The sanctions regime against Iran over its nuclear program and sponsorship of Jihadist terrorism is unfortunately unravelling at an alarming pace. Part and parcel to that process is a disturbing development in which the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom ruled on the side of Bank Mellat in its suit against the British government. Bank […]
Iran is desperate to get access to foreign currencies, particularly dollars and euros, and is exploiting weak spots in the global financial system in an effort to move funds and evade economic sanctions, U.S. officials say. The Treasury Department warned U.S. banks to be vigilant in monitoring attempts by Iran to move money through currency […]
For years, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad have been raising funds through extortion and blackmail from Arab residents of the Latin countries and processing the funds through the tri-border area where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet as well as, in more recent years, the Islamic “Cultural” Center on Margarita Island, Venezuela. [Hugo Chavez] has formed […]
HSBC wins the useful idiot award for the year for its work in facilitating the financial jihad through handling the most Shariah-compliant bond (sukuk) offerings. Coming in second in the competition was CIMB. If you do business with either of these financial institutions, you may wish to consider these activities when making future financial decisions. […]
Does Your Financial Institution Participate in Shariah Compliant Finance?
The most common requests we receive here at SFW are questions as to whether banks or brokerage houses “are Shariah-compliant?” As a result of these numerous inquiries, for the past several weeks, we have carefully compiled a list of financial institutions active in the USA that have some form of tie to Shariah Compliant Finance. […]
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 […]
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has published a good report on the Jihadist terrorist group Hezbollah’s (spelled in the report as “Hizballah”) criminal activities, their money laundering and finance activities in particular, which will no doubt be of interest to SFW readers. Here are some excerpts and a link to the full report: […]
One of the overt objectives of the financial jihadists has always been to capture the assets of non-Muslims in Shariah-compliant investments and accounts. They have used a wide variety of methods to do so. For instance, Sheikh DeLorenzo, who is on several major Shariah advisory boards in the USA and abroad, has advocated for not […]
Germany is resisting international pressure to freeze the activities of an Iranian-owned bank based in Hamburg that U.S. officials say provides the financial lifeblood for some of Iran’s blacklisted companies. U.S. and European Union officials in recent months have stepped up pressure on Germany to close down the European-Iranian Trade Bank AG—including a Feb. 2 […]
“I believe as a Muslim community one of the areas we have neglected is Islamic Finance. We have reached the age and stage of development where we direly need our own financial institution. One which not only provides the capacity to finance our ventures but also educates the community on the matter of Islamic finance.” […]
A powerful Islamic seminary in northern India, with ties to Jihadist groups, has issued a fatwa, or decree, against Muslims working in banks. According to a spokesman for the seminary, tenets of Shariah law state that Muslims must not work in banks because as employees they would have to deal with transactions involving interest and […]
Islamic “megabank” to launch
The creation of a planned Islamic investment megabank is in ‘fairly advanced stages’ and it will likely be launched in the next six to 12 months, an executive at a firm advising on the project said on Thursday. A plan to form the world’s largest sharia-compliant lender – which is being promoted by the chairman […]
Kuwait Finance House, the emirate’s leading Islamic bank, said on Tuesday its 2009 profits dropped by 24 percent from the previous year due to the continued impact of the global financial crisis. This earnings report comes amid continued bogus claims by financial jihadists that Shariah-Compliance provides protection against that very same financial crisis… http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=5336111&fSectionId=613&fSetId=662
As we reported not long ago, one of the oldest banks in Kuwait, BKME, will soon complete the conversion process from legitimate, civilized finance to Shariah Compliance. Now we learn that in justifying this move, they are making claims about the durability of Shariah-Compliant financial institutions in the face of economic crisis: “Islamic banking is […]
A Shameless, Shallow Advertorial for Shariah Finance from Oxford Analytica and Forbes.com
Malcom Forbes must be spinning in his grave. His namesake publication’s web site has published an article which basically promotes a financial and economic system which by its very nature seeks to replace capitalism and our free enterprise system: http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/10/islamic-finance-after-dubai-business-oxford-analytica-islamic-finance.html?feed=rss_business In fact, the article reads less like journalism and more like a press release from […]
The Banker points out problems with Shariah Finance
The British publication “The Banker” has mostly been a cheerleader for Shariah Finance for several years and they have written an article which, while viewing Shariah Finance in a positive light, also points out some of its serious flaws: • “Greed and selfishness” exist in Shariah Finance just as they do in conventional finance. This […]
Feds Move to Seize Alavi Assets, Aiming at Iran, Bank Melli (World’s Number 1 Shariah-Compliant Bank)
Yesterday the US attorney’s office in Manhattan moved to seize assets of a non-profit foundation tied to Iran. Among those assets are four mosques in New York, California, Maryland and Texas, 100 acres of land in Virginia and a 36-story building at 650 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Much of this activity centers around the ties […]
The growth of Shariah Finance has resulted in Western institutions offering degree, diploma and training courses in Islamic finance. This amounts to Western training in Shariah. Dauphine University in Paris will begin offering a master’s program in Islamic finance very soon. Reading University in the UK is offering courses in Islamic finance. HSBC, the big […]
Douglas Farah on Iran’s Expanding Latin American Reach
Douglas Farah is one of America’s most valuable experts on the subject of Jihad and the financial aspects of Islamist terrorism. On Friday, 23 October, Farah posted an excellent article on Iran’s continuously growing activities in the Western Hemisphere, with a particular emphasis on Iran’s inroads into the financial services sector in Central and South […]
QInvest and Fortis Bank Nederland to create first Shariah Compliant “Mezzanine” Shipping Fund.
