The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), which lists the Jihadist Shariah scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani as the chair of its Shariah Advisory Board, will hold its annual conference in Bahrain this year… http://www.ameinfo.com/kfh-bahrain-sponsors-aaoifi-annual-sharia-conference-337986
The Wall Street Journal Weighs In On Al Goreeza: Inconvenient Truths About Al Jazeera…and about Dow Jones too
On January 8, 2013 · In Al Jazeera, Bahrain, DeLorenzo, Dow Jones, Dow Jones Islamic Market, Hamas, Investors Business Daily, Islamic Finance, Islamization, madrassas, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Shariah Boards, Shariah Finance, Usmani, Wahhabism
We’re glad to see that the Wall Street Journal has weighed in on the nefarious aspects of Al Jazeera, echoing what we reported here on SFW last week: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2013/01/03/al-gore-sells-out-to-qatar-state-owned-al-jazeera-buys-current-tv/ It’s worth pointing out some of the highlights in the Journal’s article: …the network reflects the interests of the government that runs it—making it akin to [...]
One of the challenges facing the Shariah Finance industry is a shortage of qualified Shariah scholars to serve as “advisers” to Shariah-compliant financial institutions. Not only is their a shortage of Shariah scholars, but many of the existing Shariah scholars are very old. Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi and Mufti Taqi Usmani are examples of the old [...]
South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) finds itself in urgent need of a whole new set of Shariah scholars to man its Shariah advisory board after its previous board resigned en masse in a dispute with management. Not surprisingly, given the opaque nature of Shariah-Compliant Finance, details about the dispute are sketchy, but they appear [...]
First it was HSBC, which was fined $1 billion for knowingly looking the other way on transactions involving Iran. Then it was Standard Chartered, which was fined $340 million. Now it’s Deutsche Bank’s turn. Can we now say that the Shariah Finance promoters COMMONLY do business with terrorist regimes in violation of US sanctions? And [...]
An Extremely Important Article on Shariah-Compliant Finance from Congressman Allen West
On June 22, 2012 · In Al Qaeda, Allen West, Creeping Shariah, Guidance Financial, Hamas, Hezbollah, HSBC, Investors Business Daily, Islamic charities, Islamic Finance, Islamic Law, Islamization, Jihadist Groups/Individuals, Qaradawi, Shariah Boards, Shariah Courts, Shariah Finance, Shariah Law, stealth jihad, Terror Funding, U.S. Policymakers, UBS, UBS Bank, Usmani, Zakat
Investor’s Business Daily and Congressman Allen West have teamed up overnight to publish an extremely important op ed penned by Congressman West on the subject of Shariah-Compliant Finance. In his column, Congressman West points out virtually all of the major concerns surrounding Shariah-Compliant Finance and laments that it has received no critical scrutiny from US [...]
The good folks at Money Jihad blog have done it again. They have uncovered a very important news item about a member of the Shariah Advisory Board of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) who has been arrested for his alleged involvement in an attack on police by the group Jamaat-e-Islami . We have known for years about [...]
One of the chief concerns about Shariah-Compliant Finance surrounds the use of Shariah advisors who end up controlling a great deal of money invested in Shariah-compliant instruments and institutions. Some of these advisors, such as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Mufti Taqi Usmani, have known ties to Jihadist terror groups. But even in the cases where [...]
The article linked below is pro-Shariah Finance, but it brings up a good point. It doesn’t get to that point until the second half of the article, but it does eventually get to an interesting point. The article points out that the Shariah Finance industry is overly dependent on a few Shariah scholars, which is [...]
A firm called Ethical Asset Management in the UK is launching a Sukuk fund for individual investors. This is fairly unremarkable, but the designation “ethical” is worth commenting on. Ethical is a subjective term. To most Westerners, there is little or nothing ethical about Shariah. On the contrary, many of the tenets of Shariah are [...]
