U.S. Government Embraces Islamic Banking
On November 6, 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department hosted a seminar on Islamic banking to train government employees on Sharia-compliant finance (SCF). According to a press release, it was “designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry.”
It is interesting to note that while many in the West deride parallel societies, the lack of integration, and overall “foreign-ness” of its Muslim populations, they have no problem embracing Islamic banking. Maybe because this is the one area of religious “encroachment” that allows the West to make money, and lots of it.
The U.S. is behind European nations like the UK and France, which are actively promoting Islamic banking.
The UK already offers:
- Sharia-compliant car insurance;
- Sharia-compliant credit cards;
- Sharia-compliant mortgages.
Banking oversight in the UK is handled by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), a non-governmental body whose members are appointed by the Treasury. The FSA does not regulate the Sharia compliance of Islamic financial products, deferring instead to the Sharia supervisory board (SSB) of the financial institutions it has approved. Such religious deference, especially when the U.S. is still engaged in a “war against terror,” is a serious concern to critics of SCF.
One critic, the Coalition to Stop Sharia, hosted a press conference on the same day to reiterate its concerns, which were previously presented to various financial heads, but were ignored. The Coalition joins various organizations that do not want SCF practiced in the United States because of its potential connections to Islamism, the enemy in our “war on terror,” and the liability that would attach to practitioners of SCF who do not understand the potential seditious nature of their involvement.
Speakers included: Robert Spencer, author of Stealth Jihad; Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy; Dan Pollak for Morton Klein, Zionist Organization of America; Andrea Lafferty, Traditional Values Coalition; among others.
I like the article, but part of your criticism is deceptive in that you raise an alarm about the government deferring regulation to a non-government authority, when is fairly common practice for the government to defer to private authority boards. Our movies are regulated by the Motion Picture Association of America, with similar boards governing the rating systems for other forms of entertainment. Universities are accredited by non-governmental agencies. Moody’s, Standard & Poor, and other agencies rate our debt instruments, and so on.
And I don’t think religiosity in itself in traditionally ‘secular’ enterprises is all that confusing from a legal standpoint. Our courts have a lot of experience handling Establishment Clause and Wall of Separation cases over time, and it is fairly well understood, in American Conservative circles, anyway, that an Order of Precedence exists with the Constitution as the highest law in the land, and we have an idea of where precedence ranks, and common law, state law, federal law, and so on. From there we have a framework for recognizing religious liberty without yielding to what some have come to know as Dominionism.
None of this is to deny the gathering trend of creeping sharia- I’m worried about the emergence of an Islamic arbitration system spreading in influence- but I’m not convinced Islamic banking can ethically be opposed any more than Christian bookstores.
Obama would rather go to the gym than church. He doesn’t want to risk offending the Muslims.
It was easier for the Greeks when Xerxes, son of Darius, the Great King of Persia, invaded Greece to punish the Athenians for earlier misdeeds. The Greeks knew the invasion was afoot, and so prepared.
http://www.saraforamerica.com
America, meet your new, soon to be masters. You’ve allowed your government and monied interests to transfer many trillons of dollars, to your enemies and _friends_ around the world. This wasn’t reciprocal, those dollars, representing your wealth, are now theirs.
You’ve allowed those same dollars to return and influence your government, institutions, news services and corporations, to increase the outpouring of wealth. Those foreign dollars now own large, often controlling shares of said organizations. What used to be your institutions, now make decisions in the best interests of their new owners, not we the peoples.
The new owners refused to allow USA to use its own oil or keep its own manufacturing, prefering to move these essential and profitable items to their homelands. This was done under hundreds of different disguises and proxies agents.
The outpouring of wealth is so vast that now foreigners subltely fund the President and congressional campaigns and there isn’t anything that can be done about it. As a matter of fact there isn’t even hardly a word of honest journalism regarding it; new owners hired new editors and journalists.
Now the US Treasury vault, has been thrown open to protect the financial losses in foreigner capital invested in USA. Of course there is plenty of plunder for all of those who’ve been aiding and abetting the tranfer of wealth.
