A talk by Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaquobi on the Compendium of Knowledge and Wisdom, our translation of the Jami’ al-‘ulum wa’l-hikam of Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, may Allah be merciful to him. This was Ibn Rajab’s collection of fifty hadith, comprising the Forty (actually 42) of Imam an-Nawawi, may Allah be merciful to him, and another eight hadith, with a greatly expanded commentary on them.
Derivatives is the name of the game
Forget about any idea of sub-prime mortgages and other types of toxic waste being the cause of the current meltdown. The real story is the derivatives market, and to understand why, look carefully at the statistics below:
According to the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), on June 30, 2008, U.S. commercial banks held $182.1 trillion in notional value (face value) derivatives.1 And, according to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), which produced a tally six months earlier for the entire world, the global pile-up of derivatives, including institutions in the U.S., Europe and Asia, was more than three times larger – $596 trillion.2
That was ten times the gross domestic product of the entire planet – more than 40 times the total amount of mortgages outstanding in the United States – nearly 60 times greater than the already-huge U.S. national debt.
Citigroup collapses! Banking Shutdown Possible
by Dr. Martin D. Weiss
That is also why there is no simple cure for this collapse other than abandoning the usurious thinking and practice that brought it about.
The Last Straw – Robert Luongo
In 1812 Sultan Mahmut II sent an order from Topkapi that the wahhabis should be removed from the cities of Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah. It must be noted that the period of Mahmut’s rule, 1839-76, known as the Tanzimat, was, according to the confirmed Islamic perspective (differentiated from an Orientalist reading of events) the point of irreversible decline and fall of the Osmani Dawlah, otherwise known as the Ottoman Empire. This period was the one of disastrous ‘reforms’ from which the Muslim world has yet to recover. The modalities of Islamic governance, law and civic practice that had propelled a civilisation previously unequalled in its capacity to protect and assure the prosperity and freedom of its members, were traded in for a corruption-riddled French bureaucracy, and with it the most destructive of all alien innovations, an interest-bearing bank debt now payable in fiat money to the banks in France, and soon afterwards to those of England. On the back of the success of the Napoleonic Wars that saw the Russians defeated at Austerlitz, the Tanzimat government, having entered into ‘compromise’ with the French, found itself thrust into the Russo-Turkish war (1806-1812). The continual loss of territory as well as the rapidly eroding political prestige of the once powerful Muslim world had begun. It would not be until the heroic rise of the last authentic Sultan and Khalif, Sultan Abdulhamid II, that the banner of Islam would be raised again. For a short but glorious thirty-three years the light of the 7th century miracle that had burst out from the city of Madinah on the Arabian Peninsula would shine again. In 1908 Sultan Abdulhamid would be deposed, and with that tragic event began 100 years of immitigable failure.
Read it at Robert Luongo’s blog
Letter to a New Muslim, part 2
So you are a new Muslim, and you may be such even if you have a lineage of Muslim ancestors that stretches back for generations, for each person who genuinely discovers Islam, confirms it and determines to live by it is always new.
You are beginning to find your feet in this strangely topsy-turvey world that is Islam today and that is especially upside-down in our already upside-down world here in the West.
Read it at the Muslims of Norwich website
Read part 1 here.
Islamic banking is “Riba in a new get-up” say top Pakistani muftis
?Unanimous Fatwa (Ruling) on Islamic Banks by the most Senior Islamic Scholars and Mufti’s from all the four Provinces of Pakistan.
(This is the English translation of the last page of the fatwa where they conclude with a ruling signed by the Mufti’s as signatories, the full fatwa extends to a detailed judgment of 22 pages and was originally delivered in Urdu on Aug 28, 2008 at a Joint Convention at Jamia Farooquia in Karachi)
Fatwa:
“For the last few years the Sharia compliance Islamic banking has been under our scrutiny to see their accordance to the Muamalaat in Islam as per Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet Sallahu Ellahe Wasalam. We have also been examining the details of the documents, transactions and the contracts of Islamic banks and we have also referred and consulted the fiqh specialists and their works to give this detailed judgment. We have reached to the final conclusion that the Islamic (Ulemas) Scholars eligible to give Fatwa from all the four provinces of Pakistan have a unanimous judgment dated August 28, 2008, which is Thursday, 25th of Shabaan 1429, in a Joint Convention presided by the Honorable Shaykh Al Hadith Maulana Saleem Ullah in Jamia Forooquia, Karachi.
