David Yerushalmi charts one aspect of "the baneful work of...Western imams and their infidel advisers in business suits."
"Shariah finance: The deadly Jihadist weapon with a dollar sign," by David Yerushalmi in the Washington Examiner, December 30:
News of the recent financial meltdown of Dubai World -- a quasi-sovereign global concern that owns 77 percent of the international port manager DP World and the single largest real estate developer in Dubai known for its palm-tree shaped luxury residential developments -- raced from the business pages to the headlines of the front pages in a matter of days.Since the first reports on Thanksgiving, the Wall Street Journal and just about every other major media outlet reported extensively on the worldwide implications of this latest financial shock wave.
What makes this story more than simply one of a massive real estate investment company gone bad is the double-edged sword so prevalent in the chase for oil-based Middle East wealth: Sovereign wealth funds and Shariah-compliant finance.
Beginning in the 1970s with the Carter-era oil embargo and accelerating during the post-9/11 $100+ oil price spikes, Persian Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' wealthiest city-state of Abu Dhabi have been awash in liquidity. And, these trillion-dollar cash reserves are controlled in every case by the respective royal families, typically in sovereign or quasi-sovereign wealth funds.
Another phenomenon that followed the great oil rush of the post-9/11 era was the promotion and aggressive exportation of the Muslim Brotherhood doctrine of SCF.
The concept of SCF was articulated by men like Sayyid Qutb of Egypt and Abul Ala Maududi of Pakistan in the mid-20th century, both of whom argued for a Jihad against Westernization, and the creation of Islamic polities that would ultimately join in a hegemonic worldwide caliphate. The goal was that of establishing Shariah not merely as the supreme law of the land, but as the supreme law of the world.
In the post-9/11 era, Western imams and their infidel advisers in business suits speaking the queen's English have understood that given the global Jihad's reliance on the dictates of Shariah to murder apostates and to terrorize the infidels into submission, SCF must be attired in a kind of progressive Western garb to attract the attention of the financial centers in London, Hong Kong and New York.
So it was that SCF became known as "ethical investing" and Western and Muslim financiers began lecturing the world that the fraud and abuse of the financial markets, such as the Enron debacle and more recently the subprime securitization meltdown, were all driven by the desire for forbidden gain through interest and gambling.
They told us that SCF was based not on forbidden interest and speculative paper assets, but profits through equity participation and sound investing in real assets.
Dubai World, a company wholly owned by the Dubai sovereign has funded itself through debt to the tune of $60 billion. The Dubai debt now in default just happens to be SCF bonds, or "sukuk."
These bonds pay interest just like their forbidden cousins in the Western markets, but the interest is put into a black box of Shariah-created fictions and "special purpose vehicles" to keep the forbidden interest off the books.
What we now see as a real estate bubble collapse in Dubai is no different and no more or less ethical than any other financial failure. But, what makes this collapse so problematic is precisely what makes SCF and sovereign wealth funds so dangerous....
21 "Both Attempt to Change The Law"
http://schnellmann.org/Both_Attempt_to_Change_The_Law.pdf
(PDF 179 KB)
"God's War on Terror" by Walid Shoebat ex-Muslim terrorist of Bethlehmem
http://schnellmann.org/walid_shoebat_gods_war_on_terror_1.jpg
http://schnellmann.org/walid_shoebat_gods_war_on_terror_2.jpg
The courageous Paul Sperry details how CAIR has been part and parcel of the Islamic jihad against America that revealed itself in its most deadly form with the jihad massacre at Fort Hood. It is important to remember that Major Nidal Malik Hasan and Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab were able to perform their dastardly deeds due to CAIR and its left-liberal allies blocking the implementation of any policies that would hinder jihadists in our society. In a more sane time the officials of CAIR would have long since been imprisoned or deported (or prevented from entering the US in the first place), but instead they are treated as legitimate and extended every media and political courtesy.
The courageous Paul Sperry details how CAIR has been part and parcel of the Islamic jihad against America that revealed itself in its most deadly form with the jihad massacre at Fort Hood. It is important to remember that Major Nidal Malik Hasan and Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab were able to perform their dastardly deeds due to CAIR and its left-liberal allies blocking the implementation of any policies that would hinder jihadists in our society. In a more sane time the officials of CAIR would have long since been imprisoned or deported (or prevented from entering the US in the first place), but instead they are treated as legitimate and extended every media and political courtesy.
Perhaps I lack the needed financial savvy. But I think RS and all of us who are concerned are pissing in gale force winds on this one.
This is one area where our own flesh and blood, the Wall Street geniuses and their manipulators in the past have overturned governments, destroyed companies through LBOs, created and repealed massive legislation, at whim, all to benefit their bottom line. And you cannot fault them under our capitalism and the free market "rules" which are a moving target. In a capitalistic society, nothing is sacred, as we will continually be taught by Wall Street, commodities, equities, bonds, "unregulated financial instruments", "opaque oil trading markets", presidents, parts of governments, your house, your 401K, your faith/religion etc. are all pawns on the financial chess board.
This is one friendly (though sometimes not) Goliath that will stop at nothing when it comes to generating massive income. Because if we don't overlook some "bad" (sharia) that comes with the "deal" and jump on it, someone else in London or Hongkong will! In this battle, David always gets his head handed to him(no pun intended), Wall Street always win.
Dubai World, a company wholly owned by the Dubai sovereign has funded itself through debt to the tune of $60 billion. The Dubai debt now in default just happens to be SCF bonds, or "sukuk."
Sweet. No tears from me here. Perhaps the Ivy League MBA programs should teach their future 'captains' of industry on the pitfalls and snafus of Sharia financing, or at least the 'ethics' of that sleazy under-the-radar, barely legal grab for our money.
Glad it failed, Allah does not love Sharia financing either. Interest charged hidden in a 'black box' does not change the fact that interest is merely another form of payment for borrowed money over time. It's idiotic to think that renaming it will change the facts. Nice palm tree islands though, would love to visit were it not anchored to Islam.
Re. sharia finance.
If you work in any field that has anything to do with finance (whether public - e.g. the IRS, or private - e.g. an accounting firm, a stockbroker or a bank), or know someone who does, Canon Dr Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund (organisation which supports persecuted Christians, primarily in Islamic lands) has the book for you. "Understanding Shari'a Finance" is a useful book which makes the same points as Yerushalmi, in somewhat more detail. Sookhdeo, an ex-Muslim, is as much of a whistleblower re. jihad as Mr Spencer and has the same sort of sober tone.
https://barnabasfund.org/UK/Resources/Free-print-media-resources/?&page=barnabasbooks&first=no&pages=all
The book is cheap (costs exactly 17 Australian dollars, for example), not too long, and easily readable. It also contains a handy little appendix which explains some of those other non-financial elements of shari'a that Muslim apologists don't want inquiring non-Muslims to know; that is, it identifies 'five areas in which shari'a is incompatible with human rights'.
It will happen if people will not understand what it would mean to that person under some law system like shariah.
to understand what it would mean to you start to read and understand what this world really is.