Finding Islam on the Road to College

By Halimah David

My father raised me on his own and as a Christian. He worked hard to teach me Christian values.

I read the Bible a lot when I was in elementary school (I skipped the words I did not know) and noticed there were some contradictions (i.e. eating pork, Jesus's peace be upon him supposed death).

When I was twelve I knew I did not really believe in Christianity anymore, but I did not know what to think. I continued searching out God and praying to Him for the truth. I sought God a lot and very hard.

I had a lot of questions on my mind: "Everybody, at some time or another, asks themselves the question: "Why do I exist?" or "For what purpose am I here on earth?"

The variety and complexity of the intricate systems, which constitute the fabric of both human beings and the world in which they exist, indicate that there must have been a Supreme Being who created them.

Design indicates a designer. When human beings come across footprints on a beach, they immediately conclude that a human being had walked by there some time previously.

No one imagines that the waves from the sea settled in the sand and by chance produced a depression looking exactly like human footprints.

Nor do humans instinctively conclude that they were brought into existence without a purpose. Since purposeful action is a natural product of human intelligence, humans conclude that the Supreme Intelligent Being who created them must have done so for a specific purpose.

Therefore, human beings need to know the purpose for their existence in order to make sense of this life and to do what is ultimately beneficial for them.

When I was nineteen while calling myself a truth seeker, I traveled a lot looking for other cultures and beliefs to satisfy my need for finding God. I looked into Taoism, Wicca, Buddhism, Rastafarian, Judaism, Free Masonry, Christianity, Hinduism, Animism, etc.

I even looked at one or two pages about Islam but immediately dismissed it as it did not suit my own desire. I saw that Muslims worship Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is their Messenger and that they pray five times a day.

Five times a day!?

I thought that sounds like too much work; that could not possibly be the religion Of God the Creator of the Heavens and the earth!?

By time, I returned to theUnited States almost twenty one, I was not satisfied with any of the religions I had looked into. I decided to attend medical school (which was my dream). I filled out entrance exams and papers and was accepted at my delight.

I took a Greyhound Bus from Michigan and headed to Colorado for college. While I was traveling, I met a young guy who was sitting behind me for most of the trip. I asked his name and learned he was Ibrahim from Africa, traveling to college to be an engineer.

We began talking, and he told me he was a Muslim. I asked him what that was and he explained that Muslims believe there is none worthy of being worshiped but Allah alone and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the last and final Prophet of the Abrahamic faiths.

I concluded that Jews were behind on two Prophets: Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them); and Christians were behind on one Prophet: Muhammad peace be upon him.

I inquired further into the religion Islam, and he shared with me a small book of collected prayers (dua and dhikr) that Muslims make. Inside the first daily remembrance I read was this:

"None has the right to be worshiped but Allah alone, without partner. To Him belongs all sovereignty and praise and He is over all things Omnipotent."

It was then that I knew Islam was quite possibly what I had been looking for. I then looked further into the book for more clarification on who Allah is and focused on these two:

"In the Name of Allah, Who with His Name nothing can cause harm in the earth nor in the heavens, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing."

"O Allah, whatever blessing has been received by me or anyone of Your creation is from You alone, You have no partner. All praise is for you and thanks is to You."

I then turned to Ibrahim and asked him how I could become Muslim. He told me to say my Shahadah: La ilaha illa llaah Muhammadur Rasoolullah (There is no deity that has the right to be worshiped but Allah alone and Muhammad is His Messenger).

And in believing that and stating it, I became a Muslim right then and there on a Greyhound Bus.

So, after speaking with Ibrahim for fifteen minutes I became a Muslim. This was about seven years ago.

I never went to medical school. I decided to spend my time learning my new religion and moved to Utah. I met a great many Muslims there who warmly welcomed me into the community and spent much time teaching me the religion.

To sum up some of the most important things I have learned as a Muslim would be this:

- There has to have been a Creator due to the fact that there is creation.

- A proof that there is a God is shown through the masses; whom all feel the need to worship and do so through the vast amounts of different religions and beliefs.

Otherwise, where would we have ever gotten the idea from to even worship?

- If there were more then one god there would be complete and utter chaos from them arguing amongst themselves.

- Consequently, every human being is responsible for belief in God, which is imprinted on each and every soul. It is based on this inborn belief that Allah defined the purpose of humankind’s creation in Chapter Adh-Dhariyat (which means): *{I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.}* (Adh-Dhariyat: 51: 56)

- The laws that we build our societies upon are a proof that there must be a Creator for everything and that we are mimicking Him and His divine laws by creating our own rules and legislation. Unfortunately, societies often make laws and legislation that are contrary to the divine laws of God.

Without these laws there would be complete panic and disorder spread out through the entire world, which would make life very different from the one we live in and experience.

- A religion cannot be properly judged by its' followers but can be properly judged by its' teachings.

- Islam is for all of mankind with complete structure and guidance for every aspect, condition and affliction that mankind ever meets and suffers with and/or from.

- Islam cannot be changed and 'put into a box' in regards to how you want to practice it, you must change yourself and your way of life to meet and fit into Islam.

- Thus, the essential purpose for which humankind was created is the worship of God. However, the Almighty is not in need of human worship. He did not create human beings out of a need on His part.

If not a single human worshiped God, it would not diminish His Glory in any way, and if all of mankind worshiped Him, it would not increase His Glory in any way. God is Perfect. He alone exists without any needs. All created beings have needs. Consequently, it is humankind that needs to worship God.

- Why do human beings need to worship and glorify God by obeying the divinely revealed laws? This is because obedience to divine law is the key to success in this life and the next. The first human beings, Adam and Eve, were created in paradise and later expelled from paradise for disobeying the divine law. The only way for human beings to return to paradise is by obedience to the law.

- Divine laws represent guidance for humankind in all walks of life. They define right and wrong for them and offer human beings a complete system governing all of their affairs. The Creator alone knows best what is beneficial for His creation and what is not.

The divine laws command and prohibit various acts and substances to protect the human spirit, the human body and human society from harm. In order for human beings to fulfill their potential by living righteous lives, they need to worship God through obedience to His commandments.

I am now married with children and am a stay home mother. I write and illustratebooks for children.

I also maintain three websites on the Muslim's belief, character, manners and business ethics.

Source:

Short excerpts above in quotes from The Purpose of Creation by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips

City Developments issues S$100 mln of Islamic notes

City Developments (CTDM.SI), Singapore's second-largest developer, said on Thursday it sold S$100 million ($66.45 million) worth of Islamic notes to fund its shariah-compliant businesses. The 3.25 percent Islamic Trust Certificates are due in 2010.

CIMB is the sole dealer for the Islamic note issue. A property pioneer since 1963, City Developments Limited (CDL) is a listed international property and hotel conglomerate involved in real estate development and investment, hotel ownership and management, as well as the provision of hospitality solutions.

With a global presence in gateway cities across Asia, Europe, North America and New Zealand/Australia, CDL has more than 250 subsidiaries and associated companies together with 5 listed companies on notable stock exchanges.

Backed by a track record of over 22,000 luxurious and quality homes to its name, CDL’s properties are synonymous with prestige, good value, outstanding quality and a choice investment.

CDL is one of the biggest landlords in Singapore with over 4 million square feet of lettable office, industrial, retail and residential space. It also owns one of the largest land banks amongst private developers with over 4.5 million square feet that has the potential of being developed into more than 9 million square feet of gross floor area.