The Netherlands has now joined the Shariah nightmare as one of that country’s biggest banks, Fortis, is teaming up with QInvest of Qatar to launch a fund to target financing opportunities in the marine transportation industry. This actually gives SFW the opportunity to comment on the wider implications of Shariah Compliant Finance and some of […]
With the Help of HSBC and Citibank, Shariah-Compliant Finance is Spreading in the Orient
Banking giants HSBC and Citibank, already infamous for contributing to the spread of Shariah in the West, are now fast at work aiding the spread of Shariah in Malaysia and other key markets in Asia and the Pacific Rim. Keep this in mind when you select banks to do business with. HSBC and Citibank are […]
Moves to plug the gap in Islamic finance carry risks
The Financial Times has published an article detailing some of the risks involved in Shariah-Compliant Finance. For instance, a new term has been developed for the financial world: “Shariah risk.” Shariah risk is the risk that a product that was previously believed to be shariah-compliant could be declared “un-Islamic” by a prominent shariah scholar. Basically, […]
The central purpose of Shariah-Compliant Finance is to promote Islam and Shariah. It is in fact considered “missionary” work. That is one reason why Shariah-Compliant financial institutions will go to great lengths to mask Shariah and push Shariah-compliant products out to non-Muslim customers. The goal is to set non-Muslims at ease with Shariah to set […]
Institutional Investor has published a celebratory article about “Islamic finance.” The article starts off by telling the truth, namely that the market for Islamic bonds dried up last year as a result of the economic crisis, but it only uses that as a set up for telling a story of how the future for Islamic […]
Adnan Yousif: The Godfather of Global Shariah-Compliant Finance
Most of us in the West never heard of Adnan Yousif, but we probably should, because he has been named as a driving force behind the global spread of Shariah-Compliant Finance in a fluff piece published overnight on The Economist web site. Yousif is important enough for The Economist to […]
At a meeting of 400 “leaders” of the Shariah-Compliant Finance industry, in his opening address, Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) secretary general Dr Mohammed Nedal Alchaar said that there exists the need to remove “irrational fear from the market investors and counterparties through enhancing disclosure of financial information.” Increased disclosure and transparency […]
Oops, there appears to be trouble in paradise. It seems, as we have been reporting on SFW for months, that Shariah banks aren’t quite the safe havens their promoters have been crowing about. And, to top it all off, now the lawyers are getting involved… http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54B0O020090512
Stress-testing Shariah-Compliant Finance
RGE Monitor has come up with an excellent analysis of the Shariah-Compliant Finance industry and has pretty much debunked all the misleading and flowery reports about Shariah-Compliance providing a safe haven against the current economic decline and financial downturn. It also reinforces another important aspect of Shariah-Compliant Finance that we’ve been writing about on SFW […]
Shariah-Compliant Finance as a Safe Haven: Myth and Reality
Promoters of Shariah-Compliant Finance routinely violate the trust of investors when they proclaim that investing according to shariah principles has provided a safe haven from the recent and current financial crisis. Could any other sector get away with such lies? The lies emanate from the entire range of shariah practitioners, from individual investors themselves all […]
Readers of SFW may recall that we have been closely watching University Islamic Bank in Ann Arbor, Michigan: https://shariahfinancewatch.org/category/university-islamic-bank/ We have always been troubled by many aspects of Shariah-Compliant Banking and Finance and we were taken aback by the attitudes expressed by the President of the bank, Stephen Ranzini. We addressed all of those issues […]
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