Al Gore Sells Out to Qatar: State-Owned Al Jazeera Buys Current TV
Al Gore has sold his failing Current TV television network. The buyer is none other than Al Jazeera, the infamous Islamist television network based out of Doha, Qatar (more on Qatar very shortly). Gore released an interesting statement along with the announcement of the sale: “Current Media was built based on a few key goals: [...]
“Extremism” on the Rise in Zanzibar–Thanks to Saudi Money and Islamic Charities
The Financial Times has an important article about the influx of Salafi Islam in the island region of Tanzania known as Zanzibar. The article doesn’t draw any of the correct conclusions about what is happening there, but it contains enough clues to build a picture. For folks who don’t remember, Tanzania is one of the [...]
US Treasury Blacklists Al Qaeda-linked Jihadist Rebels in Syria
The US has blacklisted an Al Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria, declaring that “extremists” could play no role in building a future for the Syrian people. The move against the Al Nusra Front came as the Obama administration recently recognized the new Syrian National Coalition as the “legitimate representative” of the Syrian people. The problem [...]
Trouble in Shariah Finance Paradise?
As we have reported multiple times over the years, Iran dominates the world of Shariah-compliant finance. In fact, according to the UK-based publication The Banker, Iran has more Shariah-compliant assets under management and in Shariah-compliant financial institutions than any other nation on earth. Furthermore, the top Shariah-compliant financial institutions in the world are Iranian state-controlled banks. Iran [...]
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 [...]
More on Samar Ali, Tennessee’s Shariah Finance Specialist
Over the summer, we reported on Samar Ali, an attorney specializing in Shariah Finance, who was appointed to an economic development position by the governor of Tennessee. http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/?s=Samar+Ali&submit.x=13&submit.y=2 Recently, Arnold Ahlert published more details on Ali and her family background at FrontPageMag.com… http://frontpagemag.com/2012/arnold-ahlert/a-sharia-financier-in-the-tn-governors-office/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=949dbe3deb-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag
Kuwaiti Turkish Banking Firm Aims to Become First Shariah Bank in Germany
Kuwait Finance House’s Turkish operation, Kuveyt Turk, has applied for a German banking licence and aims to become the first Shariah-compliant bank in Germany. The bank says that if their German venture is successful, they will expand to other European countries. Note that the bank aims to pursue non-Muslim depositors in Germany… Kuveyt Turk aims [...]
The drug trade is widely used to fund Jihad. This is especially true of Hezbollah, as this case illustrates, but the drug trade also provides extensive financing for the Taliban in Afghanistan. An Iranian man faces a sentence of life in prison after he was convicted in federal court in New York of conspiring to [...]
World Bank Sends HAMAS $6.4 Million
In the wake of HAMAS’ sustained campaign of indiscriminate rocketing of Israeli targets, which prompted an Israeli response, the Jihadist terror group received a reward in the form of $6.4 million from the World Bank. $6.4 million may not seem like such a big deal, but when you consider the fact that the World Bank [...]
Money is the life blood of Jihad. Without money, terrorists could not carry out their war against the innocents. Last year, Business Pundit blog published a list of their top 10 wealthiest terrorists. We don’t think the entire list was accurate but there were a few Jihadis listed who are worth mentioning here… The wealth [...]
Money Jihad Blog: World Bank Spends Our Money To Promote Shariah
Another excellent posting over on the Money Jihad blog… The World Bank has agreed to collaborate with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) “in the development of Islamic Finance,” according to the Arab News. http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/world-bank-spends-your-money-to-promote-sharia/
Lawsuit Against Arab Bank in Sniper Attack Dismissed
A lawsuit filed by a man injured by a terrorist sniper in Israel against Arab Bank for its role in funding HAMAS has unfortunately been dismissed. Money Jihad blog has an excellent synopsis of Arab Bank’s activities, which we can’t possibly improve upon: The judge’s ruling can be paraphrased as: Well, Arab Bank may have [...]
Morocco appears set to join the list of nations, such as Oman and Jordan, who have changed their tax laws to give preferential treatment to sukuk, or Shariah-compliant bonds. Sukuk are becoming increasingly widespread and are on a trajectory to become a force in the world debt markets. Rich Islamists are already trying to insist [...]
Bangladesh, Banking and Terrorism Financing
“Some linkages between Islamic Banking and terrorist organizations have now been brought into the open, but the networks have not been dismantled.” Bangladesh has a long history of weakness on money laundering and the use of banks to funnel money to Jihadist terrorist organizations. The country is now on the verge of being blacklisted for [...]