Shariah Finance Watch hears from Mr. Oliver Agha, a Shariah Compliant Lawyer
On March 27, 2012 · In AAOIFI, Christianity and Islam, Islam, Islamic Banking, Islamic Finance, Islamic Law, jizyah, Oliver Agha, Qaradawi, Shariah Banking, Shariah Boards, Shariah Councils, Shariah Finance, Shariah Law, Usmani
Recently, Shariah Finance Watch received the letter below in response to a posting we published on 31 January. (http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2012/01/31/is-shariah-compliant-finance-a-failure-a-self-serving-answer-from-the-financial-jihadis/) To Whom It May Concern: I write to clarify certain facts and set the record straight in relation to an article published on-line and displayed on the website “Shariah Finance Watch” on January 31, 2012 [...]
The intrepid and illustrious Joy Brighton weighs in on Goldman Sachs’ ridiculous foray into the world of Shariah-Compliant Finance. This is an excellent article that regretfully we previously overlooked… Excerpt and LINK: In September 2011, Goldman Sachs announced it would issue a $2 billion Shariah Compliant Islamic Bond derivative known as a “Sukuk” to finance [...]
Goldman Sachs Lies Down With Dogs and Gets Fleas
On January 31, 2012 · In Goldman Sachs, IRELAND, Islamic Bonds, Islamic Finance, Shariah Boards, Shariah Bonds, Shariah Finance, SUKUK
Last September, Goldman Sachs announced that it was going to issue a $2 billion sukuk. The investment banking giant dutifully employed a Shariah advisory firm, Dar Al-Istithmar Limited, and went about the business of putting together the financing arrangement. There was just one problem. Goldman Sachs made one mistake: they trusted the financial jihadis. To make [...]
Maybe the only thing worse than getting in bed with the financial jihadists is to get in bed with the financial jihadists, only to find out they don’t want you. That may be the situation Goldman Sachs finds itself in with regard to its Islamic bond (sukuk) program. It seems Goldman got the blessing from [...]
Shariah Finance Certification Tied to Jihadist-led Organization
On November 25, 2011 · In AAOIFI, Islamic Finance, Shariah Boards, Shariah Councils, Shariah Finance
A UAE-based firm named Ethica has become the industry leader “for accredited training and certification in Islamic finance.” Experts say that what probably sets Ethica apart is that their 4-month Certified Islamic Finance Executive™(CIFE™) certification is the only 100% AAOIFI-compliant, 100% online Islamic finance program in the market today. AAOIFI stands for the Accounting and [...]
Craziness for Profit: Shariah Scholar/Advisor Mufti Taqi Usmani Blames Commodities Markets for Financial Crisis
On November 24, 2011 · In Dow Jones, Economic Crisis, HSBC, Islamic Economics, Islamic Finance, Islamic Law, Sharia Compliant, Sharia Videos, Shariah Boards, Shariah Finance, Shariah Law, Usmani
At SFW we have covered Mufti Taqi Usmani extensively over the years. He has long been considered one of the most prominent and influential Shariah scholars in the world of Shariah Compliant Finance. According to many observers, critics and market participants alike, Usmani is the Shariah finance [...]
Oman central bank rules out Shariah advisory board
On October 7, 2011 · In Islamic Banking, Islamic Finance, Oman, Shariah Banking, Shariah Boards, Shariah Finance
The good news is that Oman is not establishing a centralized Shariah advisory board inside its central bank. Such a board could quickly become very powerful–too powerful. The bad news, of course, is that Shariah Compliant Finance has made its way to Oman, an historically modern country not held back by Shariah. http://www.ameinfo.com/277083.html
Nearly two years ago, SFW published an article in which we uncovered that a Kuwaiti real estate investment concern had successfully imposed Shariah on tenants of its facilities in Colorado by refusing to allow certain types of businesses to operate and activities to take place on their property: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/2009/08/17/kuwait-islamic-bank-successfully-imposes-shariah-in-the-usa-courtesy-of-udr/ The article didn’t get any particular [...]