Now, since a large portion of the new owners are Muslims, they will bring Sharia law, whether anyone US citizen likes it or not.
Can anyone say duh…
Kick the bums out.
“but I’m not convinced Islamic banking can ethically be opposed any more than Christian bookstores.”
Comparing a religious bookstore to banking regulations and financial instruments is silly.
Other world banking has far more detrimental legal and business ramifications than a religious bookstore ever will.
But I think this poster is missing the bigger point of aggressive islamization in much of the Western world.
All one has to do is look at the horrendous trouble cities like Brussels, London , Paris, etc., have with their sizable – and frequently violent – Muslim populations. Populations which refuse to integrate into European culture, demanding a separate, but equal standing with their own banks, courts, schools and customs that the Muslims then demand the host country to accommodate & conform.
Google ‘muslims sue’ and see the enormous legal effort Muslims already exert against Western laws, custom and culture.
The article hits a home run with the issue of national security.
Our efforts in the GWT are thwarted enough already with trying to close off nefarious Muslim ‘charity’ organization in the U.S. which funnel funds to terrorists.
We don’t need to be condoning & facilitating dubious banking institution on our own soil which would very likely engage in much of that same activity.
Sharia law must be stopped at every slippery slope turn, every time it raises its ugly head.
Somehow, Islamic banking must be snuffed out before it gets traction in the US. Unfortunately the US just elected the stealth Muslim President.
This is ridiculous. For centuries, Jewish law has regulated financial dealings between Jews. We attempt to deal through religious courts rather than using civil courts. It doesn’t hurt anyone. We have agreed among ourselves to follow a slightly different set of standards. If a civil court intervenes, we have to follow the civil court. Jewish prenuptial agreements have been upheld by civil courts. (The standard prenuptial is much more supportive of women’s financial concerns than American courts.)
An American company which does business in any other country operates under a different legal system. Companies which operated in South Africa, had to find a way around American civil rights legislation. American concerns dealing in Saudi Arabia deal with these issues every day.
There are many countries around the world where American companies operate and bribery is a way of life. It gets dealt with.
As long as companies under American jurisdiction are following American law, we have no beef. If laws are being broken, then someone should blow the whistle. Until then, I have other things to worry about.
The U.S. is behind European nations like the UK and France, which are actively promoting Islamic banking.
yeah, “Societé Générale, BNP Paris-bas, Crédit Agricole, Banque Populaire, CIC”… are promoting islamic banking !!! what a BS, I thought that, so far, (at least it’s what was usually told in the good ol american MSM), that our muslims were only sucking our wealthfares, and not providing “money” !!!
our banks are mainly alimented by our population and industry savings and or state participation
how could a pigs breeder share his bank accounts with muslims ?
We all know that the city bankers of London don’t breed pigs but international money, seems also that Ben Laden has his traders there …
Business as usual.
It’s all IMF and FRC douche bags that do nothing but restrict ACTUAL capitalism at every turn in favor of Mercantilist and Socialist doctrines and ‘committees;’ also called ‘Soviets,’ by the Russians when they were doing things like the NEC.
Capitalism is an organic process; and it cannot be limited to the whims of a few ‘respected’ men at large tables. It must take place between traders that respect one another; and cannot function under any supposed ‘humanitarian’ interest; as that itself is a whim of mass-minded simpletons.
We must be AGGRESSIVE with these people, and let them know that their positions are AFFORDED to them by the IGNORANCE of a broad group of MORONS amongst the regular folk.
The best way? To show them that we will NOT be taxed without CONSENT: http://mediacondom.com/?p=263
Not one slimy tentacle of barbaric sharia law should be allowed to get a foothold in America.
Wow, it’s great to see Daniel Pipes and his staff spending time attacking free trade and capitalism. Richard Pipes will be impressed.
What’s the big deal if we have financial products that comply with religious law? Woops, I forgot. You have to belong to the right religion.
They must pay Sapna Zaidi well to put up with this kind of environment. Either that, or she has no respect for her heritage.
What a load of tosh. People who criticise viable services and products based on their origins may be why the world is in the s**ts in the first place.
We need more level-headedness, not scaremongering.