This convention which has the most senior mufti’s as part of the panel give a unanimous fatwa against all the banks that associate or call them Islamic, when they in fact in practice have nothing to do with Islam. Any business or Muamalaat done with them thinking them to be Islamic or in accordance with Sharia is haram and not permitted. These Islamic banks are the replica of the riba/usury based system and we have the same judgment of prohibition with them as with the conventional banks.
It is therefore compulsory and mandatory for all the Muslims to avoid haram and stay away from all the practices that are in violation of sharia.”
Signatories:
Shaykh ul Hadith Maulana Saleem Ullah . Jamia Farooquia, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Ghulam Qadir. Dar Ul Alum Haqania Akora , Khattak. KPK
Hazrat Mufti Hameedullah Jaan . Jamia Ashrafia. Lahore. Punjab
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Hishaam Ullah Aseya Abadi, Jamia Rasheediya, Aseya Abad, Turbat, Makraan, Baluchistan.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Abdul Hameeduddin Puri, Jamia Alum e Islamia, Banori Town. Karachi
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Saad Uddin. Jamia Haleemia, Laki Murawat, KPK
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Abdullah. Khair Ul Madaras, Multan, Punjab.
Hazrat Mufti Gul Hasan Bolani. Jamia Raheemia, Sarki road, Quetta, Baluchistan.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Zarr Wali Khan. Jamia Ahsan ul Alum, Gulshan e Iqbal, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Saeed Ahmad Jalal Puri. Alam e Majlas e Tahafuz Khatam e Nabuaat, Karachi. Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Hamid Hasan. Dar ul Alum, Kabirwala, Punjab.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Rozi Khan. Dar ul Iftatah e Rubaniya, Quetta, Baluchistan.
Hazrat Mufti Habibullah Shaykh. Jamia Islamia, Clifton, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Abdul Qayyum Deen Puri. Dar ul Iftah Majlis e Tahafuz Khatam e Nabuwat. Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Nazir Ahmad Shah. Jamia Farooq e Azam, Faisalabad, Punjab.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Saeed Ullah. Jamia Arbiya Taleem ul Islam. Quetta, Baluchistan.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Ahmad Mumtaz. Jamia Khulfa e Rashideen, Karachi, Sindh
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Rafiq Ahmad. Jamia Alum e Islamia, Banori Town, Karachi, Sindh
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Shuaib Alam. Jamia Alum e Islamia, Banori Town, Karachi Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Inaam ul Haq. Jamia Alum e Islamia, Banori Town, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Muhammad Madni. Mohed ul Khalil ul Islami, Bahadurabad, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Saleem Ullah. Daar ul Huda, Khairpur, Sindh
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Samiullah, Jamia Farooqia, Karachi, Sindh
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Ahmad Khan. Jamia Farooqia, Karachi, Sindh
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Abdul Ghaffar. Jamia Ashrafia, Sukkur, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Doctor Manzoor Ahmad Mengal. Jamia Farooqia, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Asim Abdullah. Jamia Himadia, Karachi, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Imdad Ullah. Jamia Dahoor u Naru, Sindh
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Ahmad Khan. Jamia Umrkot, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Kaleem Ullah. Jamia Dahoor u Naru, Sindh.
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Amanullah. Jamia Khulfa Rashideen, Karachi, Sindh.
Important: And the Muftis who could not attend the convention but sent their consent are:
Hazrat Mufti Dr. Abdul Wahid. Jamia Madniya, Lahore Punjab.
Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Isa. Muftah ul Alum, Gujranwala, Punjab
Hazrat Maulana Mufti Haji Abdul Ghani. Dar ul Alum Chaman, Baluchistan.
P.S Find the enclosed copy of the original Fatwa by these Islamic Scholars.
Bank collapse and shareholders
Many interpret the string of bank, and now corporation, collapses as if the power elite were suffering, forgetting that banks and corporations are not the same as their shareholders, and their interests are not the same.
If you understand the nature of the ‘corporation’, that it is regarded legally as a ‘person’, meaning that its shareholders and directors are not ordinarily legally liable for losses, then you can see that what affects the banks and the corporations does not necessarily affect their shareholders in the same way. Indeed, it is very likely that a great deal of this crisis is shareholders ditching these entities for various reasons, not the least of which is to sell them short, i.e. to sell while the price is high with the intention of buying back when the price is much cheaper.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will pay very real prices for that, but that is to the extent that we have bought into the same system.
