Jihad Comes to Wall Street

NRO ^ | April 03, 2008 | Alex Alexiev

[K-oneTexas]

Jihad Comes to Wall Street "Sharia finance" does exactly what it promises, financing the spread of sharia — and terror.

By Alex Alexiev

If you’ve seen Geert Wilders’s film Fitna, you may not have noticed a single headline amongst all the bombings, beheadings, and earnest expressions of Islam’s eventual world domination: Halal-fund: investments for Muslims. But the investment vehicles referenced are an essential part of radical Islam’s efforts to insinuate itself into Western societies in order to destroy them from within. And Wall Street, barely out of the woods from its disastrous run-in with sub-prime mortgages — and having lost one of its historic investment houses, Bear Stearns, in the process — is now chasing the very kind of “sharia finance” against which Wilders's movie warns, a business line that may eventually wind up being even more calamitous than the subprime-mortgage fiasco.

For the growing army of its acolytes, who salivate at the prospect of tens of billions of dollars in transaction fees from the burgeoning industry, sharia-compliant finance is seen as little more than a cuddly Islamic version of socially conscious investment — with ethical strictures forbidding usury and sin industries, and emphasizing charity. Indeed, a conference on the subject last Fall co-sponsored by the Wall Street Journal was titled just that: “Islamic Ethical Investment.” According to this rosy interpretation, sharia finance is a windfall for capital markets — allowing Wall Street to skim some foam off the ocean of petrodollar liquidity in the Middle East, and put it to good use.

Other interpretations are possible, of course. Critics see sharia finance as a massive subversion campaign by radical Islam designed to legitimize sharia in the West, to undermine our markets, and ultimately to imperil our free-enterprise system and national security — all the while exposing banks to financial risks that make the sub-prime fiasco look like a walk in the park. For its proponents and ideological enablers — such as the well known suicide-bombing advocate, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi — sharia finance is nothing less than “Jihad with money.” As al-Qaradawi explains, “God has ordered us to fight enemies with our lives and with our money.” Unfortunately for Wall Street, it’s hard to argue with the good sheikh on that score. Far from being a guide to ethical investment, sharia finance is indistinguishable from sharia itself.

Sharia is a reactionary-to-the-core medieval Islamic doctrine that claims control over every aspect of every Muslim’s life. It imposes such “ethical” mandates on Muslims as the obligation to discriminate against women and non-Muslims; to kill homosexuals, adulterers, and apostates; to establish and maintain Muslim rule around the world; and to carry out violent offensive jihad against infidels. Notably, for those Muslims who cannot engage in physical jihad using force of arms, sharia requires that they support jihad financially. This is what sharia finance is all about.

Far from being a legitimate investment vehicle, sharia finance facilitates religiously sanctioned support for terrorist organizations — as well as providing radical Islamists with highly paid sinecures as sharia-finance board advisors in the sanctum sanctorum of capitalism, all the while that they are pursuing a subversive campaign to destroy it.

Predictably, none of this is even remotely disclosed by any of the dozens of Western banks promoting sharia finance today, which obviously exposes them to huge non-disclosure risks ranging from fraudulent misrepresentation, to material support for terrorism.

Consider the board chairman of the Dow Jones Islamic Index (IMANX), one Mufti Taqi Usmani. Mr. Usmani is widely reputed to be one of the world’s top experts on sharia finance. Whatever his stockpicking abilities may be, they are dwarfed by his jihadist credentials. A key executive of Pakistan’s prominent Deobandi jihadist factory, the madrassa Darul Karoom Karachi (currently headed by his brother, Rafi Usmani), Taqi Usmani has openly advocated jihad by Muslims in the West, and just last month again publicly endorsed suicide bombing and the Taliban.

Since sharia-finance funds like the IMANX may invest in companies that are not completely halal — that derive their profit from interest or other sharia-prohibited activities — returns on investment in those companies must be purified by donating a portion of that ROI to charity. More often than not, it is people like Usmani who are paid lucratively to sit on sharia-finance boards in order to determine what charities will receive the sharia-finance institutions’ donations — and it’s a fair bet that the March of Dimes is not among them.

IMANX itself is owned and operated by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), an organization listed as an un-indicted co-conspirator by the Department of Justice in a recent terrorism-finance trial, and the proprietor of hundreds of radical mosques and Islamic institutions in the U.S., including some that have been closed down by the government as criminal enterprises.