A New, Interesting Lawsuit: Americans in Israel Sue America for Funding HAMAS
The Times of Israel has an interesting article posted today about a lawsuit filed by Americans living in Israel who are suing the US government for funding HAMAS, a Jihadist terrorist organization. The lawsuit names the State Department and the White House for essentially looking the other way by not ensuring that US aid to [...]
Sukuk, or Shariah-Compliant Bonds, have a poor record in terms of ethics and defaults in particular. The latest example of this comes from Malaysia, one of the Islamic world’s leading nations when it comes to Shariah-Compliant finance. MCRB Southern Link, a conglomerate involved in a variety of businesses in Malaysia, including wholesale foodstuffs, has seen [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Iran is one of the world leaders in Shariah-compliant finance. Iran is also the world leader in Jihadist terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This is, of course, no coincidence. Iran has been targeted by international economic sanctions due to its uranium enrichment program and its support for Jihadist terrorism. What many [...]
A Lebanese bank can face claims in New York of negligence and breach of duty in a lawsuit brought by U.S., Israeli and Canadian victims of Hezbollah rocket attacks and their families, the state’s highest court ruled. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/hezbollah-victims-may-bring-claims-in-n-y-court-rules.html
Signs of Cracks in the Sukuk Facade
As we have reported repeatedly here on SFW, Shariah-compliant bonds–sukuk–are the emerging weapon of choice for promoting Shariah worldwide via Shariah-compliant finance. But sukuk are not without controversy and they have a jaded past, as rammed home recently with the troubled Dana Gas sukuk. Now, even some in the Islamic world are issuing words of [...]
In a move that illustrates the incredible weakness of US counterterrorism efforts, the US Treasury, in what can only be described as a cynical gesture, has “triumphantly” announced sanctions against a Hezbollah jihadist terrorist who killed and tortured US GIs in Iraq. The US could have and should have remanded this monster into permanent custody, [...]
Shariah Comes to Ireland Via the Financial World
The financial jihad has come to Ireland, something that will not come as a surprise to regular readers of SFW. Still, the ascent of Shariah in Western Europe via Shariah-Compliant Finance is something to which we must never grow accustomed. It is truly the modern day Trojan horse… Islamic finance company Amanie Advisors is to [...]
A large mosque complex is planned for rural Maryland and the supporters are soliciting funds from overseas to complete it. The Dar-us-Salaam Islamic community in College Park, Maryland is planning what would be the largest Islamic project in America, according to Creeping Shariah Blog. Residents in Maryland are opposing the project on zoning grounds–just as they [...]
UK Clothier Enforces Shariah Law Among All Employees
This is a story that has been going viral on the web. The memo depicted in this post speaks for itself, but essentially what Boo Hoo (the name of the business) is doing is enforcing Shariah law at the expense of the rights of its non-Muslim employees. This is becoming more common all the time. [...]
Singapore investors flock to Abu Dhabi Bank Sukuk Offer
Here we have more confirmation that sukuk (Shariah-compliant bonds) are the weapon of choice in spreading Shariah finance around the world. Investors in Singapore are not known for their appetite for Shariah-compliant investments, but they seem to have warmed up to a sukuk issued by a major bank in the UAE… http://www.asiaone.com/A1Business/General%2BNews/Story/Mega%2Bsukuk%2Bissue%2Bcreates%2Bripples%2Bhere.html
The board of Dana Gas, the UAE-based natural gas company, is meeting today to discuss the restructuring arrangement that it is working out with creditors in its recent sukuk (Islamic bond) default… Natural gas producer Dana, headquartered in the emirate of Sharjah, said on November 7 it had reached an agreement in principle with creditors on [...]
Two of our favorite web sites are Money Jihad and RadicalIslam.org. This week Ryan Mauro of RadicalIslam.org interviewed the editor of MoneyJihad. The Q&A is well worth your time… Money Jihad: How Islamists Finance Their Operations http://www.radicalislam.org/analysis/money-jihad-how-islamists-finance-their-operations
Shariah Finance Dawah Continues Apace in Britain
One of the worst kept secrets in the world of Shariah Finance is the fact that, despite great efforts on the part of financial jihadists with obsequious assistance from British political leaders, demand for Shariah-compliant financial products and banking is lacking. Nevertheless, the Shariah Finance industry is continuing its dawah operations there… Sharia finance to [...]
Yesterday we reported that Dana Gas, the United Arab Emirates’ largest natural gas firm, was set to default later today on its $920 million sukuk, or Shariah-compliant bond. We cannot overemphasize the significance of this event. Sukuk have been controversial for some time based on several factors, but chiefly two: (1) Sukuk involve more fees [...]
Categories