CDL strongly advocates a “Safe and Green” culture and has strict adherence to its Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) policy which was instituted in 2003. CDL was the first private property developer in Singapore to be awarded the ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) certification by the Building and Construction Authority for its commitment to raising environmental standards in its projects and incorporating eco-friendly features into its developments. CDL also received the OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System) certification for establishing an EHS policy to monitor the environmental impact of its operations and improve workplace safety.

In managing its investment properties, CDL was also the first private property developer in Singapore to be awarded the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) certifications for 14 of its commercial buildings.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc (M&C), the London-listed international hotel arm of CDL, is a dynamic hotel group that owns and operates over 110 hotels in 18 countries around the world, with a number of them being located in major gateway cities. CDL also has a dedicated subsidiary, the Hong Kong-listed City e-Solutions Limited, which provides technology solutions for the global hospitality industry.

Beyond its business operations, CDL believes in giving back to the community. It remains committed to an extensive range of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes aimed at caring for the needy, raising awareness about the environment, nurturing the youth and promoting the arts. For its sustained commitment and outstanding contributions to the community and the environment, CDL was conferred the prestigious President’s Social Service Award and President’s Award for the Environment in 2007. It has also been listed on the coveted FTSE4Good Index Series since 2002, for meeting globally recognised corporate responsibility standards.

India's Financial Tech to launch new boarse in Bahrain

MANAMA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - India's Financial Technologies Ltd (FITE.BO) will launch a new bourse in Bahrain that will provide a secondary market for Islamic bonds, a company executive said.

The new exchange, called Bahrain Financial Exchange, has been licensed by the Gulf state's central bank and plans to start operations in the first quarter of next year, Financial Technologies' director Arshad Khan told Reuters.

Unlike conventional bonds the Islamic bond market, or sukuk, lacks a strong secondary market and most buyers hold the asset to maturity.

"This will be an opportunity to establish a secondary market where the transfer of ownership can keep happening, from buyer to seller," Khan, a director for business development in the Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview late Thursday.

"When a sukuk comes onto the market (today), banks will try to absorb it in their own portfolio, or sell it to their customers", he said.

The exchange will provide a trading platform for both Islamic and conventional products in equities, derivatives, commodities and currencies.

A strong secondary sukuk market could attract other important institutional investors such as pension funds to the sukuk market, Khan said.

"In so far, sukuk has gone to big financial players or high-end individuals, it has not gone to the retail market," he said.

Sukuk volumes dropped dramatically in 2008, hit by the global liquidity crunch. Total sukuk issuance stood at $14.9 billion, down 56 percent from 2007, according to ratings agency Standard & Poors.

Khan said he still sees fundamental demand for sukuk despite the current financial crisis. He said sovereign sukuk issuers, in particular, would be a key driver in reviving the market.

Singapore on Monday announced its first sukuk programme with a volume of $134 million to promote the growth of Islamic finance in the South East Asian city-state.

Islamic banks cater to investors who want to avoid earning or paying interest.

"There's a lot of money being aggregated or collected in Bahrain, but because local investment (opportunities) don't exist, it goes out," he said.

The small island kingdom of Bahrain has established itself as a regional banking centre on the back of Saudi oil wealth that uses Bahraini banks to invest on international markets. (Reporting by Frederik Richter; Editing by Kazunori Takada) (For Reuters content on Islamic finance, click on ISLAMIC)

Shari'ah compliance issues hit sukuk - Moody's

by Rebecca Bundhun

Shari’ah compliance was a factor in the downturn of Islamic bond (sukuk) issuance in 2008, Moody’s said on Thursday.

Global sukuk issuance slumped by more than 50 percent in 2008, which is largely attributable to the international financial crisis.

But Moody’s said that debates over the Shari’ah compliance of some Sukuk structures, ignited by the Accounting Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), also had a part to play in the slowdown.

“Early in 2008, the AAOIFI recommended that Islamic finance market participants should refrain from issuing sukuk structures that have a purchase undertaking or a guarantee from the sukuk issuer to repurchase at a specific price at a future date,” said Faisal Hijazi, Moody’s business development manager for Islamic finance.

“This is because AAOIFI believed that this structural mechanism is not compliant with a fundamental principle of Shari’ah, namely profit and risk-sharing,” he explained.

Ijarah sukuk, a form of capital leasing, became the dominant Sukuk structure in terms of issuance volumes in 2008, replacing Mudarabah, which was the dominant structure in 2007, Moody’s said.

A recent report by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) revealed that while both conventional and sukuk markets plunged in the GCC in 2008, sukuk actually managed to grow its market share.

Sukuk’s market share grew to 45 percent of total the value issued by GCC bond markets, from 40 percent in 2007.

Source: arabianbusiness.com

Obama reaches out to Muslim world

by AFP
After being sworn in as the 44th US President, Barack Obama used his inaugaration speech to pledge to seek a 'new way forward' with the Muslim world. But he also warned that the United States will defeat 'terror'.

In his speech upon taking office, Obama also echoed campaign promises for two key Muslim nations by saying the United States will "begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."

Obama has vowed to hit the ground running on his first full day in the White House on Wednesday when the Senate, according to a Democratic leadership source, will vote on his choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, the chief US diplomat.

Faced with a set of daunting challenges across the Muslim world -- from the Palestinian territories to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- Obama set a new tone and promised a fresh balance in using diplomatic, military and other forms of power.
Security in post 9/11 America, he pledged, will not come at the expense of abandoning the US ideals of liberty and the rule of law, which critics worldwide say the Bush administration trampled on in conducting its war on terror.

In a jab at the unilateral military force that Bush used to invade Iraq in 2003, Obama said previous American generations had defeated fascism and communism with "sturdy alliances and enduring convictions" besides resorting to armed intervention.

These generations knew that US "security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint," Obama said, alluding to the accusations of arrogance cast at the Bush administration.

His administration will be guided by such principles as it meet "those new threats that demand .... even greater cooperation and understanding between nations," Obama declared.

"We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan," he said.

During his long presidential campaign, Obama vowed to mend alliances, in particular with Europe, whose support he seeks to help stabilize Afghanistan where the Taliban has re-emerged as a threat after its ouster by US forces in 2001.

"With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat," he said.

He was referring to a "new approach" both he and Clinton have promised toward reining in Iran's nuclear ambitions by engaging diplomatically with the Shiite Muslim country.

"And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you," he warned.

As a melting pot nation, "we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve," he said.

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," he added.

He made no direct reference to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which erupted anew on December 27 when Israel launched a three-week military offensive against the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza only to stall in a shaky truce at the weekend.

Obama and Clinton have vowed to deal with this conflict immediately.

The Washington Post said Obama plans later Wednesday to name former Northern Ireland peacemaker George Mitchell as his new Middle East envoy.

Mitchell, 75, is the son of a Lebanese immigrant mother, and of an Irish father who when orphaned was adopted by a Lebanese family. The choice, if confirmed, appears set to appease Arab and other critics who contend Washington is biased in favor of Israel.

children have to "pay war Gaza"

Children are bearing the brunt of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has said.

More than 300 children have been killed and hundreds more wounded in Israel's aerial and ground assault, Ann Veneman, Unicef's executive director, said in a statement released on Wedneday.

She said: "Each day more children are being hurt, their small bodies wounded, their young lives shattered. This is tragic. This is unacceptable.

"They are bearing the brunt of a conflict which is not theirs.

"As fighting reaches the heart of heavily populated urban areas, the impact of lethal weapons will carry an even heavier toll on children."

Lost childhood

Veneman said the war and bloodshed in Gaza would cause long-term psychological damage to children.
"The crisis in Gaza is singular in that children and their families have nowhere to escape, no refuge. The very thought of being trapped in a closed area is disturbing for adults in peace times," she said.