The chairman of both NAIT and IMANX, Bassam Osman, has been the top executive of terrorist-funding organizations like the Quranic Literacy Institute (suspected financiers of Hamas whose assets were seized by the U.S. in 1998) and the Islamic Academy of Florida (founded by Sami al-Arian, a convicted financier of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist criminal enterprise), and is a board member of other un-indicted co-conspirators like the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Is Dow Jones aware of all this? Is Rupert Murdoch? And if they are not, shouldn’t they be?

The IMANX marketing slogan is “Markets Fluctuate. Principles Don’t.” Judging by the ideological principles of those involved in its leadership, that is precisely what Wall Street — and the West — should fear.

The legitimization of sharia in the West and its gradual imposition in Muslim communities and beyond is a key objective of sharia finance, and there is no doubt it has already made huge strides. Indeed, the precedent of legal sharia-finance transactions was used by the hapless archbishop of Canterbury to buttress his argument that introducing sharia in the United Kingdom was unavoidable.

Given the reality of malignant Islamism now spreading into our own capital markets to the loud cheers of the same Wall Street masters of the universe who gave us sub-prime mortgage securitization, Americans have a right to ask: Where are the U.S. Treasury Department and the SEC, whose job it is to protect our markets? Given the outright fraudulent misrepresentation of the potential liabilities of sharia-finance funds under existing regulations, they should get involved soon.

— Alex Alexiev is vice president for research at the Center for Security Policy.

[K-oneTexas]

WHAT IS SHARIAH LAW AND FINANCE?
WHAT IS SHARIAH LAW? 
Understanding Shariah law is integral to understanding the dangers of Shariah-compliant finance. Shariah law is Islamic law dating back to the 9th century and is today the law of the land in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan and the law under which the Taliban operates. However, with a current population of 1.5 billion Muslims, this translates to a huge pool of Jihadist recruits and supporters - a base of approximately 150 - 225 million Muslims.
Shariah law authorities, some of whom are now being paid handsomely by Barclays, Dow Jones, Standard & Poors, HSBC, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Deutschebank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse and others have the power to dictate Shariah compliance as deemed by "scholarly consensus" on matters of finance, family, penal law, apostasy, and war. Examples of authoritarian Shariah law include: requirement of women to obtain permission from husbands for daily freedoms; beating of disobedient woman and girls; execution of homosexuals; engagement of polygamy and forced child marriages; the testimony of four male witnesses to prove rape; honor killings of those, principally women, who have dishonored the family; death to apostate Muslims who chose to leave Islam; inferior status of non-Muslims, and capital punishment for those "slander Islam."

ISLAMIC FINANCE - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: 
National Security and Financial Risks: Islamists are attempting to impose Shariah Compliant Finance (SCF) on Western institutions to use our own financial strengths against us. The most serious problem with SCF is that it legitimates and institutionalizes Shariah law (i.e., Islamic law), a theo-political- legal doctrine violently opposed to Western values. With $1 -$2 trillion petrodollars annually looking for an investment home, blind exuberance is driving financial institutions to adopt SCF, without even a minimal baseline for legal compliance. This willful blindness, and lack of both transparency and due diligence may cause SCF to be the next sub-prime crisis, but this time with deadly consequences.

Legal Risks: Western financial institutions which adopt SCF may have criminal and civil exposure to claims of aiding and abetting sedition and the material support of terrorism, securities fraud, consumer fraud, racketeering, and antitrust violations, as well as exposure to tort claims for sedition and terrorism, and for the violation of internationally recognized norms of the law of nations.

Terror Financing Mechanism: SCF as monitored by paid Shariah law advisors to U.S. banking institutions must "purify" certain return on investment (ROI) dollars that do not meet Shariah law standards. This money must be donated to Islamic charities - including some that promote Jihad and support suicide bombing. Investment disclosures state that these profits can be as high as 6% of profits of investments.  With $800 billion already in SCF assets, the potential for billions of dollars to be siphoned off for terrorism is real. This would be a serious criminal violation of U.S. law.  
Consider this example: Shariah Mutual Funds promote themselves as "ethical funds." To be Shariah-compliant, they donate "tainted" revenues to Shariah-compliant "charities."  A post 9-11 U.S. investor in a Shariah-compliant "ethical investment" is not told that Shariah law also requires imposing Shariah as U.S. law, execution of gays and female apartheid.  Is he a victim of consumer fraud?  Is this same post 9-11 investor unwittingly funding terror? The government has shut down the three largest Shariah-compliant charities in the U.S. - the Holy Land Foundation, Benevolence International Foundation, and the Global Relief Foundation - after proving they funded terrorist organizations. The American taxpayer deserves answers to these questions.  The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is meeting directly with members of Congress, U.S. regulatory agencies and Wall Street financial institutions in order to ensure the enforcement of existing U.S. laws on sedition, disclosure, material support of terrorism, and money-laundering. CSP is committed to revealing the civil liability and criminal exposure of Shariah law and Shariah-compliant finance.

