I think it's safe to say that history has shown that Western culture, democracy, has the best probability of providing for individual rights and freedoms while countries under Sharia Law are floundering and will continue to flounder based on past history and behaviours, today. Societies that follow Sharia Law have shown themselves to be barbaric, whether it is Sunni or Shia, in the Middle East or in Africa. Their laws feed the uncivilized part of our innately selfish nature. It was Freud who wrote "Civilizations and Its Discontents." We, in the civilized West, are constantly dealing with the ordeal of civility while others condone stoning and beheading, cutting of limbs and fingers, honour killings, aborting of female fetuses and selling their children.
George Jonas, columnist with the National Post wrote in 2011 "Don't let Western civilization-the best and most humane form of civilization developed by mankind-perish by default."Why are we in the West bending over backward to accommodate these behaviours?
Perhaps it is greed?
Greed has taken its place again in the economy of the West. It is called
Sharia Compliant Funds.
One would have thought by now the West would have learned a lesson regarding greed. From the
Greed is Good war cry, to the financial fall in 2008, one would think that we would have learned to be wary. To perform due diligence.Yet, here we are investing in these Islamic-based funds.
QFinance says of them:
"Shariah -compliant investment funds provide a means of investing while still honoring the high morals and principles of Islam."
Britain is well into a Sharia parallel economy leading the West in providing Islamic financial and related professional services. She is the top provider of Sharia-compliant finance, with reported assets of $19 billion, according to
Islamic Finance 2013.
David Cameron says British Treasury will issue £200 million (€235 million; $320 million) worth of
sukuk (bonds) this year. The objective is to enable the government to borrow from Muslim investors. Money does not come without strings. The Treasury also said some
sukuk bond issues may require the British government to
restrict its dealings with Israeli-owned companies in order to attract Muslim money. I assume this is part the high moral standard of Sharia compliant investing: discriminating against Israel, a democracy with a vibrant economy, thriving research and development and innovation. I wonder what groups will be next.
Apparently, it wasn't enough that the West, in our naïve desire to show how tolerant we are,allowed a culture that is anathema to everything we believe to make a home for itself amongst us. When Mr. Jonas referred to default, I don't think he anticipated financial default, to another culture. Once Sharia Complaint Funds become entwined in Western economy it will be impossible to disentangle.
Let me give you some numbers.
It is projected that
Muslim world will be doing 50% of their banking needs with Islamic institutions by 2020.
Imagine how that will impact the free world economy.
Sharia Compliant Investment or Funds had an estimated $1.6 trillion under management as of the end of 2012, and has a forecasted $6.5 trillion under management by the end of 2020, according to a report by the
Kuwait Finance House entitled
Overview of the Islamic Financial Landscape.
"It's becoming hard to ignore--even for the West."
According to the Global Islamic Finance Report, in 2011
Britain was the main centre for Islamic finance outside the Muslim world.In 2013
Islamic Finance 2013 Britain's Sharia Compliant finance was reported to have assets of $19 billion
.
"Standard & Poor's released a report on Feb. 5, 2014 predicting that
sukuk(Islamic bond) issuances worldwide will top
$100 billion in 2014 thanks to higher demand from the Middle East and growth in Malaysia--the world's largest market."
Sharia Compliant Investing is so strong in the USA that a conference was held in Chicago to publicize the products. The
Chicago Islamic Finance & Economic Conference 2014 provided "the platform for the Islamic Finance sector and the Halal industries to engage in meaningful discussions, market and consumer challenges, and chart the path for the Islamic Economy in the United States and Globally."
According to their brochure "Islamic Finances estimated to grow 15-20% from its current value of $1.35 trillion in assets covering commercial banking
,funds, Sukuks, Takaful and other segments. The Islamic Economy with over $3.0 trillion encompassing Halal food, finance, clothing, tourism, media & recreation, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics is estimated to grow in double digits in the next five years."
Bloomberg Islamic Finance Platform (ISLM) provides tools and services for investors who want to be compliant with Shariah law.
Then
September 19, 2012,
Bloomberg launched a new Corporate Sukuk (bond) Index for Islamic Finance.