"What then goes through the mind of a child who is trapped in such relentless violence?"

Israel has said that it is trying to minimise civilian casualties as it targets Hamas fighters and their infrastructure, but Palestinian children are being subjected to harrowing experiences.

"I saw the soldier standing next to the shop. I looked for my mum and then he shot me. One bullet him my hand and the other went through my back and out through my stomach," Samar, a young girl, told Al Jazeera while recovering from her wounds at a Gaza hospital.

Amal, another young girl, wailed: "We have nothing to do with this, we don't fire rockets, we don't know what this war is about."

More than 40,000 pregnant women and their unborn children were also believed to be at risk because Gaza's overwhelmed hospitals were unable to take them in.

Traumatised

Dr Walid Sarhan, a Jordanian psychiatrist, said that if nothing is done to help traumatised children Gaza would begin to see advanced cases of psychiatric problems.
"The main one would be post-traumatic stress disorder, which is expected to rise 60 or 70 per cent among children," he said.

"Also they will have behavioural and emotional problems. They will have difficulties returning to school, going on to achieve in school, and this will not be in small numbers."

Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman, said that thousands of children in southern Israel were also suffering because of Palestinian rocket fire.

"Two weeks before this crisis started I went down south with my prime minister, Mr Olmert ... and he was given letters from fourth graders I believe, children who are nine and 10-years-old, who their entire lives have been on the incoming end of these Hamas rockets," he told Al Jazeera.

"You have a whole generation of Israeli children who unfortunately suffering similar trauma."
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Indonesian is planning an sukuk or Islamic bond, worth $1 billion

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The start of the year has seen a flurry of deals in Asia's debt and equity markets, and bankers expect similar bursts of activity throughout 2009 as sellers price their offerings attractively to tap pockets of demand.

In less than two weeks, big investors led by Bank of America (BAC.N) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) managed to sell $5.7 billion worth of shares in two Chinese banks at discounts ranging from 7 to 12 percent to their last traded prices.

More such sales are expected as strapped investors look to raise cash but much will depend on volatile stock markets.

On the debt side, Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) this week sold a $2 billion bond that drew $4.4 billion in orders. That followed a $1.5 billion sovereign bond issue by the Philippines that was priced to sell and drew even greater demand.

With plenty of supply coming to market, buyers have the upper hand on pricing. As this week's selldown in stocks shows, demand can be fleeting.

"There are significant refinancing requirements in 2009 and this will generate plenty of transaction flow. Investors are willing to invest but as we have seen on some of the recent block trades, discounts are still wide," said Ken Poon, head of capital markets origination for Citigroup in Asia-Pacific.

"Whenever there is stability in the market you will see activity, but issuers will need to be flexible to take advantage of windows of opportunity," said Poon, whose firm's deals this year include the KEXIM bond as well as a $1 billion commercial paper sale by a unit of India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO).

Another lender, state-owned Korea Development Bank, is looking to raise at least $1 billion in a bond issue as early as next week. Indonesia, meanwhile, is planning an Islamic bond, or sukuk, worth $1 billion in February, sources have told Reuters.

BUYERS' MARKET

Thanks to the big block trades in bank shares, equity volumes in Asia so far this year are eight times those in the United States, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The pickup in debt sales is global and driven by highly-rated issuers.

"Investors are hungry, but at a price. There's quite a bit of cash on the sidelines," said Khiem Do, head of the Asia multi-asset group at Baring Asset Management.

"How long can you hold on to Treasury yields that are offering 1 or 2 percent, especially when corporate bond yields and equity yields are very attractive to relative to cash and government bonds?" he added.

KEXIM paid 6.25 percentage points over the midswaps rate, a key pricing indicator on debt deals. Only eight months ago, the state lender paid 1.38 percentage points over the same rate for a 750 million euro-denominated five-year issue.

Even so, a debt syndicate banker at a large bank said market conditions have improved substantially since the end of 2008.

Islamitisch is in financieren tipping point?

By Christopher Watts

Sharia is compatible with the bank quickly move from niche to mainstream, "says Christopher Watts. But while growth seems certain, challenges remain.

In January this year at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) need money to build a power and desalination plant in the city Hamriyah, Islamic finance provided Answer: The value of U.S. $ 350 m by the publication of its first sukuk - backed bonds that comply with sharia, the Islamic code, which prohibits interest.

In no way Sewa than venture into the Islamic capital markets. Corporate sukuk issue jump from 0.4 billion in 2000 to $ 24.5 billion in 2006, according to the International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM), an industry association. Completed 122% growth in 2006. "The Islamic finance is no longer a niche market," said David Pace, Chief Financial Officer of Bahrain-based Unicorn Investment Bank (UIB), a house conform to the Shariah. "It is increasingly a mainstream component of the global banking system."
To be sure, the first Islamic bank was founded in 1975, only the last five years, or Islamic finance has increased. Sniffing opportunity banks are now scrambling to activities in accordance with the Sharia, and there is a flurry of al-Islamic business, full-service investment banks to consultants. The products are in the form of loans, insurance and investment funds to take sukuk, hedge funds, swaps and more.

Despite this boom - largely concentrated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia - just the Islamic financial sector is not yet on a global scale. Rodney Wilson, professor of the Institute for Middle East and Islamic Studies at Durham University in the UK, estimates of Islamic banking assets speak for less than 0.5% of the world total. Sukuk and the stock of total debt amounted to 100 billion dollars perhaps - just 0.1% of the global bond market.

But signs of a continuous increase in Islamic finance. Take economic growth: The Middle East and Asia are the two regions with the fastest-growing in the world. Kuwait Finance House in 2007 GDP increased by 6.1% in the GCC countries and 6.2% in Southeast Asia - in contrast to 2.4% in the EU and 2.2% in the U.S. . Oil revenues are behind the boom in the GCC countries and South-East Asia is the "financial discipline in the wake of the Asian currency crisis," said Douglas Clark Johnson, Chief Financial Officer of chalice, another investment consultant in New York.

Sustained growth in the GCC countries and South-East Asia is rapidly creating a prosperous middle class between the regions' combined 410 million strong Muslim population. As the ranks of the "new rich snap up credit to buy houses and cars, and invest in savings and retirement, the demand for Sharia-compliant retail financial services is accelerating. Behind it is consumer demand for Islamic finance institutions.

Consider also the large cash flows in the GCC region and the South-East Asia: The IMF expects that Indonesia and Malaysia just a current account surplus accumulated $ 132 billion for the period five years until the end of 2008, against a deficit of 32 billion dollars in the same period of ten years earlier. And in the GCC countries, the surplus should reach U.S. $ 680 billion, compared to an initial deficit of $ 8 billion.

Encouraged by this money, regional governments are planning ambitious infrastructure programs: Indonesia hopes that USD 110 billion of expenditure in the five years until the end of 2010, and the consultant McKinsey estimates that the GCC will invest 200 billion over the same period. Many of these expenditures are already financed by sukuk - and the volume of the bubble: After the success of sukuk issue Sewa hopes for another U.S. $ 2.7 billion. And in neighboring Dubai, electricity and water authority are considering a first sukuk issue with the plans of USD 2.5 billion.

With foundations increasingly in the Middle East and Asia, Islamic finance is now taking root in London. Prime standalone Sharia-compliant bank opened its doors in 2004 and two others followed, the other is on the road. (Everything is supported by the Middle East settings.) And in April this year, the London Stock Exchange listed her maiden name sukuk should add a lot of depth and liquidity in the market. Another step is for the British government is mulling its sovereign sukuk issue first, perhaps early in 2008.

