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The developer of the ill-fated Ground Zero Mosque won't relent on his goal of planting a flag on the grave of 3,000 Americans. The New York Post reports that Sharif El-Gamal and his banking partners announced Wednesday that he secured "Sharia-compliant financing" to build a luxury condominium tower and an Islamic museum on the same site as the proposed Ground Zero Mosque -- four blocks away from where the Twin Towers once stood. The $174 million dollar project features a three-story Islamic cultural museum at 51 Park Place and 48 high-end residential condos in a 43-story tower at 45 Park...

SEATTLE, Wash. — The mayor of Seattle and his housing committee have unveiled a plan to increase housing in the city, with a portion of the plan proposing the offering of Sharia law-compliant loans for Muslim residents. Among the number of ideas offered to make housing more affordable for Seattle residents is a segment that addresses Muslim beliefs, as Sharia law forbids usury for its adherents. “For our low—and moderate—income Muslim neighbors who follow Sharia law—which prohibits the payment of interest or fees for loans of money—there are limited options for financing a home,” the proposed plan reads. “Some Muslims...

This information makes up the introductory portion of the briefing that I have been delivering around the country for the past 3 years. It is important given the mounting evidence of Muslim Brotherhood infiltration in the West, and the US in particular. On 22 May 2007, the Pew Research Center, certainly not a “conservative” organization, published a report on a survey that they conducted of Muslims in America. The name of that report was “Muslims in America: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream.” Pew rolled it out as a celebration of Muslims in America. The media jumped on the bandwagon and...

Rome (AsiaNews) - With the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum, held in London between 29 and 31 October, Islamic finance has come into its own and gone mainstream. Until a few years ago, Islamic finance was unknown to most people. Some even equated it to the financing of Islamic terrorism. In fact, in the years right after 9/11, anything about Islam was viewed with concern. Now things are different. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who spoke at the forum, said that London is no longer happy to be the main Islamic financial centre outside Muslim countries; it now wants to...

Turkey has agreed a $1 billion loan for Egypt during President Mohamed Morsi's visit to the country, the state-run MENA news agency reported on Sunday. The borrowing is the first tranche of a total reported $2 billion Turkish aid package for Cairo. Morsi on Sunday attended the annual conference of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Turkish capital of Ankara. On his first visit to Turkey as Egyptian president, Morsi spoke from the stage and urged his audince to support "the nations that are aspiring to freedom and independence." Addressing the Turkish nation specifically, Morsi added: "The...

First it was HSBC, now it’s Standard Chartered too. Both big banks did business with the world’s foremost sponsor of Jihadist terrorism in violation of US sanctions. There is something else that both of these banks have in common: they are both extremely active in promoting Shariah-Compliant Finance in the West. Shariah Finance Watch has a whole category devoted to Standard Chartered’s Shariah operations for those who require more background: http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/category/standard-chartered/ It is BEYOND significant that two of the biggest promoters of Shariah Finance also were in blatant disregard of regulations and enforcement designed to combat terrorism financing. Standard Chartered’s...

Christopher Holton is Vice President for Outreach at the Center for Security Policy. He directs the Center’s Divest Terror Initiative and Shariah Risk Due Diligence Program. He has been involved in legislation in 20 states to divest taxpayer-supported pension systems from foreign companies that do business with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Sudan and the Syrian Arab Republic. Since 2008, Holton has been the editor-in-chief of the Shariah Finance Watch blog. In 2005, Holton was a co-author of War Footing, published by the US Naval Institute Press. Holton’s work has also been published by National Review,...

The most common requests we receive at Shariah Finance Watch are questions as to whether banks or brokerage houses “are Shariah-compliant?” As a result of these numerous inquiries, for the past several weeks, we have carefully compiled a list of financial institutions active in the USA that have some form of tie to Shariah Compliant Finance. In some cases, the entire institution is Shariah-compliant. In other cases, the overall institution is not Shariah-compliant but it has a division or subsidiary that is, or it offers a product that is Shariah-compliant. In still more cases, some of the entities listed below...

As a vehicle for legitimizing and promoting Shariah throughout the world, Shariah-compliant finance is a phenomenon that is taking the financial world by storm right under the noses of American investors. Given the stated mission of Shariah is to bring about the rule of Islam worldwide, anything that promotes the Shariah mission warrants careful scrutiny. American investors deserve to know where their money is being invested, and the fact that their hard-earned dollars could be helping fund the very radical terrorist groups that are seeking to destroy this nation is shocking. It is vital that we come to grips and...

Last Tuesday, Obama appointed a young, Muslim lawyer named Samar Ali as the White House Fellows. You can read all about her in Zombie’s new post: Shariah-Compliant Finance Advisor Picked by Obama as White House Fellow Ali was an Associate at the law firm of Hogan Lovells US LLP. She also worked for Islamic International Arab Bank. She worked with Foreign Aid Conventional Financing and Shari’ah Compliant Student Loan Programs. For those of you not familiar with Shariah finance: "Islamic banking refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of Islamic law (Sharia)...

