One of the key aspects of a secure investment is liquidity. The ability to turn your investment to cash is considered a key component of mature financial markets. That’s why it is so important that sukuk, also known as Islamic bonds, lack liquidity, especially as compared to conventional bonds. Investors holding sukuk that get into [...]
Report: S&P to cut rating of Dubai’s DIFC Investments on Sukuk Refinancing Risk
On April 30, 2012 · In Defaults, DIFC, Dubai, Islamic Bonds, Shariah Bonds, Standard & Poor's, SUKUK, UAE
DIFC Investments LLC, which owns properties in Dubai’s tax-free financial center, may have its credit rating cut at Standard & Poor’s due to “heightened refinancing risk” on its $1.25 billion Islamic bond due in June. DIFC Investments “has little room for delays in its efforts to secure a bank loan and government support to refinance the sukuk,” the rating [...]
Back on January 31 we reported that Dana Gas, which had issued a sukuk (Islamic bond) looked to be in trouble: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2012/01/31/another-sukuk-in-trouble/ Well, sure enough, Dana Gas has hired Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, to restructure its sukuk set to mature in October… http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-24/dana-gas-said-to-hire-blackstone-to-restructure-1-billion
Malaysia is doubtless a center of Shariah Compliant Finance, certainly the leader in Asia and the Pacific Rim. One of Malaysia’s largest Shariah banks is Maybank Islamic. Maybank Islamic is making moves to become a global force for Shariah. They are setting up shop in neighboring Singapore and Indonesia, but also have their sights set [...]
For at least the third time, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a verbal broadside at capitalism, this time blaming it for the economic crisis in the West, the current trouble in Europe in particular. Previously, in September and November of 2009, Ahmadinejad was critical of capitalism: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2009/09/25/ahmadinejad-criticizes-capitalism/ http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2009/11/12/iranian-president-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-blasts-free-market-capitalism-at-oic-economic-conference/ Ahmadinejad’s repeated attacks on capitalism are [...]
An International Conference on Islamic Funds and Investment opened this week in Karachi, Pakistan. According to the Pakistan Observer, among the large number of attendees were investors from the USA and Canada. The report indicated that some $1.3 trillion is invested in 650 Shariah-Compliant funds worldwide, including 230 in Saudi Arabia, 172 in Malaysia, 59 in [...]
They say that truth is stranger than fiction and this report from CNS News confirms it. The Obama administration now says that it has conducted outreach to the granddaddy of all Jihadist organizations in order to promote “small business.” The Obama administration says that it has talked with members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in order [...]
One of the chief concerns about Shariah-Compliant Finance has to do with zakat, the system of tithing in Islam that so often involves the funding of Islamic charities which in turn distribute money to violent Jihadist terrorist organizations, particularly HAMAS and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Proponents of Shariah Finance act as if this concern is completely unfounded and [...]
Islamic Development Bank proposes “Mega Islamic Bank”
On April 24, 2012 · In Creeping Shariah, Da'Wah, Islamic Banking, Islamic Development Bank, Islamization, OIC, Shariah Banking
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the financial jihad wing of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (the world’s foremost Islamic imperialist organization), is planning something that sure sounds ominous: a “Mega Islamic Bank.” One of the stated purposes behind such an institution is to develop products to allow Shariah Finance to gain more ground in world [...]
The Islamist revolution is in full bloom in Libya (thanks to NATO, but we digress). Bloomberg out of Dubai, which is such a cheerleader for Shariah finance that they can’t be completely trusted to report facts, has published a report that indicates that ordinary Libyans are holding on to some $12 billion of cash, just [...]
Sukuk (aka Islamic bonds) are fast becoming the chief tool for spreading Shariah finance. Just a few years ago, few of our posts dealt with sukuk. Now most of them do. Sukuk are used as a means of imposing Shariah compliance on nations and entities wishing to participate in global debt markets. Russia, Thailand, the [...]
More Details on Funding for the Taliban
On April 24, 2012 · In Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Hawala, Islamic charities, Jihad, Jihadist Groups/Individuals, Money Laundering, Taliban, Terror Funding, Uncategorized, Zakat
Not long ago we mentioned that the Taliban had gone online to raise money for their violent Jihadi activities. In that same post we mentioned that US intelligence sources had indicated that most of the Taliban’s financing sources remained intact since US forces engineered their overthrow way back in 2001. This continued financing provides one [...]
Shariah-Compliant Finance got off to a start of sorts in Egypt in the 1960s and 1970s, but a series of investment scams built up around the industry soured the populous on the concept. The ruling regime also discouraged the growth of Shariah finance in Egypt as they knew that it had been the artificial creation [...]
The Taliban have appealed for donations on one of their websites, to finance the Jihad against non-Muslims. Complete with telephone hotlines and email addresses, the appeal was posted on a Taliban website asking Muslims worldwide to help the rebels in what they say is a “Jihad”, or a holy war, against non-Muslim “invaders”. … “In [...]