But problems remain. If Islamic finance is to plunge into the mainstream of global finance, industry needs to improve transparency and strengthen the credibility of the harmonization of standards and practices. Finally, the Sharia interpretation varies according to region and even institutions. Regulation should be strong. These measures - and others - can play a crucial role in broadening the appeal of Islamic finance and bridge the gap between Muslims and conventional financial systems.

The Islamic financial sector needs to work in the field of innovation, too. Shari's products conform May be more complex than conventional ones because each transaction is favorable to a non-negotiation. Many tools are still missing, including corporate treasury and derivatives. As UIB Pace says, "We [the industry] need to change our perception of R & D, and seen as a basic ingredient for success." But at the same time, innovation is hampered by the limited number of Islamic scholars to approve the financial products of Shariah compliance.

For some, industry practitioners are making progress. Earlier this year, the International Capital Market Association and the IIFM agreed to develop standards and best practices for the secondary market for Sukuk and other Islamic instruments. And that can help the global banking giants have their weight in Islamic finance. (Deutsche Bank, Barclays Capital and BNP Paribas are among the top five global sukuk issuers.)

The question whether Islamic finance has reached the critical mass to remain open, of course. But Johnson Calyx Financial is optimistic: "The Tipping Point May already happened," he enterprises. Although Johnson is wrong in his optimism, it seems unlikely the history to prove that it is very wide of the mark.
Source: Economist.com

Children of Gaza, run to the angels

By Suzanne Baroud
Ironically, it was in Palestine, 20 years ago, I concluded that there is no God. For how God is said that all the love that the impartiality and treat all the horrors, as happened in Palestine?
Paganism is growing stronger every day with the night, each strike of mourning over the death of a martyr, was forced by beheading in the middle of the shot square in the bright afternoon he Ramallah a few years ago. However cemented day I have to tell my students to one of the five years that his brother has just done by the army of Israel. His sentence, he was limp, the fear of the shoulder as she cried with classmates ... This is what eventually happened.

Almost 20 years have passed since that day, and I have been married to the family in Gaza. I am a wife and mother, sister and aunt of a large number of children who lived the horror of what has become the Gaza Strip. If we see the images attack Israel, I hear yourself murmuring when I see children tortured to death, "Run Run .... thrilled." After many years so this is a dream is to promote a desire to once again believe in the Hereafter.

Cage, starved, sniped, smothered. They were slaughtered like sheep, but the leaders of the free world can not find the time to comment. Golf vacation, Obama, Bush, the European Union, they were not important enough. I have become a gallop mutters. I call this a little broken and torn bodies, honestly have never known life lost. The only entertainment for the rest of death.

A crowd gathered, dressed in gas, smoke and dust. In the future, there are eight children's father, each holding a white wrapped all have a son, daughter. For some time, no yelling, crying, or do not sing, but when the peace and stillness that hangs over a network that has requested the favor, bringing the ball Toddler sniper or a young father, who will find a way to live now?

A boy sitting on a sidewalk next to his mother. It was placed against the wall of the building collapsed and his life is bleeding from all parts of the road. He splashed on his face and shirt color. Using the last of his strength to lift the arms and hands in relation to play and then they left. That is located in the head and hands cries. He was alone.

The camera zooms in the new building, a civilian house. Some of the girls brown hair covered with dust and eyes wide open, which can be found. His mother, the wall and taken her hair, while his father, powerful search through the rubble for the rest to the girls, where they will be? Whispered me back, "you again in heaven. Run to the angels."

What a lot of faith. How strong the father lost his father, mother, wife and eight children, that this person can say something, "God is great, thank God for everything." He holds his son, and even gray, he stifles kissed him, then take back with two bullets in the chest. Placing child care, in addition to his brother and once again, take back the skin of young people is to a sniper bullet in the chest. He almost can not calm himself and moans about the camera man sympathizers, "God is Great, thank God for everything."

Imam old and wrinkled like a little girl is in love with the place that lifeless body, such as the wrong approach may cause more pain, thanks to the soft and Mumbles than she is my sister and brothers in the pit. I try to comfort him saying: "Finally, a safe place. Stay close with my sister. Your brother. Put your fears to rest and to respond to your beloved prophet and many of your friends is dead before you."

Hospitals, schools, mosques, civil buildings, where the United Nations, all worthy goals. Doctors, medicines, food and water, the exemption of trucks from all over the world online for miles on the border of Egypt, but they refused. Security is high, food is scarce, water is completely lost.

Faith in the water when it seems strange. For me, it seems the circle of despair and fear death, because of snow and white blood dismembered many innocent lives Gaza.

Workers of the United Nations in coordination with the Israelis, to get people to safety in a school of the United Nations. Hundreds of people sheltered in the harbor mutually agreed safe. Immediately after school, Israel falls under the fire. Bruised and battered refugee Satan see the face, dressed in fatigues. Hundreds injured, dozens of deaths, the victims and relaxed.

Government to negotiate with the cease-fire. Rumors of plots buzz. The U. S. The President is elected forever silent. Parents in the collapse of the wall that is still their children. Shattered concrete, random arms and legs, broken glass, thrown into bloody-podge laborer. But in my mind, I see all their little body quickly swept in Heaven, and I called them, "Run!"

- Suzanne Baroud is the editor of PalestineChronicle.com.

Source: AJP

Interview by Andrea Bistrich: Karen Armstrong (4)

So why aren't religious people compassionate? What does that say about them? Compassion is not a popular virtue. Many religious people prefer to be right rather than compassionate. They don't want to give up their egos. They want religion to give them a little mild uplift once a week so that they can return to their ordinary selfish lives, unscathed by the demands of their tradition. Religion is hard work; not many people do it well. But are secularists any better? Many secularists would subscribe to the compassionate ideal but are just as selfish as religious people. The failure of religious people to be compassionate doesn't tell us something about religion, but about human nature. Religion is a method: you have to put it into practice to discover its truth. But, unfortunately, not many people do.

Islam and the West

Discussing Western ideas of justice and democracy in the Middle East, British foreign correspondent of The Independent, Robert Fisk, says: "We keep on saying that Arabs ... would like some of our shiny, brittle democracy, that they'd like freedom from the secret police and freedom from the dictators-who we largely put there. But they would also like freedom from us. And they want justice, which is sometimes more important than 'democracy'". Does the West need to realize that Muslims can run a modern state, but it is perhaps not the kind of democracy we want to see?

As Muslim intellectuals made clear, Islam is quite compatible with democracy, but unfortunately democracy has acquired a bad name in many Muslim countries. It seems that the West has said consistently: we believe in freedom and democracy, but you have to be ruled by dictators like the shahs or Saddam Hussein. There seems to have been a double standard. Robert Fisk is right: when I was in Pakistan recently and quoted Mr Bush-"They hate our freedom!"-the whole audience roared with laughter.

Democracy cannot be imposed by armies and tanks and coercion. The modern spirit has two essential ingredients; if these are not present, no matter how many fighter jets, computers or sky scrapers you have, your country is not really "modern".

The first of these is independence. The modernization of Europe from 16th to the 20th century was punctuated by declarations of independence on all fronts: religious, intellectual, political, economic. People demanded freedom to think, invent, and create as they chose.

The second quality is innovation as we modernized in the West: we were always creating something new; there was a dynamism and excitement to the process, even though it was often traumatic.

But in the Muslim world, modernity did not come with independence but with colonial subjugation; and still Muslims are not free, because the Western powers are often controlling their politics behind the scenes to secure the oil supply etc. Instead of independence there has been an unhealthy dependence and loss of freedom. Unless people feel free, any "democracy" is going to be superficial and flawed. And modernity did not come with innovation to the Muslims: because we were so far ahead, they could only copy us. So instead of innovation you have imitation.