Below is a list of Shariah Finance compliant banks. One must come to the conclusion, this is an ever greater threat than Jihadists in America. If our government doesn't take action soon, then our inconvenient "recession" will look like a stroll in the park. In an effort to combat terrorism my family has decided to pull a considerable sum of money and close accounts of the newest Shariah compliant bank Wachovia. We will not have our funds in institutions that support Islamic Terrorism.  Become aware of banks and banking institutions that support Shariah law and Finance. By closing accounts you have in those institutions, you will  know that you are NOT supporting terrorism against our own people and friends. Note the institutions below to see if you are currently supporting terrorism!

Shariah Compliant Banks

Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation
Aviva Plc
AXA
Barclays PLC
BNP Paribas Group
Citibank, N.A.
Credit Agricole, S.A.
Deutsche Bank AG
Dow Jones & Company Inc.
Equity Insurance Group Limited
Goldman Sachs Group
HBOS plc
HSBC Holdings plc
INVESCO Perpetual
Julius Baer Group
Maersk Logistics
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Morgan Stanley
NYSE Euronext
Silicon Graphics, Inc.

[K-oneTexas]

A petition for your review.

The Jihad is progressing on every front and infiltrating the West and as you know they are now infiltrating our financial institutions with "Shariah Compliant Finance"

 

This will have deadly consequences to our already fragile economy, jeopardize our security and democracy.

 

Please sign this Petition below and have it up on your website.

 

We need to collect thousands of signatures which we will then send onto SEC, Dept of Justice, FBI, CSP, US Treasury Dept and any and all other relevant agencies.

www.actforamerica.org

 

Say NO to Shariah Compliant Finance! Petition   <<<<CLICK HERE

http://www.petitiononline.com/qxyz1108/petition.html

 

[allmost]

It would convenient to funnel all the psychopathic murdering funds into smaller channels. Tracing the money is the main problem in the WOT.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

ping.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Signed. Thank you for posting it.

[Rocky]

And the Government isn’t fighting this? Wonderful. The enemy is not at the gates, he’s inside them.

[llandres]

“Signed. Thank you for posting it.”

I signed yesterday morning and forwarded to those of my friends who are receptive enough to read it. I’m assuming this tonight came directly from ACT, Brigitte Gabriel’s website. She’s such a treasure, a brave voice and beacon of truth regarding all things Islamo-Fascism.

[givemELL]

Most valuable post...the Muslim Brotherhoods official plan, discovered in a Swiss raid in 1991, details the depth of planning that has gone on in more than 70 countries for the last 80 years (since the ‘20s), with special long term relations to Nazism. Do a search for ‘agenda Muslim Brotherhood’, the ikhwan. MB is a Sunni effort backing CAIR in the US and Hamas in the middle east, many Muslim student associations in the US, our civil processes and representatives at city, county, state and national levels.

Here is a link regarding the MB agenda...http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2671

The Shiite side (Carter enabled Khomeinists) of Iran competes with the Sunnis for the eventual establishment of a caliphate...each would destroy the other, if possible. The whole idea of dividing the ME as the Brits did after the first WW was to prevent a modern Caliphate from forming after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire...maintenance of the concept and action is wanting as Islam has now a potentially fatal grasp of Europe, even if only from a demographic perspective...and, Islamists are too impatient to wait for demography to do its silent work.

Our Western Central Banks have welcomed Islam, and, all else will follow with left shifting Western secular culture and govt. not adequately tooled for the challenge. IF we abdicate defining marriage e.g., Islam will do it for us.

[STARWISE]

Dearlord ..... what are we coming to? Goldman Sachs, Dow Jones, Citibank, Merrill Lynch providing this opening ? How does this comply with US banking laws?