We have good news and bad news. The good news is that the link below takes you to a good report that explains Sukuk, aka Islamic bonds. The bad news? The report was produced in Japan and it is clear that the Japanese have no problem complying with Shariah to get access to petrodollars…which is [...]
A zakat controversy is brewing in Indonesia. For those who do not know, zakat is a form of tithing in Islam and is one of the five pillars of Islam. Westerners have concerns about zakat–especially as to how zakat interacts with Islamic charities and Shariah-compliant finance–because Shariah states that a portion of the zakat can [...]
VTB Group, Russia’s second largest bank, is bailing on the US dollar. VTB is planning on conducting debt sales in China but, of greatest interest for our purposes, they are also looking at selling Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in Indonesia. What makes this doubly significant is that the Russian government controls VTB. “…in April last year [...]
We thought that SFW readers would be interested in this article from Islamist Watch, which indicates that Best Buy stores have essentially partnered with CAIR. CAIR, of course, is a Muslim Brotherhood front organization and was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in US [...]
The Middle East Forum’s Middle East Quarterly has published an excellent, in-depth look at Islamic bonds (sukuk), explaining how they work and the differences between sukuk and conventional bonds. Sukuk have fast become the instrument of choice in the world of Shariah-compliant finance, having come a long way since 2009 when Mufti Taqi Usmani, one [...]
As regular readers of SFW know, we focus a great deal on the many Islamic charities which have been implicated in the funding of Jihadist terrorism. This activity does not occur by accident. On the contrary, it has a doctrinal basis in Islamic law, as we have detailed many times in the past: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/category/islamic-charities/ The [...]
ICNA: Zakat for Jihad
On April 15, 2012 · In Holy Land Foundation, ICNA, IIIT, Islam, Islamic Law, Jihad, Jihadist Groups/Individuals, Shariah Law, Terror Funding, USA, Zakat
The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) was identified as a Muslim Brotherhood organization in the Holy Land Foundation prosecution, the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in US history. Recently, ICNA announced that they are embarking upon a $3 million propaganda campaign to promote Shariah in America: http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p18956.xml?genre_id= ICNA has a division called ICNA Relief, [...]
Over on the Gates of Vienna blog, the authors have pointed out a passage from Reliance of the Traveler that is key to the connection between zakat and the funding of Jihadist terrorism. Regular readers of SFW may recall that Reliance of the Traveler is one of the world’s most widely read manuals of Shariah [...]
A Woodbridge, Virginia man originally from Pakistan has been sentenced to 12 years in Federal prison for providing material support, including attempts at fundraising, for the Pakistani Jihadist terrorist organization, Lashkar e Taiba. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/13/va-man-gets-12-years-for-aiding-terrorists833779/
In the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf Jihadist terrorists are running out of money and the war-weary residents of the island of Mindanao (which Abu Sayyaf is trying to seize to impose Shariah) aren’t supporting them, so, according to a Philippine Air Force General, the terrorists are once again turning to kidnapping and hostage taking to raise [...]
Northern Cyprus, which was seized in an invasion by Turks in 1974, is now said to be ripe for Islamic investors. Northern Cyprus is said to offer excellent investment opportunities in tourism and agriculture. There’s just one catch: Turkey is essentially an occupying force. Isn’t it funny how we never hear anything about the Turkish [...]
The UAE has detained 6 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who it says have links to entities identified by the UN as terrorism financing operations… The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday detained six Islamists whose citizenship had been revoked for alleged links to groups that fund terrorists, their lawyer said. The six men “were summoned [...]
Terrorist funder gets incredibly light sentence from federal judge
On April 13, 2012 · In Al Shabaab, Jihad, Jihadist Groups/Individuals, Kenya, Somalia, Terror Funding
Here is an example of an irresponsible federal judge if there ever was one. Abdi Mahdi Hussein attempted to help Mohamud Abdi Yusuf send $21,000 to the Jihadist terrorist group Al Shabaab. Now he says (of course) that he had no idea where the money was supposed to go, and besides it didn’t get there. U.S. [...]
CRY US A RIVER!!! A Rochester woman convicted of raising money for the terrorist group al-Shabaab is asking a federal judge to let her out of jail while she awaits sentencing. An attorney for Amina Farah Ali said in a motion that it has been six months since the conviction and because of various delays, [...]
We’re not big fans of Thomson Reuters, simply because they are market participants and, as such, cannot be regarded as objective in terms of their reporting of Shariah-Compliant Finance. They have published something useful today, however: a glossary of Shariah Finance terms and definitions. Any one with an interest in studying this industry should print [...]
UAE-based real estate developer Nakheel launched a new luxury project on the Palm Jumeirah yesterday, its first major residential development since completing a massive restructuring process. Nakheel, which also said it plans to issue the second tranche of its Dh4.8 billion sukuk by the end of April, has appointed Dubai Civil Engineering as the main [...]
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