We also know in our own lives that it is difficult-even impossible-to be creative when we feel under attack. Muslims often feel on the defensive and that makes it difficult to modernize and democratize creatively-especially when there are troops, tanks and occupying forces on the streets.

Do you see any common ground between Western world and Islam?

This will only be possible if the political issues are resolved. There is great common ground between the ideals of Islam and the modern Western ideal, and many Muslims have long realized this. At the beginning of the twentieth century, almost every single Muslim intellectual was in love with the West and wanted their countries to look just like Britain and France. Some even said that the West was more "Islamic" than the unmodernized Muslim countries, because in their modern economies they were able to come closer to the essential teaching of the Koran, which preaches the importance of social justice and equity. At this time, Muslims recognized the modern, democratic West as deeply congenial. In 1906, Muslim clerics campaigned alongside secularist intellectuals in Iran for representational government and constitutional rule. When they achieved their goal, the grand ayatollah said that the new constitution was the next best thing to the coming of the Shiite Messiah, because it would limit the tyranny of the shah and that was a project worthy of every Muslim. Unfortunately the British then discovered oil in Iran and never let the new parliament function freely. Muslims became disenchanted with the West as a result of Western foreign policy: Suez, Israel/Palestine, Western support of corrupt regimes, and so on.

What is needed from a very practical point of view to bridge the gap? What would you advise our leaders-our politicians and governments?

A revised foreign policy. A solution in Israel/Palestine that gives security to the Israelis and justice and autonomy to the Palestinians. No more support of corrupt, dictatorial regimes. A just solution to the unfolding horror in Iraq, which has been a "wonderful" help to groups like Al-Qaeda, playing right into their hands. No more situations like Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. Money poured into Afghanistan and Palestine. A solution to Kashmir. No more short-term solutions for cheap oil. In Iraq and in Lebanon last summer we saw that our big armies are no longer viable against guerrilla and terror attacks. Diplomacy is essential. But suspicion of the West is now so entrenched that it may be too late.

Interview by Andrea Bistrich: Karen Armstrong (3)

In addition, you have stressed the importance of a "triple vision"-the ability to view the conflict from the perspective of the Islamic, Jewish and Christian communities. Could you explain this view?

The three religions of Abraham -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- can and should be viewed as one religious tradition that went in three different directions. I have always tried to see them in this way; none is superior to any of the others. Each has its own particular genius; each its own particular flaws. Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God and share the same moral values. In the book A History of God, I tried to show that throughout their history, Jews, Christians and Muslims have asked the same kind of questions about God and have reached remarkably similar solutions-so that there are Jewish and Muslim versions of the incarnation, for example, and very similar notions of prophecy. In The Battle for God, I tried to show how similar the fundamentalist movements are in all three faiths.

Jews, however, have always found it difficult to accept the later faiths of Christianity and Islam; Christianity has always had an uneasy relationship with Judaism, the parent faith, and has seen Islam as a blasphemous imitation of revelation. The Qur'an, however, has a positive view of both Judaism and Christianity and constantly asserts that Muhammad did not come to cancel out the faiths of "the People of the Book": you cannot be a Muslim unless you also revere the prophets Abraham, David, Noah, Moses and Jesus-whom the Muslims regard as prophets-as in fact do many of the New Testament writers. Luke's gospel calls Jesus a prophet from start to finish; the idea that Jesus was divine was a later development, often misunderstood by Christians.

Unfortunately, however, religious people like to see themselves as having a monopoly on truth; they see that they alone are the one true faith. But this is egotism and has nothing to do with true religion, which is about the abandonment of the ego.

Too often it seems that religious people are not necessarily more compassionate, more tolerant, more peaceful or more spiritual than others. America, for example, is a very religious country, and at the same time it is the most unequal socially and economically. What does this say about the purpose of religion?

The world religions all insist that the one, single test of any type of religiosity is that it must issue in practical compassion. They have nearly all developed a version of the Golden Rule: "Do not do to others what you would not have done to you." This demands that we look into our own hearts, discover what it is that gives us pain and then refuse, under any circumstances, to inflict that pain on anybody else. Compassion demands that we "feel with" the other; that we dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there. This is the bedrock message of the Qur'an, of the New Testament ("I can have faith that moves mountains," says St. Paul, "but if I lack charity it profits me nothing."). Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, defined the Golden Rule as the essence of Judaism: everything else, he said, was "commentary." We have exactly the same teaching in Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism and Buddhism. I have tried to show this in one of my most recent books, The Great Transformation.

The traditions all insist that it is not enough simply to show compassion to your own group. You must have what the Chinese call jian ai, concern for everybody. Or as Jewish law puts it: "Honour the stranger." "Love your enemies," said Jesus: if you simply love your own kind, this is purely self-interest and a form of group egotism. The traditions also insist that it is the daily, hourly practice of compassion -not the adoption of the correct "beliefs" or the correct sexuality- that will bring us into the presence of what is called God, Nirvana, Brahman or the Dao. Religion is thus inseparable from altruism.

Interview by Andrea Bistrich: Karen Armstrong (2)

Could you specify the political reasons that you identified as the chief causes of the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies?

In the Middle East, modernization has been impeded by the Arab/Israeli conflict, which has become symbolic to Christian, Jewish and Muslim fundamentalists and is the bleeding heart of the problem. Unless a just political solution can be found that is satisfactory to everybody¸ there is no hope of peace. There is also the problem of oil, which has made some of these countries the target of Western greed. In the West, in order to preserve our strategic position and cheap oil supply, we have often supported rulers-such as the shahs of Iran, the Saudis and, initially, Saddam Hussein-who have established dictatorial regimes which suppressed any normal opposition. The only place where people felt free to express their distress has been the mosque.

The modern world has been very violent. Between 1914 and 1945, seventy million people died in Europe as a result of war. We should not be surprised that modern religion has become violent too; it often mimics the violence preached by secular politicians. Most of the violence and terror that concerns us in the Muslim world has grown up in regions where warfare, displacement and conflict have been traumatic and have even become chronic: the Middle East, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir.

In regard to the Arab-Israeli-conflict you have said that for Muslims it has become, "a symbol of their impotence in the modern world." What does that really mean?

The Arab-Israeli conflict began, on both sides, as a purely secular conflict about a land. Zionism began as a rebellion against religious Judaism and at the outset most Orthodox rabbis condemned Zionism as a blasphemous secularization of the Land of Israel, one of the most sacred symbols of Judaism. Similarly the ideology of the PLO was secular-many of the Palestinians, of course, are Christian. But unfortunately the conflict was allowed to fester; on both sides the conflict became sacralized and, therefore, far more difficult to sort out.

In most fundamentalist movements, certain issues acquire symbolic value and come to represent everything that is wrong with modernity. In Judaism, the secular state of Israel has inspired every single fundamentalist movement, because it represents so graphically the penetration of the secular ethos into Jewish religious life. Some Jewish fundamentalists are passionately for the state of Israel and see it as sacred and holy; involvement in Israeli politics is a sacred act of tikkun, restoration of the world; making a settlement in the occupied territories is also an act of tikkun and some believe that it will hasten the coming of the Messiah. But the ultra-Orthodox Jews are often against the state of Israel: some see it as an evil abomination (Jews are supposed to wait for the Messiah to restore a religious state in the Holy Land) and others regard it as purely neutral and hold aloof from it as far as they can. Many Jews too see Israel as a phoenix rising out of the ashes of Auschwitz-and have found it a way of coping with the Shoah.