Heads up.

~~~~

Shariah Compliant Banks

Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation
Aviva Plc
AXA
Barclays PLC
BNP Paribas Group
Citibank, N.A.
Credit Agricole, S.A.
Deutsche Bank AG
Dow Jones & Company Inc.
Equity Insurance Group Limited
Goldman Sachs Group
HBOS plc
HSBC Holdings plc
INVESCO Perpetual
Julius Baer Group
Maersk Logistics
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
Morgan Stanley
NYSE Euronext
Silicon Graphics, Inc.

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTTT for tomorrow!!

[fishhound]

I did not see it in the article but these wll street banks insert a shariah finance director into thier companies(for compliance). (think theres any women?).Then he funnels the money back to the “charities” and madrasas as he sees fit. But it probably is lined up before the job is taken.
So the money, MADE IN AMERICA, goes to them and then the jihadists come from them.

[fishhound]

BTTT

[Crim]

Please dont ping me Star...I read damn near everything here allready....and it only clutters up replies to me...

Thank you.

[ThePythonicCow]

Something is not right with this list of banks ...

---

That list of "Shariah Compliant Banks" is flawed.

I work at one of the companies listed there, and it is neither a bank, nor Shariah complaint, nor anything resembling either of those. That company is Silicon Graphics, Inc. We're a computer manufacturer, whose largest customers are U.S. defense related, and who recently came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

So, I went chasing down that list, since it is easy to find in Google searches. I found many uncritical references to it, often quoting much the same article as posted above.

In time order, from most recent back to earliest, some of these references I found are:

"Unknown"

shariahfinancewatch.wordpress.com (blog?)

"May 10, 2008"

AOL Message Board post

"April 2008"

Act-4-Freedom blog

"April 23, 2008"

daposts.com: Jihad Comes to Wall Street

"April 20, 2008"

Google groups: soc.culture.canada

"April 15, 2008"

Fire Society Petition

"March 31, 2008"

Prophetic News

"February 2008"

Product Innovation and Customer Targeting in Asset Management, Q4 2007

Notice that last entry -- it seems to be the source of this list of companies. That report (costs 1814 Euros -- I haven't purchased it) is described at the last link above.

The description of that report states that it contains the following "Companies Mentioned":

1. Alpha Natural Resources
2. Asset Acceptance Capital Corporation
3. Aviva Plc
4. AXA
5. Barclays PLC
6. BNP Paribas Group
7. Citibank, N.A.
8. Credit Agricole, S.A.
9. Deutsche Bank AG
10. Dow Jones & Company Inc
11. Equity Insurance Group Limited
12. Goldman Sachs Group
13. HBOS plc
14. HSBC Holdings plc
15. INVESCO Perpetual
16. Julius Baer Group
17. Maersk Logistics
18. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.
19. Morgan Stanley
20. NYSE Euronext
21. Silicon Graphics, Inc.
22. Singapore Power

Searching google on the title of the above report Product Innovation and Customer Targeting in Asset Management, Q4 2007 finds a number of direct mentions of this report.

This report covers several financial products and services, as described in its summary, and that list of companies is apparently all companies mentioned in that report, at least one of which companies I am sure has nothing to do with Sharia complaint banking.

Here is the published summary of that report, visible at several of the web pages found on the above google search:

---

Summary

Introduction

This tracker covers product launches and service developments as well as marketing and product/service launches aimed at specific customer segments, such as ultra high net worths, NRIs, expats, retirees, entrepreneurs, women, etc.

Scope

• Extensive research is conducted on the activities of 50 providers of asset management products, globally
• The developments are analyzed to identify the key global trends in product development and customer targeting

Highlights

The trend for real estate fund launches continues. Several asset managers this quarter launched real estate funds, but steered clear of the US, where the real estate market has imploded.

Investments continue lean towards green issues. Datamonitor has seen sustainable investing since Q2. This quarter HSBC introduced its Climate Change fund, which aims to outperform the HSBC Global Climate Change index.

Following Citibank's Q2 strategy to distribute DWS Noor Islamic Fund products in Bahrain and SGAM's Q3 launch of a sharia compliant index, Citibank is again on the Sharia trail, launching its UTP Islamic fund in Pakistan.

---

[ThePythonicCow]

Here is the Data Monitor description of the report I referenced in my previous reply above, from which this list of companies seems to have been extracted.

Observe that many products and services besides Shariah Law compliant finance products are discussed.

---

Table of Contents

Product Innovation and Customer Targeting in Asset Management, Q4 2007 - A quarterly analysis of approximately 50 companies' strategic initiatives in product innovation and customer targeting.

