Posted on 11/14/2008 12:05:22 PM PST by weef
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 that was loaned. Money proffered must be backed by collateral, and if financial instruments are traded, they generally have to sell for face value, which deters banks from repackaging debt. "This is one way to keep both feet on the ground," says Rozali bin Mohamed Ali, head of an Islamic finance university in Kuala Lumpur.
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
Hmm. Let’s see. Hypothetically remove oil revenues and examine the GDP of economies that have any trace of Sharia law. They are pathetic. Not one has made significant contributions to the rise of the industrial world. As Pervez Musharraf has pointed out, all achievements by Islamic scholars, such as winning Nobel prizes for economics or anything else, come when they are at Western Universities.
Absent oil revenues, the combined GDP of all Arab countries is less than that of Finland.
The brilliant historian Niall Ferguson, in “The Cash Nexus” points out that when Islam was in fact a world leading culture its bankers found away around the Koranic prohibition on interest.
This kind of nonsense will not be examined and become apparent as nonsense until we swerve the oil weapon out of their hands.
Why then would you loan money to anyone but family?
Meanwhile, B. Hussein Obama watches with interest as he politely listens to his Clinton-era economic advisors....
Well, how’s that been working out for them for the last thousand years?
If it wasn’t for Western money buying their oil, there wouldn’t be anything but tents and camels.
I actually did laugh out loud to that.
Koran Directory:
Chapter 1 - Beheadings, when, how and to whom
Chapter 2 - 72 Virgins, what happens after the first time?
Chapter 3 - Call to Prayer, can we make it louder and more annoying?
Fill in your own successive chapters.
Friend of paper money are ya?
Yes, those stupid old white guys who kicked this whole thing off were well known for being spammers in their time.
And I believe I said the BIBLE, not limited to the NT.
And the OT and the NT have plenty to say about FRAUD and the current “money” system is based on fraud. And if YOU -like the criminals who came up with these super mortgage backed derivitive (which most of them didn’t understand) don’t understand that, I suggest you go back to sleep. But scrape those Obama stickers off your bumper first.
I also recommend you for inclusion in that idiotic Classy Freepers thing you’ve got going on your About page.
BTW, I doubt that Nurse Ratchet would have time to read that post to you anyway.
I work in commercial real estate and they have a well set up system with leases that essentially accomplish the same thing as traditional debt (same remedies, remuneration levels, etc.)
Sheik,
Unfortunately, the very fact the word “finance” is preceded by the word “Sha’ria” in this financial context, exposes the primary reason why Freepers won’t even bother to look its meaning up, let alone consider its merits.
Mainstream Christian denominations are in broad agreement on the basic founding principles of the religion, but there are still major differences in the interpretation of the Bible, in the rituals that govern worship, and the nature of the priesthood.
So why is it so difficult for the American Right to understand that the same applies in Islam?
Some Islamic factions take the Koran literally and embrace interpretations like militant Wahabbism, but the overwhelming majority of Moslems, especially in the West, do not.
Just so you know where I’m coming from on this:
My immediate family can trace its roots back to Devon in England, and has been traced all the way back to the Norman Conquest. My family’s religious heritage follows the Quaker tradition, and indeed it persists to this day across West Virginia, not far from where their forefathers first settled in the 1760s.
My best mate at university was a practising Moslem, and we were both active volunteers at the local homeless shelter which was run by a Catholic priest from Northern Ireland - and my wife, who was also a volunteer there (that’s how we met) hailed from Ballymena, home of the Orange Order and Free Presbyterians.
Shock of shocks, we all got on famously.
Naturally, I regard sectarianism, not patriotism, as the last refuge of a scoundrel.
People can poo-poo the islamist finance system but they do have trillions in their control. They refuse to allow debt, interest payments, and all things are settled often in cash. They may be camel jockeys but that is for reasons other than finance. Their financial system seems to be very sound.
So that Ferguson is correct, namely, they find ways to interpret the Koran so as to allow the same practices. Which explains why in Tunisia, without oil wealth, they have been able to achieve a level of home ownership unmatched in the rest of the Arab world. Of course, Tunisia has been led by a strongman along the lines of Syngman Rhee or Musharraf who has never put up with the Jihadists and their ilk.
But it is still the case that the bulk of the Islamic world remains mired in poverty apart from oil revenues and singularly lacking in any achievement in the modern world. Which makes the point that if you swiftly and dramatically take away the oil weapon they will have to adapt and will. But a significantly better group of leaders will emerge.
The leaders cannot be worse and I believe hard**s dictators that we have good relations with may be our best hope. Oh well, farewell Neocon idealism.
More broadly stated: I am a "friend" of reality.
And I believe I said the BIBLE, not limited to the NT.
One must choose between the approbation of credit in the NT or the (apparent) condemnation of credit in the OT. Or reconcile them.
But it is dishonest to claim that "The Bible" simply condemns credit, since it doesn't.
the current “money” system is based on fraud
So we can add fraud to the list of concepts like credit which you are unclear on.
I suggest you go back to sleep
Ah, a joke about a screenname. That's almost as fresh and original as accusing someone who disagrees with you of being a liberal.
But scrape those Obama stickers off your bumper first.
How clever. Didn't see that one coming.
All that's left is to mine the other poster's about page to try and find ammunition that you can't provide yourself through rational argument.
I also recommend you for inclusion in that idiotic Classy Freepers thing you’ve got going on your About page.
And there we have it. The trifecta of the intellectually lazy.
The page was designed to commemorate those FReepers who believe that rage and hatred are acceptable substitutes for rational discussion.
Nothing I've posted on this thread even remotely qualifies.
In fact, all I've done is observe that you don't understand credit. And you continue to oblige me with further evidence of my observation.
Jeanne Kirkpatrick pointed this out years ago.
There are ways around the no-interest prohibition. Islamic bankers charge interest, they just call it something else. The whole system is based on hypocrisy.
And how long HAVE you worked in the financial industry?
I sense that I’ve gored your sacred ox.
Or is that a golden calf??
They’re comin’ out of the woodwork since the election. Buy ammo. Practice.
thank you for the links—I saw an article about this just after the coup, but lost the link. This today is the first I’ve seen about it on FR; was there a post I missed ?
You’re welcome luvadavi.
You didn’t miss anything.
The link set is from one of my offline files.
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