After you read the excerpt below from Frank Gaffney's piece on Sharia-compliant finance published today at BigGovernment.com, you'll begin to understand the seriousness of the story and why I designed the new faux logo for AIG:

LONDON -- The once-booming market for Islamic-friendly bonds, having suffered a contraction amid the credit crisis, now faces a new challenge: default. The fledgling market in recent months experienced its first two defaults, and they aren't expected to be the last as issuers like Saad Group hit financial difficulties. This is taking investors and courts into uncharted territory as they seek to apply Western laws to bonds that were designed to comply with Islamic law, or Shariah.

DUBAI -- Persian Gulf investors plan to open a new $10 billion Islamic bank by year end in Bahrain, the chairman of the Union of Arab Banks said Sunday. The institution would be called "Istikhlaf Bank" and its shares would be listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Dubai via an initial public offering, Adnan Ahmed Yousif said. "We call it the godfather of Islamic banks," Mr. Yousif told reporters on the sidelines of a banking conference. The proposed bank "will be established with a $10 billion capital and right now we are at a stage of forming the...

“Islamic finance now extends beyond the traditional predominantly Muslim economies to become an increasingly important part of the international financial system.” “Islamic finance implicitly embraces strong core values and universally beneficial characters.” “The Islamic financial system derives its strength and stability from its faculty to uphold Shariah principles. The Islamic financial system thus has an in-built dimension that promotes financial soundness and stability, as it resides within a financial trajectory underpinned by the forces of Shariah injunctions.” These are the words of Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, a prominent Bank Governor in Malaysia who has been an outspoken advocate...

Note: The following text is a quote: March 29, 2009 Beware of what you wish for: you might get it From this afternoon's Hate Mail Bag: Robert Spencer: Did you ever stop to think that if we had Sharia Law in this nation stupid and evil (bush/cheney for the uninitiated) might not have been able to create the economic horror that resulted from their inept incompetence? You may have a point, sir! Of course they wouldn't have. They would never have been in power. They would have been dhimmis, bowing and scraping before their Muslim superiors. Posted by Robert at...

All over Europe Islamic banks are establishing branches, Western banks are offering Sharia-compliant financial services, and European governments are trying to outcompete each other in welcoming them. Proponents of banking along the lines of Sharia (Islamic law) claim that the Islamic banking system is “more ethical” than the West’s capitalist system. This is not true. Unfortunately, however, in our age of crashing financial markets, many Westerners – not just the traditional anti-capitalist European left – seem very eager to buy that argument. Early this month, even the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano voiced its approval of Sharia banking. “The ethical principles...

Worried that Britain is going bankrupt? Cheer up – we’re about to be bought up by the Islamic world. A report by International Financial Services London reveals that Britain’s Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan. The study says that the UK has by far the largest number of banks for Muslims of any western country. The UK now has five fully ‘sharia-compliant’ banks – providing products which prohibit interest payments and investment in alcohol or gambling firms in accordance with Islamic sharia law – while another 17 leading institutions including Barclays, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group...

Islamofascism: In bailing out AIG, Uncle Sam may have taken on more than he bargained for, including a constitutional fight over the promotion of religion.Earlier this month, as the New York-based insurance giant benefited from $153 billion in tax-supported bailout funds, it launched a business unit offering Shariah-compliant insurance products in the U.S. For the first time, homeowners' insurance policies "compliant with key Islamic finance tenets" will be marketed to Muslims in America. "We are pleased to offer socially responsible solutions to this segment of the domestic market," the near-bankrupt AIG announced in a press release, explaining that the Islamic...

Why is the United States paying for Sharia creep? On one hand we are fighting a war against Islamic terror. AIG's American International has been selling Sharia-based "Islamic insurance" for at least two years, through its Takaful division with a stated goal to sell such Sharia financial instruments in the United States. AIG Sun America, AIG Financial Services Corp, and other divisions of AIG also are dealers in Sharia mutual trusts. Many of those trusts fund terrorism. Now the Thomas More Law Center is stepping in to protect America from its self. They have filed suit in federal court to...

This might be a good time for investors to pick up a copy of the Koran. Stocks and other investments that adhere to sharia, or Islamic law -- though hardly unscathed -- have fared better than the broader market. That's thanks largely to rules that forbid investing in collateralized debt obligations and other toxic assets that have caused the carnage in conventional financial circles. A big part of the appeal of Islamic finance is its simplicity. Speculation is taboo under sharia, and there's a ban on assessing interest because the Prophet Mohammed said debts must be repaid in the amount...