Product Code: bffs0526

Publication Date: 25-Jan-2008

---

Overview

Introduction

This tracker covers product launches and service developments as well as marketing and product/service launches aimed at specific customer segments, such as ultra high net worths, NRIs, expats, retirees, entrepreneurs, women, etc.

---

• Table of Contents
• The Roundup
  • Big focus on real estate investment despite current market troubles
  • And capital protected products are being launched because of that volatility
  • There are a growing number of ETF launches
  • Diversification away from equities continues
  • Sharia investments are being launched, though there isn't a rush in the market
• The Developments

  ABN AMRO

  • ABN AMRO and AHOY renew sponsorship contract ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (Sponsorship) - Dec 07

  Amvescap

  • PowerShares (Invesco) expands exchange-traded funds portfolio to emerging markets - Dec 07
  • PowerShares (Invesco) expands its ETF products with international real estate portfolio - Dec 07
  • PowerShares (Invesco) lists first buy-write ETF portfolios - Dec 07
  • PowerShares (Invesco) adds several fixed-income ETFs - Nov 07
  • PowerShares (Invesco) launches three insured municipal bond products- Oct 2007

  Aviva

  • Morley launches Sterling Liquidity Enhanced Fund - Nov 2007
  • Morley introduces 'one-stop investment solution' for smaller pension funds - Oct 07
  • Morley introduces private equity fund of funds program - Oct 07

  AXA

  • Winterthur adds property fund to its Tailored Selection range - Oct 2007

  Barclays

  • Barclays introduces capital protected investment note linked to Dow Jones STOXX 50 - Oct 07

  BNP Paribas

  • BNP Paribas Asset Management launches first actively managed UCITS III fund offering exposure to the agriculture commodities market - Oct 2007

  Citigroup

  • Citibank introduces global mutual funds in China in partnership with Schroders - Oct 07
  • Citibank Pakistan launches mutual fund range, including sharia-compliant fund, in partnership with JS Investments- Nov 07
  • Citibank Italy launches capital protected bond and current account - Nov 07

  Credit Suisse

  • Credit Suisse launches emerging markets infrastructure trust - Oct 07
  • Credit Suisse launches all hedge index - Nov 07

  DEKA

  DekaBank brings specialists on board in anticipation of ETF launches- Oct 07

  Deutsche Bank

  • Deutsche Bank trading platform launches Middle East offering - Oct 07
  • Deutsche Bank to launch ETFs on short iTraxx - Nov 07

  Franklin Templeton

  Franklin Templeton introduces US equity fund - Dec 07

  HBOS

  • Bank of Scotland partners with Milestone Capital and Chelsfield to launch French real estate fund - Dec 07
  • Bank of Scotland launches new capital guaranteed investment account - Oct 07

  Henderson Global Investors

  • Henderson introduces Pan European Equity Fund in Singapore that allows shorting and leverage - Nov 07
  • Henderson launches global equitised long-short fund - Nov 07
  • Henderson to launch Global Financials Fund in offshore range - Nov 07

  HSBC

  HSBC launches Climate Change Fund - Nov 07

  Intesa Sanpaolo

  • Intesa Sanpaolo to set up a SIIQ, a listed real estate investment company - Nov 07

  Julius Baer

  • Natural Resources fund launched by Julius Baer - Oct 07

  Merrill Lynch

  • Merrill Lynch introduces an emerging markets FX index - Nov 07
  • Merrill Lynch introduces biofuels indices - Oct 07

  Morgan Stanley

  • Morgan Stanley announces new Asian private equity fund - Oct 2007
  • Morgan Stanley launches Asia Protected Growth Plan - Oct 2007

  Pictet & Cie

  • Pictet Funds launches PF(Lux)-Absolute Return Global Conservative fund- Nov 2007

  Rabobank

  • Rabo introduces coverage of real estate stocks - Oct 2007

  Sal Oppenheim

  • Equity strategy hedge fund launched by Sal. Oppenheim - Nov 07

  Société Générale

  • SGAM Alternative Investments closes first institutional property fund invested in France - Dec 07
  • SGAM launches European ABS - corporate bond fund - Oct 07
  • Société Générale launches bond fund-linked retail notes in Singapore - Oct 07
  • Société Générale Index launches investable AAA bond indices - Oct 07

• APPENDIX
  • Methodology
  • Further reading
  • Ask the analyst
  • Datamonitor consulting
  • Disclaimer

---

[djf]

“How to Make Money Shorting Pig Bellies”
Mohammed Mohammed

Available from Amazon

[tarawa]

Something else I was thinking about, if these folks have no problem with using their lives as a weapon to kill non-believers, when why wouldn’t they use their money as well? Become heavily invested in Wall Street, then just start selling off everything at well below market price, causing a huge fall in the markets and damaging the economy.

[RFEngineer]

If Halal meant “no profits” instead of “no interest” then our entire banking sector would be compliant.

[The Great RJ]

Under sharia finance I suppose the trading in pork bellies would not be allowed.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!