Thursday 9 February 2012

Germany goes for Sharia finance: discriminatory and jihad-promoting as it is...

From the Weekly Standard:
Last month, German bank WestLB rolled out a new “Islam-compliant” investment product named the Islamic Strategy Index Certificate. The value of the certificate is based on the value of the WestLB Islamic Deutschland Index, consisting of shares of ten German firms “whose business activities are consistent with the ethical rules of Islam.”... 
The prospectus goes on to explain that “for the selection [of stocks] it is in principle not permitted that the business activity of the chosen firms involve interest-bearing financial services or derivatives, insurance, alcohol, tobacco, pork, armaments, gambling, gold and silver hedging transactions, or the entertainment industry.” [Read more...]
The prospectus does not explain that in addition to those areas not permitted, other areas prohibited include: investments in companies or products that benefit non-Islamic religions; any project that promotes equal rights for women and gays; any western defence industries (but not Muslim ones); any western books, films, TV and radio. And, of course, they prohibit investment in any company having links with Israel.
As for the alleged “interest-free” nature of Sharia loans, deals are structured with sale and buyback of artificial "assets" with profit margins at levels equivalent to prevailing interest rates.  In other words they are an elaborate ploy of form over substance, and inefficient because of that structure.  Moreover, they require western jurisdictions to change their tax codes and related legislation to accommodate it
The trio in charge of ensuring the Index is Sharia compliant include Mufti Abdul Kadir Barkatullah, imam of the Finchley Mosque in London.  It was at his mosque last year that visiting MP Mike Freer was threatened and called a "Jewish homosexual pig" [BBC], about which the Mufti was notably silent.  Those threatening him posted messages saying that politicians are "no longer welcome in any Muslim areas".  [In other words Finchley is considered by those thugs to be a "Muslim area", a no-go area for non-Muslims in the centre of London].
The Finchley Mosque is associated with the Islamic Society of North London, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood.
As for the Sharia mandated 5% that must go to charity: the requirements are that (i) the charity must by Islamic and (ii) that 12.5% of the charity money must be used to wage jihad (Umdat al-Salik, the Manual of Islamic jurisprudence), -- links between Islamic charities and terrorist bodies were recorded in the 9/11 Commission Report [p.517].  That is why Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual head, Yusuf al Qaradawi has called Sharia Finance "jihad with money" [aka "financial jihad"]
In sum, by promoting Sharia finance, Germany is promoting a system that is:
1.  Discriminatory
2.  Artificial and Inefficient, requiring revision of legal codes
3.  Anti-semitic
4.  Jihad-promoting
5.  Associated with the Muslim Brotherhood

See also: Letter to Simon Crean and Nick Sherry