Beware of Financial Jihadist Claims in Post-Pandemic Market
posted by Christopher W. Holton The world economy and financial markets have been beset by an unprecedented collapse brought about by the Wuhan virus pandemic. In such environments charlatans and swindlers often move in to take advantage. One particularly risk for investors will be promoters of shariah-compliant finance. Shariah complaint finance is a form of […]
by Christopher W. Holton Linda Sarsour is a name that has become increasingly prominent in U.S. Leftist political circles over the past few years. As detailed by previous Center for Security Policy work, she has been carrying out the curious mission of tying the toxic doctrine of Shariah to the Western feminist movement. It turns […]
Seattle Mayor Edward B. Murray has introduced a plan to provide affordable housing in a city that is home to much of the high-tech industry’s wealthiest individuals and businesses. Overshadowing the irony of this scheme is this part of the plan: Support the Community in Finding Housing Tools for Sharia-Compliant Lending: For our low – and […]
Interest in Shariah-compliant dress codes around the world is growing at the same time Muslims around the world choose to spend money and manage finances in a Shariah-compliant way. Now, Shariah-compliant finance companies are beginning to invest in the Shariah “fashion” industry. This illustrates that Islam is a complete way of life and Shariah is designed […]
Shariah Compliant Student Loans for Northern Ireland
Alliance Party MLA and Department of Employment and Learning Minister (DEL), Stephen Farry, has confirmed his plans to “assess the appropriateness of, and need for” the introduction of a Sharia law compliant student finance system for Northern Ireland. Those who live by Sharia law, and require a student loan to attend university, are currently less likely to […]
New Products Spreading Shariah Finance
Just a year or two ago, the rise of Shariah bonds (sukuk) created the main tool by which Shariah was spread, particularly in the West. Today, new, short-term instruments are broadening and deepening the Shariah market even more, thus facilitating the spread of Shariah through the financial back door… Islamic equivalents to conventional financial instruments […]
Much of the world of Shariah-compliance is made up of smoke and mirrors, concoctions pieced together to work around Shariah prohibitions against interest and the like. The UAE central bank has greatly aided the financial jihad with the development of a short-term lending instrument that it claims is Shariah-compliant… http://www.thenational.ae/business/banking/central-bank-of-uae-launches-shariah-compliant-short-term-lending-service
Growth of takaful (Shariah-compliant insurance) business is rebounding, driven largely by Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. In previous years, inefficiency and intense competition have limited the sector’s expansion, and growth rates slowed around the turn of the decade. http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/islam-insurance-idINL5N0RA0RZ20140909
Proselytizing Shariah Finance With Fraud in Uganda
The next country in the financial jihadists’ sites appears to be Uganda. Olive Kigongo, the President of the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UNCCI), has announced Uganda will host a seminar on Islamic Banking soon. “The difference between Islamic banking and the one more conventional banking we are used to, is that no interest […]
The British government is planning to introduce student loans which will be compliant with Shariah law in order to encourage more Muslims to attend colleges and universities in the UK. If ever there was a smoking gun that Shariah-compliant loans were a sham, this is it: The principles of Shariah law recognize the value of […]
One of the chief concerns about Shariah-Compliant Finance is the lack of liquidity born of the ban on interest. The industry has sought to address this problem with convoluted instruments which are largely unproven. And they won’t be proven until they endure a financial crisis of some sort. In the last financial crisis the instrument […]
This week in Oman, the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) will hold a workshop covering “Standards on Risk Management, Corporate and Shariah Governance for Institutions offering Islamic Financial Services.” This event isn’t particularly noteworthy but it does provide a teaching moment for those who have doubts that Shariah-Compliant Finance’s first and foremost purpose is to […]
Due to the lack of Shariah scholars in the Islamic world–even in Saudi Arabia–Islamic financial institutions are literally “outsourcing” the Shariah advisory function. In Saudi Arabia, one manifestation of that is the “Shariah Review Bureau,” a separate entity that provides Shariah advisory services to a variety of Islamic financial institutions. But already Western observers will […]
A British minister called for turning London into a global center for Shariah finance on the 69th anniversary of D-Day. “It’s about making Britain the preferred choice for the Muslim world to invest in and do business in,” senior Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi claimed in a speech to the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. “It is […]
