Three and a half years ago, the very future of Sukuk (Islamic bonds) was in question when Mufti Taqi Usmani, a prominent Shariah scholar, declared most of them haram, or non-Shariah-compliant.
Despite this, the Sukuk market survived, though it then suffered a setback when several Sukuk offerings experienced missed payments and defaults in 2009.
Today, Sukuk have come to dominate Shariah finance. They are also the tool of choice of the financial jihadists, who want to impose Shariah-compliance on non-Muslims. More and more Western companies and countries are under pressure to issue Sukuk rather than conventional bonds in order to get those petrodollars that they seek so desperately.
And, as the article linked below details, Sukuk issuance has expanded substantially in Persian Gulf nations, with more than $17 billion being raised in the region in the first 9 months of this year…