The downside for the hundreds of thousands of people who will lose their jobs and houses, can have, not only the possibility of victory, as Hajj Umar Ibrahim Vadillo showed so eloquently in his talk at the 11th International Fiqh Conference in Cape Town 2008, but also the possibility of a return to sanity for those who do not regard themselves as needy dependants on the banking/industrial system, because the usury driven model of society predicated on growth and development is literally insane. And sanity is a precondition of Islam and of victory.
Something rather than nothing
It is not often mentioned that Liebnitz’s famous question, “Why is there something rather than nothing?” must be asked twice. The first time, its answer is a knowledge in the heart that is almost impossible to articulate without demeaning the question. Having reached that first knowledge, then one has to ask again, “But why is there something rather than nothing?” Theology cannot really go there.
Mufti Taqi Uthmani changes his mind on Islamic banks
This is from a page produced by the Majlis of South Africa:
In a recent 14 page article, the venerable Mufti has unambiguously exposed the riba of the ‘Islamic’ banks. Mufti Taqi Uthmaani of Pakistan had spearheaded the ‘Islamic’ bank movement. He was the prime supporter of ‘Islamic’ banks. Just recently, in a lengthy article of 14 pages, he criticized these banks for their riba for passing off their ‘sukuk’ (so-called ‘Islamic’ shares) as ‘Islamic’ products. He states unequivocally that the dealings of these ‘Islamic’ banks are all interest-based. Lamenting the attitude of the ‘Islamic’ banks, Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Uthmaani says:
“It was expected that Islamic banks would progress in time to genuine operations based on the objectives of an Islamic economic system and that they would distance themselves, even step by step from what resembled interest-based enterprises. What is happening at the present time, however, is the opposite. Islamic financial institutions have now begun competing to present themselves with all the same characteristics of the conventional, interest-based marketplace, and to offer new products that march backwards towards interest-based enterprises rather than away from these. Oftentimes these products are rushed to market using ploys that sound minds reject and bring laughter to enemies.
“If these (Shariah) boards continue with their present policies, Islamic banks will stumble on the road, and there is a danger, God forbid, that this virtuous movement will fail. It is time for the Shariah supervisory boards to review their policies, and to moderate the licences they have granted until now…”
Harun Yahya
Whoever resorts to Google in order to find out something about me will find my name paired very often as author with Harun Yahya. This is not true. In my professional capacity as an editor long prior to his subsequent fame and, some might say, notoriety, I edited the texts of a number of his books, but have never acted as his co-author. It is a classic example of the jumbled nature of digital data on the Internet.
UPDATE
Since 2008, when it was necessary to write the above, the rapid ascent of Harun Yahya to notoriety or rather descent into criminality, obscenity and surreal absurdity can hardly have escaped notice. Now that he has been convicted in a court of law, it is possible to comment without prejudicing his case, but whether it is worth doing so is a moot point. I had long since ceased to edit his books.
We might say that it was a story of cyber feedback that started with the organisation’s tapping into the huge reservoir of readers waiting for a Muslim author to tackle scientific subjects, particularly Darwinian evolution. It did not seem to matter that the books were manufactured rather than written, importing wholesale and uncritically the ideas of Christian Creationists among others. Those writings generated a great deal of attention, drew in a lot of people, and, fairly obviously, substantial sums of money. And all of that led to something that no one foresaw or could even have imagined.
Much as the crimes Harun Yahya has been convicted of are reprehensible, worse than them is that he committed them blazoning them across the media as if not only was he not ashamed of them, but rather proud of them, and that he regarded them as somehow part of his Deen. That is a more serious issue than his behaviour, appalling as it was.
An Open Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury
“I would like very much to see a dialogue developing with Islam about this question of what a just, a reasonable rate of interest might look like in the light of a religious ethic but this is work, reflection, very much in its infancy to put it mildly.”1
Dear Dr Williams,
We write to you from the city of Norwich in response to your desire to see a dialogue developing with Islam about the question of interest rates. However, before focusing our attention on the treacherous subject of usury, our position on which you might understand from previous communications2, we must first draw your attention to certain matters pertaining to the nature and purpose of dialogue itself.
—-
1 Archbishop of Canterbury: Greed has caused global financial crisis, By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent, 15 Oct 2008
2 Crisis! What Crisis?