Turkey is fast becoming the “poster child” for Islamization and Shariah-Compliant Finance. This is no secret, in fact another post from earlier today pointed this out: https://shariahfinancewatch.org/2013/05/31/shariah-banks-thrive-in-previously-secular-turkey/ We also came across another article about the emergence of sukuk, or Shariah-Compliant Bonds in Turkey. As we have pointed out on numerous occasions, sukuk are increasing the […]
Note that this mechanism is essentially a convoluted construct to replicate interest payments, without calling them interest payments… The Islamic Bank of Britain has reported a 63% rise in take-up of its home financing products for the first three quarters of 2012. The growth in demand for the Sharia-compliant bank’s alternative to mortgages was fuelled […]
In Nigeria, a bank offering “interest-free” loans to poor farmers back in 2009 in conjunction with a Shariah court judge, is now under investigation for fraud. Readers may want to take note that Nigeria is being wracked by a violent jihad these days: http://vinienco.com/2012/11/26/twelve-christian-pastors-killed-muslims-nigeria/ http://vinienco.com/2012/11/26/muslim-suicide-bombers-kill-eleven-christians-attending-sunday-church-service-nigeria/ As has so often been the case, violent jihad is […]
Bank Islam in Malaysia has launched a new Shariah-compliant derivative product called an Islamic Dual Currency Investment-i (DCI-i). This product is wrapped in a murky Shariah cloak, but make no mistake about it: it is a derivative product designed to squeeze additional returns out of fluctuations in foreign currencies. The foreign currency markets are highly […]
On June 1, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that a federal taxpayer lacks “standing” to challenge the government’s use of taxpayer funds to support sharia-based activities. The case, which is captioned on appeal as Murray v. United States Department of Treasury, et al., was brought by American Freedom Law Center […]
Just in time for the victory by socialists, facilitated at least partially by Islamist backing, Shariah-Compliant Finance has entered the real estate market in France… La Française AM has launched the first Sharia compliant OPCI – collective real estate vehicles with simplified investment rules with leverage – into the French market as part of the […]
We suppose that when you live under an atheist, communist system, it makes no difference to you whether the food is halal or haram. Add in a dash of capitalism and presto! You get a foothold for Shariah-compliance in a city-state with virtually no Muslim population. Such is the nature of the petrodollar driven Islamic […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Weekly Standard has published an article that was linked on Drudge today about German bank WestLB rolling out its Islamic Strategy Index Certificate. The value of the certificate is based on the value of the WestLB Islamic Deutschland Index, consisting of shares of ten German firms “whose business activities are consistent with the ethical rules of […]
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 […]
Money Jihad blog has posted two important articles over the past week regarding the Shariah-compliant alternative to conventional financing known as murabaha. One thing to remember about murabaha is that, almost invariably, these arrangements cost the borrower more than conventional financing would. Money Jihad compares murabaha to “rent-to-own” deals in the US. We think the comparison is […]
Some REALLY Bad Ideas on How to Solve America’s Debt Problems
Not surprisingly, the financial jihadists are promoting Shariah as the solution to America’s debt problems. We’ve seen this before. Back in 2008, in the wake of the subprime mortgage debacle and near-financial meltdown, the financial jihadists insisted that Shariah-compliant finance would have avoided the whole mess. Then, in 2009, defaulting on sukuk (Islamic bonds) just […]
Egypt delays sukuk as financial jihad comes to South Africa and elsewhere
The political unrest in Egypt has forced that country to delay setting up the structure for sukuk (Islamic) issuance, but the financial jihad is moving into Nigeria, Kenya and, most ominously, South Africa. The delay in Egypt will no doubt be short-lived, given the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the political power structure […]
The concept of insurance in Islam is a relatively new one. Conventional insurance contracts have been considered haram (unislamic). As a result, the financial jihadists concocted their new form of Shariah-compliant insurance, known as takaful. Despite their efforts, takaful has yet to gain wide acceptance in the Islamic world. As the article below details, the […]
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who recently launched a presidential exploration committee, was personally responsible for shutting down Minnesota’s Shariah-compliant mortgage program last year. Bravo, Governor Pawlenty. He has demonstrated great courage and appreciation for the US constitution that governors in states like South Dakota, Michigan and New Jersey would do well to emulate. It turns […]
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