But for many Muslims the plight of the Palestinians represents everything that is wrong with the modern world. The fact that in 1948, 750,000 Palestinians could lose their homes with the apparent approval of the world symbolizes the impotence of Islam in the modern world vis-à-vis the West. The Qur'an teaches that if Muslims live justly and decently, their societies will prosper because they will be in tune with the fundamental laws of the universe. Islam was always a religion of success, going from one triumph to another, but Muslims have been able to make no headway against the secular West and the plight of the Palestinians epitomizes this impotence. Jerusalem is also the third holiest place in the Islamic world, and when Muslims see their sacred shrines on the Haram al-Sharif [the Noble Sanctuary, also known as Temple Mount]-surrounded by the towering Israeli settlements and feel that their holy city is slipping daily from their grasp, this symbolizes their beleaguered identity. However it is important to note that the Palestinians only adopted a religiously articulated ideology relatively late-long after Islamic fundamentalism had become a force in countries such as Egypt or Pakistan. Their resistance movement remained secular in ethos until the first intifada in 1987. And it is also important to note that Hamas, for example, is very different from a movement like al-Qaeda, which has global ambitions. Hamas is a resistance movement; it does not attack Americans or British but concentrates on attacking the occupying power. It is yet another instance of "fundamentalism" as a religious form of nationalism.

The Arab Israeli conflict has also become pivotal to Christian fundamentalists in the United States. The Christian Right believes that unless the Jews are in their land, fulfilling the ancient prophecies, Christ cannot return in glory in the Second Coming. So they are passionate Zionists; but this ideology is also anti-Semitic, because in the Last Days they believe that the Antichrist will massacre the Jews in the Holy Land if they do not accept baptism.

Do you think the West has some responsibility for what is happening in Palestine?

Western people have a responsibility for everybody who is suffering in the world. We are among the richest and most powerful countries and cannot morally or religiously stand by and witness poverty, dispossession or injustice, whether that is happening in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya or Africa. But Western people have a particular responsibility for the Arab-Israeli situation. In the Balfour Declaration (1917), Britain approved of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and ignored the aspirations and plight of the native Palestinians. And today the United States supports Israel economically and politically and also tends to ignore the plight of the Palestinians. This is dangerous, because the Palestinians are not going to go away, and unless a solution is found that promises security to the Israelis and gives political independence and security to the dispossessed Palestinians, there is no hope for world peace.

Interview by Andrea Bistrich: Karen Armstrong (1)

Karen Armstrong was a Catholic nun for seven years before leaving her order and going to Oxford. Today, she is amongst the most renowned theologians and has written numerous bestsellers on the great religions and their founders. She is one of the 18 leading group members of the Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative of the former UN General Secretary, Kofi Anan, whose purpose is to fight extremism and further dialogue between the western and Islamic worlds. She talks here to the German journalist, Andrea Bistrich, about politics, religion, extremism and commonalities.

ANDREA BISTRICH: 9/11 has become the symbol of major, insurmountable hostilities between Islam and the West. After the attacks many Americans asked: "Why do they hate us?" And experts in numerous round-table talks debated if Islam is an inherently violent religion. Is this so?

KAREN ARMSTRONG: Certainly not. There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur'an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam. The Qur'an forbids aggressive warfare and permits war only in self-defence; the moment the enemy sues for peace, the Qur'an insists that Muslims must lay down their arms and accept whatever terms are offered, even if they are disadvantageous. Later, Muslim law forbade Muslims to attack a country where Muslims were permitted to practice their faith freely; the killing of civilians was prohibited, as were the destruction of property and the use of fire in warfare.

The sense of polarization has been sharpened by recent controversies — the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, over the Pope's remarks about Islam, over whether face-veils hinder integration. All these things have set relations between Islam and the West on edge. Harvard-Professor Samuel Huntington introduced the theory of a "clash of civilizations" we are witnessing today. Does such a fundamental incompatibility between the "Christian West" and the "Muslim World" indeed exist?

The divisions in our world are not the result of religion or of culture, but are politically based. There is an imbalance of power in the world, and the powerless are beginning to challenge the hegemony of the Great Powers, declaring their independence of them-often using religious language to do so. A lot of what we call "fundamentalism" can often be seen as a religious form of nationalism, an assertion of identity. The old 19th-century European nationalist ideal has become tarnished and has always been foreign to the Middle East. In the Muslim world people are redefining themselves according to their religion in an attempt to return to their roots after the great colonialist disruption.

What has made Fundamentalism, seemingly, so predominant today?

The militant piety that we call "fundamentalism" erupted in every single major world faith in the course of the twentieth century. There is fundamentalist Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Confucianism, as well as fundamentalist Islam. Of the three monotheistic religions-Judaism, Christianity and Islam-Islam was the last to develop a fundamentalist strain during the 1960s.

Fundamentalism represents a revolt against secular modern society, which separates religion and politics. Wherever a Western secularist government is established, a religious counterculturalist protest movement rises up alongside it in conscious rejection. Fundamentalists want to bring God/religion from the sidelines to which they have been relegated in modern culture and back to centre stage. All fundamentalism is rooted in a profound fear of annihilation: whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, fundamentalists are convinced that secular or liberal society wants to wipe them out. This is not paranoia: Jewish fundamentalism took two major strides forward, one after the Nazi Holocaust, the second after the Yom Kippur War of 1973. In some parts of the Middle East, secularism was established so rapidly and aggressively that it was experienced as a lethal assault.

The fact that fundamentalism is also a phenomenon in politics was stressed only recently by former US president Jimmy Carter when he voiced his concerns over the increasing merging of religion and state in the Bush administration, and the element of fundamentalism in the White House. Carter sees that traits of religious fundamentalists are also applicable to neo-conservatives. There seems to be a major controversy between, on the one hand, so called hard-liners or conservatives and, on the other, the progressives. Is this a typical phenomenon of today's world?

The United States is not alone in this. Yes, there is a new intolerance and aggression in Europe too as well as in Muslim countries and the Middle East. Culture is always-and has always been-contested. There are always people who have a different view of their country and are ready to fight for it. American Christian fundamentalists are not in favour of democracy; and it is true that many of the Neo-Cons, many of whom incline towards this fundamentalism, have very hard-line, limited views. These are dangerous and difficult times and when people are frightened they tend to retreat into ideological ghettos and build new barriers against the "other". Democracy is really what religious people call "a state of grace." It is an ideal that is rarely achieved, that has constantly to be reaffirmed, lest it be lost. And it is very difficult to fulfil. We are all-Americans and Europeans-falling short of the democratic ideal during the so called "war against terror."

Ashrawi says Obama's policies indicate he wants to engage the Palestinians

Hanan Ashrawi, the prominent Palestinian politician, is cautiously optimistic about the impact Barack Obama, the US president-elect, and his administration will have on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Al Jazeera attended a breakfast round-table with Ashrawi while she was visiting Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Below are her responses to the questions that were put to her.

Question: With the new US administration coming in and Hillary Clinton being appointed as US secretary of state, in your view are we likely to see a similar stance from her towards the Middle East peace process as there was under Bill Clinton's administration?

Hanan Ashrawi: First of all, we must not personalise issues. I don't think it is a matter of individuals. It's a matter, first of all, of the team as a whole and their policies. Obama's policies certainly indicate that he wants to engage. He doesn't want to postpone things until the end as [Bill] Clinton and Bush did. And secondly, he's marking a departure from the Bush administration, which was disastrous for everybody.

Now having said that, I must caution against any type of unrealistic optimism. There are constants in Amercian policy - such as the strategic alliance between the US and Israel - that are not going to be changed by individuals.

