Adoption of the principle of ‘invitation to treat’ in Islamic law of contracts = Adoptasi prinsip pelawaan tawaran dalam kontrak undang-undang Islam

‘Invitation to treat’ looks similar to an offer in a contract but for business convenience and to protect the interests of sellers of goods, the courts have differentiated ‘invitation to treat’ from offer on policy grounds. The authors of ‘contract law’ in the United Kingdom and other common law countries have analyzed the principle of ‘invitation to treat’ and have accepted the rationale for its differentiation from ‘offer’ in contracts. Some Islamic scholars have opposed the differentiation and argued that ‘invitation to treat’ is in fact an offer and when accepted by the offeree, becomes a binding contract. However, their arguments for not accepting the rule of ‘invitation to treat’ are not very convincing. The objective of this article is to argue that there is acceptable rationale for differentiating an ‘invitation to treat’ from an offer and to propose that the principle of ‘invitation to treat’ can be adopted in Islamic law of contracts as it does not go against any shariah (Islamic law) principles. Dalam kontrak, pelawaan tawaran kelihatan mirip kepada satu tawaran, namun bagi tujuan kemudahan perniagaan dan demi melindungi kepentingan peniaga barangan, mahkamah membezakan pelawaan tawaran dari tawaran sebenar atas dasar polisi. Penulis undang-undang kontrak di United Kingdom and negara Komanwel lain telah menganalisis dan menerima rasional perbezaan prinsip pelawaan tawaran dari tawaran. Sungguhpun begitu, terdapat penulis undang-undang Islam yang menolak perbezaan yang disarankan dan berpendapat bahawa pelawaan tawaran adalah satu tawaran dan boleh diterima oleh penerima janji bagi menjadikannya satu kontrak yang mengikat. Namun, alasan mereka kurang meyakinkan. Tujuan artikel ini adalah untuk membahaskan bahawa terdapat rasional yang boleh diterima bagi membezakan pelawaan tawaran dari tawaran dan untuk mencadangkan bagaimana prinsip pelawaan tawaran ini boleh diadoptasi ke dalam undang-undang kontrak Islam kerana ianya tidak bertentangan dengan syariah