posted by Christopher W. Holton We recently warned readers that the shariah finance industry would likely tout shariah compliant finance as a shelter from the economic fallout from the Wuhan virus pandemic. That hasn’t started yet, but we are seeing the shariah finance industry referencing the pandemic to spread propaganda about shariah compliant finance in […]
Jihadi Charities Expand in Indonesia
posted by Christopher W. Holton East Asia Forum has an important article posted on the proliferation of charities supporting Jihadist groups in Indonesia. This has been a problem for well over a decade now as Indonesian security and intelligence services battle terrorists both kinetically and in the financial realm. Here are the highlights of the […]
posted by Christopher Holton Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain accuse Qatar of financing “extremist” groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. The four nations sent Qatar a list of 59 individuals and 12 institutions that allegedly finance terrorism and receive support from Qatar. Among the most prominent names on the list is Abdul […]
Why It’s a Bad Idea for Western Financial Firms to Get Involved in Zakat
by Christopher W Holton The issue of zakat is one that is central to the concerns about Shariah-compliant finance, but concerns about zakat should extend far beyond Shariah finance alone. Zakat is a real threat because it is doctrinal in Islam and no figure, organization or body in Islam has the authority to change it. […]
posted by Christopher W. Holton India has frozen the assets of 37 entities on charges of terrorist financing and money laundering of illicit funds, according to the latest report by global anti-financial terror body FATF (Financial Action Task Force). The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 and it is mandated to set global protocols […]
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Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Sheikh Nasr al-Ansi has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks which claimed 17 lives last week. He also specifically claimed responsibility for financing the operation: “The one who chose the target, laid plan and finance the operation is leadership of Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula,” the commander of Al […]
From Indonesia… Aceh Custom Council (MAA) is launching a forest management handbook based on sharia and customary law compiled by Acehs traditional and public figures to support sustainable forest management in Sumatra. “The book describes how Islamic and custom laws established the environment, including sustainable forest management,” the chairman of MAA, H Badruzzaman, said here on Monday. […]
The Islamization of Turkey has been accompanied by that nation’s increasing closeness to groups and individuals associated with Jihadist terrorism. That trend has been reported in a variety of media: http://terrortrendsbulletin.com/2013/12/31/turkeys-erdogan-tied-to-designated-saudi-terrorist/ The extent of those ties to Jihad–and specifically the financing of Jihadist terrorism–has now been detailed in an excellent report published by the Foundation […]
As we have mentioned several times on SFW, Shariah bonds, known as “sukuk,” have become the foil brandished by the financial jihadists to infiltrate Shariah into countries by using the lure of capital. According to the Wall Street Journal and Standard & Poor’s, the next target for sukuk will be Africa. http://on.wsj.com/1bpFUUT We cannot help […]
In the wake of last week’s horrific Jihadist terrorist attack in Boston, we have seen very little discussion as to the possible financial aspects of the Tsarnaev brothers’ Jihad. By all accounts, the Tsarnaevs were far from destitute. Yet there is no indication anywhere that they had jobs. They evidently had credit cards, so their transactions can […]
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 […]
US anti-money laundering enforcement and regulation in chaos?
