author(s)	Abdulrahman Alzaagy
Contact	Abdulrahman Alzaagy, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen, SA31 3EP, UK. E-mail: r.alzaagy@tsd.ac.uk
Issue	CyberOrient, Vol. 6, Iss. 2, 2012, pp. 54-69
Published	November 10, 2012
Type	Article
Abstract	The issue of when a contract between face-to-face parties is deemed to be concluded presents no legal difficulty to deal with in conventional dealings. However, the borderless nature of the Internet presents questions as to when a contract is deemed to be irrevocably formed and therefore raises questions regarding contract validity. As a general rule, a contract is formed when there is an exchange of offer and acceptance between the parties. However, in online contracts the contracting parties are not in face-to-face meeting and thus the exchange of offer and acceptance involves the possibility that such correspondence may not reach its intended recipient because of technical errors or other technological complexities. As a result, this article tends to engage in a critical study to determine the time when a contract formed in the cyberspace is concluded in the light of Islamic contracting principles with reference to a number of International legal frameworks.
Keywords	internet, Islamic law, e-commerce, legal science, Internet studies, electronic contract, economic studies, e-mail