Individuals change their own positions and their own policies to serve their own interests and their own careers. Hillary Clinton was outspoken about Palestinian rights when she was First Lady, but when she ran for office in the Senate for New York she did a 180 degree turn and became not just totally supportive of Israel, but of the extreme right in Israel and hostile to Palestinians.

Later on, as she ran for the Democratic party's nomination, she gave a speech to Aipac [the Israeli lobby in the US] that could have been written by [Benjamin] Netanyahu [leader of the conservative Likud party]. Then afterwards she said that she's committed to peace and a two state solution.

The question is how is the whole team going to shape American foreign policy - what are the constants and what are their values? How do they define what is in Israeli interests?

This is a team that included Jim Jones [Barack Obama's nominee for national security adviser] who knows the realities on the ground; and Hillary Clinton who also is aware of what's happening; and Barack Obama who doesn't need to be educated and who expressed a willingness to engage. What type of engagement, we shall see.

We have to engage also -as Palestinians and Arabs - the new administration in a serious dialogue; a serious discourse about the mistakes of the past; about what is required and about the sense of urgency now that has to dominate. You cannot put the Palestinian question on the back burner. You cannot leave a political vacuum. You have to move rapidly and you have to set limits and constraints on Israeli behaviour.

Q: The Arab peace initiative was re-proposed in 2007, what do you think it will take for that initiative to be successful?

A: I think it takes a political will on the part of the Arabs who adopted this initiative to translate it into a workable process. If it remains just verbal and an initiative that moves from one document to the other and does not see concrete steps on the ground, then it's not going to be anything except one more initiative and one more document.

It should be seen for what it is - a unique historical opportunity for a solution. If they don't see it as such - if they waste it - then everybody is going to pay the price. The Palestinians foremost. So, the Arab initiative needs to be the blueprint. It's a simple one and sometimes there is virtue in simplicity.

Q: What will the Israeli elections in February mean for the peace process?

A: It's the right-wing that's on the ascendence. It's the more hardline policies that are emerging now. Very clearly Tzipi Livni [the leader of the Kadima party] is tempering her own previous public declarations about peace. Creating new red lines. The refugees - of course she's always been dead set against the right of return. Talking about peace 'in the future', talking about Jerusalem in more hardline terms. She is competing on a hardline basis.

And she is criticising Ehud Olmert [the Israeli prime minister, who stepped down as Kadima leader] for making conciliatory statements. As he is in a lame duck situation, and as he is leaving, he's trying to break a few taboos and talk about sharing Jerusalem and returning the land and saying that 'if he had time' and 'if he had stayed' then he would have done all these things.

But right now the Israeli public is moving to the right.

There are all sorts of issues - not just the Palestinian issue. The weakness of Kadima, corruption. There are domestic issues, the economy and so on. So they will make another mistake again by electing [Benjamin] Netanyahu, [leader of the Labour party]. Well, of course, you can never be certain about Israeli politics, the only thing that is certain is its unpredictability.

Q: Hamas has said it won't recognise the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian president after January 9th. What kind of scenarios do you see unfolding in the new year?

A: I think there's lots of talk. If they don't recognise the legitimacy of the presidency - the same way they don't recognise the legitimacy of the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organisation] - this will further enhance the division.

I think we should have a more constructive positive attitude. We should work together and go to a serious dialogue, a substantive dialogue, on the causes of this rift with seriousness of intent, goodwill and co-operation to resolve not only as a matter of show but as a matter of undoing a lot of the damage that was done.

Q: So how can that divide between Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank be bridged?

I think there's a problem because there's a power struggle. The sharing of the spoils of power.

We have to repair the Palestinian democracy and we have to create a system where differences can be resolved in a democratic, pluralistic, inclusive system. Not by divisions and not by talking power but by understanding that Palestinian democracy means that we have peaceful means to resolve our differences.

We need to have a critical dialogue. I like the Egyptian initiative [to reconcile Hamas and Fatah], and before it the Yemeni initiative. It's important the Arabs play a constructive role and really embrace the Palestinians and move to help us resolve our differences.

We've always said we need to unite the West Bank and Gaza - not geographically, except through the corridor - but unite them institutionally, unite them administratively, unite them legally and politically through a common political system.

Of course we are one people, but if the division remains we are in danger of having a serious risk that will create two separate systems that in the future will become irreconcilable. Right now they are reconcilable and we must work on that.

Q: Can we count on you running in any upcoming election?

A: No. I've decided I'm not running. What you can count on me doing is supporting young women, young leaders, the new generation to run for office.

We need the young. People my age should know how to step aside and how to provide a system of support and solidarity for the new leaders. We have a disastrous situation of a leadership that doesn't know the meaning of a graceful exit, but I see lots of hope in the younger generation.
Source : Al Jazeera

Best Islamic Financial Institution in United Kingdom (Global Finance 2008): HSBC Amanah

HSBC Amanah is the global Islamic banking division of the HSBC Group, and was established in 1998 with the aim of making HSBC the leading provider of Islamic banking worldwide. With more than a hundred professionals serving the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas, HSBC Amanah represents the largest Islamic banking team of any international bank.
The HSBC Group is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. With operations in twenty OIC member states, no international bank is more widely represented in the Muslim world than HSBC. Nor has any made a greater investment in Islamic banking. Headquartered in London, the Groups international network comprises about 10,000 offices with almost 110 million customers in 77 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With a rich history of community banking and a commitment to meet the particular needs of our diverse customers, we are the world's local bank.
HSBC Amanah has won the Euromoney 2005 awards for Best Islamic Wholesale Bank and Best for Private Banking Services.
HSBC has a rich tradition of community banking, and HSBC Amanah was established to serve the particular financial needs of Muslim communities. Our mission statement and corporate values reflect this vision.
HSBC Amanah considers Shariah compliance of its business operations as its most important & strategic priority. This is reflected in its Corporate Values, "In developing our products and services, we are committed to the highest Shariah standards in the Islamic banking industry." In addition to Global Shariah Advisory Board and Regional Shariah Committees, HSBC Amanah employs a team of qualified professionals to ensure that the guidance and advice received from the Shariah Committees is implemented in letter and spirit.
HSBC Amanah brings together the largest team of any international Islamic financial services provider. We are widely recognised as a market leader in terms of global reach, innovative products and services and our investment in industry building initiatives. With more than 100 people in eight countries, the HSBC Amanah family continues to grow.

HSBC Amanah has won the following awards:
Euromoney awards, Best International Provider of Islamic Financial Services (2004), Best International Sukuk House (2004, Best Islamic Wholesale Bank (2005), Best for Private Banking Services (2005)

Award-winning transactions:
Emirates ECA-backed financing 2001, (Euromoney, Jane´s Transport Finance, Institutional Investor, Airfinance Journal), Government of Malaysia Global Sukuk - 2002,(Euromoney, Institutional Investor, Asiamoney, FinanceAsia), Emirates IV, with Islamic Development Bank - 2003, (Jane´s Transport Finance)

Practice of Finance: Islamic Finance at MIT Sloan School of Management

The MIT Sloan School of Management, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the world’s leading business schools — conducting cutting-edge research and providing management education to top students from more than 60 countries. The School is part of MIT’s rich intellectual tradition of education and research.

MIT Sloan began in 1914 as engineering administration curriculum in the MIT Department of Economics and Statistics. The scope and depth of this educational focus have grown steadily in response to advances in the theory and practice of management to today’s broad-based management school.