Accountants play a vital role in the world of finance. They are supposed to be the unbiased analysts and observers of data who help keep the rest of us from making egregious mistakes either based on emotion or because we simply lack the sophistication to decipher the numbers to fully understand a financial arrangement. Unfortunately, [...]
Yours truly was interviewed for the article linked below that was published by the American Banker. The article is disappointing. It wasn’t so much what the article says, but what it does not say that bothers me. I spent a great deal of time on the telephone with the author explaining the concerns over Shariah [...]
Gulf states are working towards the creation of a single Sharia board for the region’s Islamic financial institutions, said Hussain Hamed Hassan, head of Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC’s Sharia committee and chairman of the Sharia Coordination Committee of the Islamic Financial Institutions in the UAE. Speaking at the launch of Hawkamah Institute’s policy brief on [...]
CNN has a pretty good article that summarizes just where Al Qaeda is getting its money. Regular readers of Shariah Finance Watch will not be surprised by what CNN points out. CNN’s article identifies 4 primary sources of funding for Al Qaeda: “…wealthy individual patrons, infiltrated charities, criminal activities and legitimate businesses.” They are incorrect [...]
Meezan Bank, which was named the “Best Islamic Bank in Pakistan” in 2010, recently held the 17th annual meeting of its Shariah Supervisory Board. That board is chaired by Mufti Taqi Usmani. We’ve decided to commemorate this event with a repeat of our dossier on Usmani, who, keep in mind, is the Shariah finance world’s [...]
The Shariah Scholar Shortage Problem
On April 11, 2011 · In AAOIFI, DeLorenzo, Islamic Finance, Qaradawi, Shariah Banking, Shariah Boards, Shariah Councils, Shariah Finance, Usmani
Both opponents and proponents of Shariah finance recognize that there are relatively few Shariah scholars available to serve as advisers to financial institutions. Proponents of Shariah finance see this as a problem in that it could inhibit the global growth of the industry. Opponents see the shortage from a different perspective. First of all, several [...]
Many thanks to the intrepid Janet Levy for this translation of an article from a German blog dated 18 March… The Kraken [ed. a type of giant squid – making reference to the tentacles] of Islamic Banking. A hand full of Sharia-Mullahs watch over the Islamic banking institution. Men like Mohammed Elgari from Saudi Arabia, Abdul [...]
Qatar Moves to Shut Down Shariah-Compliant Divisions of International Banks
On February 10, 2011 · In Al Jazeera, Barclays, Creeping Shariah, Doha, HSBC, Islamic Banking, Qaradawi, Qatar, Shariah Banking, Shariah Boards, Usmani
Hat tip to Creeping Sharia for this find… For years now SFW has warned big Western banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered and Barclays about the perils of dabbling in Shariah-Compliant Finance. Each of these banks, but HSBC in particular, has happily jumped in bed with the financial jihadists to get their piece of the Shariah-Compliant [...]
Afghanistan’s central bank expects an Islamic banking law to be enacted by September. The central bank’s sharia board will meet Sunday to finalize the law, said Muhammed Qaseem Rahimi, director general of the central bank’s Financial Supervision Department. It will then go to the Justice Ministry and parliament for approval. “Most of the people who [...]
Bankers in Islamic finance are increasingly outsourcing sharia supervision due to a lack of scholars in the industry, but critics say this is making the sector even less transparent and slowing its development. Instead of maintaining their own costly sharia boards with prominent scholars, bankers are increasingly using consultancy firms that directly deal with the [...]
Euromoney.com is once again giving out awards for compliance to the financial wing of the barbaric, medieval doctrine known as Shariah. They have a whole host of awards to dole out (no fewer than 19 awards in the field of “Islamic” finance), which probably indicates that these awards are a convoluted effort to drum up [...]
Qatar Islamic Bank, the leading Shariah-compliant financial institution in Qatar and owner of the largest Shariah-compliant banking network in the world, has been chosen as the Bank of the Year by the Arabian Business Awards. We at SFW are certainly not celebrating this occasion, but we bring it up for a very good reason. Though [...]
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