One of the chief concerns about Shariah-Compliant Finance is the dual system of payments to Islamic charities that is an important aspect of being Shariah-Compliant.

One of the payment systems is tied to one of the five pillars of Islam, that of zakat, which is a form of tithing mandatory for pious Muslims, and also Muslim businesses and organizations. No fewer than four of the purposes of zakat can be tied in some way to Jihad.

And there lies the problem. Dozens of Muslim charities have been shut down due to funding of Jihadist terrorist groups. We have written about this extensively at SFW:

https://shariahfinancewatch.org/2009/02/03/the-mumbai-terrorists-zakat-and-charities

https://shariahfinancewatch.org/2009/01/15/bin-laden-calls-for-increased-giving-of-zakat-to-suppport-global-jihad

https://shariahfinancewatch.org/2009/02/10/two-muslim-charities-shut-down-in-the-uk

https://shariahfinancewatch.org/2008/08/29/philippine-ethnic-war-brewing-and-terror-funding-mentioned

In addition to zakat, within Shariah-Compliant Finance there is another form of payment to Muslim charities known as purification. Under purification, any earnings that are deemed to have been received due to activities that were subsequently ruled forbidden (such as interest income, or perhaps money from an enterprise that became involved in something forbidden, such as pork) are purified by being donated to Muslim charities.

But who approves these Muslim charities?

The Shariah advisors.

Men like Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the former Chair of the Shariah Advisory Board of Bank Al-Taqwa who was subsequently banned from entering the US when it was found that his bank was funneling money to a dozen terrorist groups under zakat.

Now Qaradawi’s name has surfaced again in a report of a British Muslim charity that has been found to have been lax in preventing its proceeds from going to terrorist groups. 

This particular charity, Interpal, was the favorite charity of Saddam Hussein’s buddy and noted Jihadist sympathizer George Galloway…

There are two articles online about the activities of Interpal which landed it under the eyes of officials in the UK:

http://www.thejc.com/articles/charity-watchdog-attacks-interpal

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iMVT0LW4VfyyUUGK50c479q-xjFg

Note that the problem with Interpal mentioned in the second article was its relationship with Union of Good, a consortium of some 57 Saudi charities operated by Qaradawi. For some time Union of Good has been suspected of ties to terrorist groups.

Given the fact that Qaradawi is supposedly one of the most “respected” Sunni Shariah scholars in the entire world, and given his important position with the Saudi charities, there is great reason to believe that ties between Jihadist terrorist groups and Muslim charities are commonplace and widespread. 

This is one aspect of Shariah-Compliant Finance that that so-called “transparent” industry is oh so reluctant to talk about.

 

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