A program offering a master’s degree in management was established in 1925. The world’s first university-based executive education program — the MIT Sloan Fellows — was created in 1931 under the sponsorship of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., an 1895 MIT graduate who was then chairman of General Motors. A MIT Sloan Foundation grant established the MIT School of Industrial Management in 1952 with a charge of educating the “ideal manager.”

MIT Sloan School of Management teach subjects of Islamic Finance.
Description: Islamic financial institutions have in recent years experienced spectacular growth (+25 percent in 2006, +37 percent in 2007). Islamic financial assets now exceed 1 trillion dollars and what was once a small niche has gone mainstream. Indeed, most major Western financial institutions are involved in one way or another in Islamic finance. The first part of the course introduces the basic principles underlying the industry (the prohibitions of riba, gharar, etc.) and discusses its recent evolution. The second part focuses on the main Islamic products: murabaha, mudaraba, musharaka, ijara, sukuk, takaful, etc. and explains how Islamic deals are structured. The third part discusses the challenges — competitive, regulatory, political, religious, etc. — faced by Islamic institutions and considers the impact of the current financial meltdown on their future evolution.

New Sharia products in Asia sought

The booming Islamic finance industry has yet to rub off on wealthy Asians who say there are far too few Sharia products to invest in, the private banking arm of Malaysia's second largest lender said yesterday.
Sharia investing is a key pillar in the Middle East and has caught the interest of non-traditional centres such as London and Singapore, but rich Asians are still cool on it.
Asia is a big potential market for the $1 trillion Islamic finance sector, with the Asia-Pacific home to 28 per cent of the world's high-net-worth-individuals, who are defined as those with investible assets of more than $1 million.
Even in Malaysia, which has the world's largest Sharia bond market, wealthy individuals have limited interest in Islamic assets.
"The appetite is still quite small because they continue to nibble," said CIMB Private Banking co-head Carolyn Leng.
The bank says it is Malaysia's top private banking firm with assets of 4.4 billion ringgit ($1.23bn). The bank expects to increase this to about 7bn ringgit by 2010, Leng said.
"Offering of Islamic products are not that great here, what you have is probably what the market (outside) has as well. Product innovation is key, we need to be a lot more creative."
Structured products and Islamic bonds are the main sharia products that wealthy Malaysians put their money into, Leng said.
In contrast to Asia, Middle East investors have a wider choice of Islamic offerings as banks tap their global resources to structure innovative products, Leng said.
"There are a lot of derivatives-based kind of products. The way they structure some options into their products is interesting because it's done in such a way that it's a profit-sharing method," she said.
Islamic banking products can be bought and sold by all investors, regardless of individual religious belief, and is premised on the notion of ethical investing.
Islamic banks have been barely bruised by the global financial crisis, although falling property and commodity prices and slowing economies are starting to affect the sector.
Source : Gulf Daily News

Best International Islamic Bank : HSBC Amanah (Euromoney)

HSBC Amanah is the global Islamic banking division of the HSBC Group, and was established in 1998 with the aim of making HSBC the leading provider of Islamic banking worldwide. With more than a hundred professionals serving the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas, HSBC Amanah represents the largest Islamic banking team of any international bank.
HSBC has a rich tradition of community banking, and HSBC Amanah was established to serve the particular financial needs of Muslim communities. Our mission statement and corporate values reflect this vision.
The HSBC Amanah mission statement:
HSBC Amanah is committed to improving the lives of our customers worldwide by providing them with the highest quality Islamic banking solutions.

HSBC Amanah´s corporate values:
In developing our products and services, we are committed to the highest Shariah standards in the Islamic banking industry. We constantly strive to address the needs and concerns of our customers. Our teamwork with HSBC colleagues around the world harnesses the knowledge and resources of HSBC Group for the benefit of our customers. We are an organisation that demands and rewards excellence. We maintain high ethical standards in our business relationships and invest in the future of our communities.
HSBC Amanah considers Shariah compliance of its business operations as its most important & strategic priority. This is reflected in its Corporate Values, "In developing our products and services, we are committed to the highest Shariah standards in the Islamic banking industry." In addition to Global Shariah Advisory Board and Regional Shariah Committees, HSBC Amanah employs a team of qualified professionals to ensure that the guidance and advice received from the Shariah Committees is implemented in letter and spirit.
HSBC Amanah Global Shariah Advisory Board
The Global Shariah Advisory Board (GSAB) advises HSBC Amanah on research activities intended for further development of the Islamic finance industry. GSAB comprises of representative scholars from all Regional Shariah Committees (RSC) of HSBC Amanah in addition to other Shariah scholars of international standing. The presence of renowned scholars from various geographies at GSAB will provide an opportunity to achieve further harmonization of Shariah standards and practices of Islamic Finance Industry. The following independent Shariah scholars are currently members of GSAB.
Sheikh Justice (Retd.) Muhammad Taqi Usmani (Pakistan, Sheikh Hussain Hamid Hassan (Egypt), Dr. Muhammad Achmad Sahal Mahfudh (Indonesia), Dr. Mohammed Daud Bakar (Malaysia), Sheikh Dr. Mohamed Ali Elgari (Saudi Arabia), Sheikh Nizam Yaquby (Bahrain),and Dr. Mohammad Akram Laldin (Malaysia)
HSBC Amanah operations are closely supervised by four Regional Shariah Committees (RSCs) in addition to a Central Shariah Committee (CSC). The CSC supervises HSBC Amanah businesses as well as operations in UAE, Qatar, UK, USA and Bangladesh. The CSC comprises of following well-known scholars: Sheikh Nizam Yaquby, Sheikh Dr. Mohamed Ali Elgari and Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani.

HSBC Amanah operations in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are supervised by following independent RSCs.
HSBC Amanah has won the Euromoney 2005 awards for Best Islamic Wholesale Bank and Best for Private Banking Services.
HSBC Amanah has won the following awards:
Euromoney awards : Best International Provider of Islamic Financial Services (2004), Best International Sukuk House (2004), Best Islamic Wholesale Bank (2005), Best for Private Banking Services (2005).
Award-winning transactions : Emirates ECA-backed financing 2001, (Euromoney, Jane´s Transport Finance, Institutional Investor, Airfinance Journal), Government of Malaysia Global Sukuk - 2002,(Euromoney, Institutional Investor, Asiamoney, FinanceAsia), Emirates IV, with Islamic Development Bank - 2003 and (Jane´s Transport Finance)

Conditions Regarding the Property Given on Lease

The property which is given on lease, should fulfil certain conditions:
(i) It should be specific. Hence, if a person says to another: "I have given you one of my houses on lease", it is not in order.
(ii) The person taking the property on lease should see it, or the lessor should give its particulars in a manner which gives full information about it.
(iii) It should be possible to deliver it. Hence, leasing out a horse which has run away, and the hirer can not possess it, will be void. However, if the hirer can manage to get it, the lease will be valid.
(iv) Utilisation of the property should not be by way of its destruction or consumption. Hence, it is not correct to give bread, fruits and other edibles on lease for the purpose of eating.
(v) It should be possible to utilise the property for the purpose for which it is given on lease. Hence, it is not correct to give a piece of land on lease for farming, when it does not get sufficient rain water, and is also not irrigated by canal water.
(vi) The thing which a person gives on lease should be his own property, and if he gives the property of another person on lease, it will be correct only if its owner agrees to it.
It is permissible to give a tree on lease for utilising its fruit, although fruit may not have appeared on it yet. The same rule applies if an animal is given on lease for its milk.
A woman can be hired for her milk, and it is not necessary for her to obtain her husband's permission. However, if her husband's right suffers owing to her giving milk (to the child of another person), she cannot take up the job without his permission