According to
Walied Soliman a lawyer at Ogilvy Renault LLP,Canada,"The market has already matured in the U.K. , Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In fact, Canada is ripe for Islamic finance"But, Mohammad Fadel, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in Islamic law said "the real gold mine could be Canada's natural resources and what that might attract in terms of institutional money from Islamic countries."
On top of the money made from these products there is a huge bureaucracy involved in this business. Special advisors make decisions regarding "kosher" investments-or should I say halal. The same advisors tend to be on all boards.
And some of these Shariah law
authorities are now being paid handsomely by Barclays, Dow Jones, Standard & Poors, HSBC, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Deutschebank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Credit Suisse.
I am providing the
names of these authorities and their resumés. It's important to read their backgrounds as they are making decisions that affect those of us living in freedom in the West.
Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah, Syria, holds several degrees in Islamic law from different universities including Damascus University and Al-Azhar University in Cairo where he obtained his PhD in Islamic Law and he was a member of the Fatwa Board from 1982 to 1990, Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Kuwait;
Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, Bahrain, is a member of 46 Sharia Boards including Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, Dow Jones Islamic Index, HSBC Amanah, Lloyds TSB, and Citi Islamic;
Sheikh Dr. Mohamed A. Elgari , Saudi Arabia, is on the Shariah board for National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia, Citi Islamic Investment Bank, Saudi Arabia, Saudi American Bank (United Kingdom), Saudi British Bank, United Kingdom, and Dow Jones Islamic Index, United States;
Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Daud Bakar, Malaysia, is a member of numerous international Shariah Supervisory Boards, including the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes, HSBC (Malaysia), Unicorn Investment Bank (Bahrain), BNP Paribas, Oasis Asset Management, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the Sharia board of Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and
Sheikh Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo,
United States, who advised Pakistan's tyrannical Zia ul-Haq from 1981 to 1984 and ran the Virginia Islamic Saudi Academy educational program cited in 2008 for using hateful Islamic texts. He was trained at Karachi's Jamia Al Alomia Al Islamia, and served the Muslim Brotherhood International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
Serious problems come into play when one takes into consideration
zakat - charitable contributions. These same Sharia advisors are often responsible for determining the distribution of
zakat, which is 2.5% of income that observant Muslims are obliged to make each year.
According to the
Qu'ran (9:60), "recipients of zakat include the poor, the needy, those who serve the needy, and to free the slaves, but recipients also include
'those who fight in the way of Allah'and '
people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army, or volunteers for jihad without remuneration.'" (
Reliance of the Traveler, The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law).
"The largest single source of funds for Islamic terrorism is zakat which typically goes through the Islamic banking system. Using the system of zakat 'al-Qaeda was able to receive between $300m and $500m' over a decade 'from wealthy businessmen and bankers representing 20% of Saudi GNP, through a web of charities and companies acting as fronts, with the notable use of Islamic banking institutions.'"
AsI wrote in my previous article, Muslims are obliged to honour the law of the land so if there's no Sharia investing available they invest as others.They remain in the mainstream economy of the country in which they have chosen to live. But once Sharia is introduced, the choices narrow.
Before
Baroness Warsi was relieved of duty she promoted Sharia Compliant investing in Britain. She said it's about "increasing options, maximizing the products and services we have to offer" and "making Britain the preferred choice for the Muslim world."
These remarks and Sharia Compliant Funds have led to concerns in Australia. Elizabeth Kendal, Australian Religious Liberty Analyst, has written that these funds actually reduce free choice for Muslim citizens because they become obligated to purchase these funds and separate themselves economically from the rest of the country. Ghettoizing.
Timur Kuran, Turkish American economist, Professor of Economics and Political Science, and Gorter Family Professor in Islamic Studies at Duke University warns: "The real purpose of Islamic economics has not been economic improvement but cultivation of a distinct Islamic identity to resist cultural globalization. It has served the cause of global Islamism, known also as "Islamic fundamentalism," by fueling the illusion that Muslim societies have lived, or can live, by distinct economic rules.
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President of
American Islamic Forum for Democracy states: "Sharia-compliant finance only empowers Muslim Sharia Law leaders whose real long term vision is to impose Sharia Law on the world and recreate an Islamic Empire. These leaders want to overpower capital free markets and create their version of an Islamic economy. Bankers and business leaders are being duped."
What about the rest of us?