The article linked below paints a disturbing picture of the status of the US government’s efforts to combat money laundering, especially where it applies to Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of Jihadist terrorism. Note in the article that it is mentioned that Stuart Levey, the former Treasury Department official charged with counterterrorism duties, is […]
Qaradawi’s Qatar Islamic Bank to float $1.5 billion Sukuk
Islamic bonds, properly known as “sukuk” are increasingly becoming the favorite product of Shariah-Compliant Finance. In fact, we’re starting to see more and more Western nations and financial institutions involved in sukuk simply because wealthy Muslim individuals and institutions, armed with massive amounts of petrodollars, are insisting on Shariah-compliance for financing activities. Qatar Islamic Bank […]
Irish Attorney: “Financial shock would never have happened under shariah”
Every once in a while we come across a story that is really outrageous. Some or outrageous because they are inaccurate. Others are outrageous because they are simply offensive. Today we bring to you an article from John King, an attorney with one of Ireland’s most prominent law firms, in which he makes the case […]
…if she is Shariah adherent, 1/40th of this will go to zakat…that’s $125,000. One of the eight acceptable destinations for zakat under Shariah is to “those fighting in the way of allah,” defined as those engaged in Islamic military operations who are not on any Army roster. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-mct-muslim-woman-gets-huge-award-in-workplace-20120505,0,6271844.story
More Details on Funding for the Taliban
Not long ago we mentioned that the Taliban had gone online to raise money for their violent Jihadi activities. In that same post we mentioned that US intelligence sources had indicated that most of the Taliban’s financing sources remained intact since US forces engineered their overthrow way back in 2001. This continued financing provides one […]
The report below is cause for concern. Philippine officials have fallen into the trap of dealing with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) based out of Saudi Arabia. IDB is a gargantuan institution dominated by Saudi Arabia and based out of Jeddah, which is the most important non-holy city in that country, much more important than […]
Linked below is an article by a financial jihadi posing the question “Is Islamic finance a failure?” As you might expect, the answer turns out to be “no,” which, given the author’s background should come as no surprise. This is a common tactic of the financial jihadis; build a straw man and then proceed to […]
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its ‘BB+’ long-term foreign currency issue rating to the proposed issue of benchmark-sized global Sukuk trust certificates by Perusahaan Penerbit SBSN Indonesia II, a fully-owned special purpose vehicle of the Republic of Indonesia. According to S&P’s ratings scale, BB is below investment grade and thus termed “junk.” http://cpifinancial.net/v2/News.aspx?v=1&aid=9719&sec=Islamic%20Finance
Money Jihad: Hamas still raising money in Sudan
The State Department’s new “2010″ report on global terrorism revealed that “Sudanese officials continued to view Hamas members as representatives of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas members conducted fundraising in Sudan. Sudan hosts “centers for raising funds and Islamic Social Unions (Marakiz li-Jam’ al-Tabarru’at wa-Ittihadat Ijtima’iyyah Islamiyya)” and “Pro-HAMAS financial activity in Africa is centred in Sudan through the […]
Linked at the bottom of this post is a video that most sober folks will probably find strange. The six minute and forty-five second video is largely an anti-Jewish rant, but it is also something else. It is a sermon delivered by a Muslim Imam. In fact it is a segment of a sermon entitled […]
Another Apologist Attempts to Rewrite History for Cat Stevens
Most of SFW’s readers probably know who Cat Stevens is. He was a folk singer who converted to Islam in the late 1970s and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. At the time of his conversion, he swore off his music and devoted himself to his new-found faith. A few years later he found himself […]
Each new day brings another story over the seeming clash of civilizations in Nigeria. Though it has not been reported separately and is not the primary subject of the article linked below, evidently, an organization calling itself the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria has threatened to start a war if Nigeria does not adopt […]
Luxembourg Puts Sukuk on Hold
The tiny European/NATO nation Luxembourg is one of the wealthiest small nations on earth. As you probably expected, Middle Eastern petro-wealth has found its way into influencing Luxembourg’s policies. This includes pressure on the country to issue a sukuk (Islamic bond) for its sovereign debt. This week, Luxembourg decided not to issue a sukuk. We […]
Al Qaeda called a ‘money making machine’ by British official–that’s not even HALF the story
The article below from The Telegraph in Great Britain quotes a British Foreign Office director as describing Al Qaeda as a “money making machine,” due to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s practice of ransoming hostages for money. Evidently, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland have all paid such ransoms to the Jihadist terrorist organization. This […]
The UAE Central Bank said on Sunday it had started issuing the country’s first Islamic certificates of deposits (ICDs) as part of a plan to create a new investment tool for Shariah-compliant banks in the country. The Central Bank said it held an auction to sell one-week and 12-month ICDs on Wednesday, adding that they […]
Kiplinger Shills for Shariah
It is usually a mistake to write about something you know nothing about. This is advice that Janet Bodnar of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance should follow. In a new column, she decided to praise the Amana group of mutual funds for adhering to Islamic law. We assume that Ms. Bodnar knows nothing about “Islamic law,” properly […]
Qatar Islamic Bank, the leading Shariah-compliant financial institution in Qatar and owner of the largest Shariah-compliant banking network in the world, has been chosen as the Bank of the Year by the Arabian Business Awards. We at SFW are certainly not celebrating this occasion, but we bring it up for a very good reason. Though […]
The technical issues which caused the Shariah Finance Watch blog to experience extended outages have been cleared up. We will resume posting on the original Shariah Finance Watch site immediately. Thank you very much for your patience.
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