SunniPath Blog – » Why Money Matters Event Recording Posted
Faraz Rabbani at the SunniPath Academy

The recording for last Saturday’s live event, Why Money Matters, is now available.

You can watch the recording here. You can also download the slides from the event here.

Muslims have pent-up demand for financial services – InvestmentNews

Muslims in the United States number anywhere from 7 million to 10 million, and many are professionals, according to studies.

Yet for the majority, there are almost no outlets for their financing and in-vestment needs.

The reason is that Islamic law, or Shariah, doesn’t allow the charging or paying of interest, or investment in any industry involved in forbidden areas such as gambling, pornography, alcohol, tobacco or defense.

U.S. institutions have been slow to create an environment for developing Shariah-compliant instruments, due to a lack of legal and regulatory precedents, and a general lack of awareness, but not a lack of demand, observers said.

The pent-up demand is huge, said Akram Sheikh, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Anchor Finance Group in Hauppauge, N.Y., a Shariah-compliant business- and financial-consulting firm.

Shari`ah Supervision of Islamic Mutual Funds – Sh. Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo

Islamic mutual funds presently represent one of the fastest growing sectors within the Islamic financial industry. As Shari`ah supervision is an integral part of the industry, its place in relation to Islamic mutual funds is certainly no less important. My intention in this paper is to discuss in a general way the variety of functions performed by Shari`ah supervision and their importance. In doing so, I will make observations about the industry and suggestions for a better future.

globeandmail.com: Let’s not write off sharia banking

When we learn that Muslim Canadians want to start a sharia bank (a financial institution governed by Islamic religious law), our immediate reaction does not have to be that it’s one more assault on the Canadian way of life. Nor must we write it off as unpractical because Islam’s social ethic forbids charging interest on loans.

Let’s remember that chartered banks are already not the only options we have for financing ourselves. There can be room for one more. As well, let’s note that a ban on interest was imposed for centuries in Europe by both church and state. That ban is even as old as the Old Testament, which forbids Israelites from charging other Israelites interest.

So, this alternative way of financing one another has a long and diverse pedigree.

Subtle philosophical arguments against interest were advanced long ago by some of the West’s most respected thinkers, such as Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. Medieval popes and church councils inveighed against it for more than 1,000 years. Penalties were often imposed against usurers, as all financiers were labelled if they charged interest. The idea may come as a shock to us in an age when paying interest is as much part of everyday life as borrowing money is. But if it’s new to most of us, it’s not new to history… [Read on]

reportonbusiness.com: Sharia-bank bids trigger concerns

Ottawa has received its first applications to start up Canadian banks operating within the strictures of Islamic religious law – financial institutions that, if approved, would be among the first in the West.

Canada’s bank regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, is studying two proposals for banks that offer services in keeping with Islamic laws that forbid speculation and interest but are in favour of transactions where profit and loss is shared.

The applications came to light in government documents obtained by The Globe and Mail under access to information laws, files that show Ottawa believes there are four other possible applicants keen to start banks operating under Islamic religious law, or sharia.

While some banks in the West offer sharia-compliant products, few aside from the Islamic Bank of Britain are standalone institutions set up expressly for this purpose.

The applications have triggered a slew of concerns among regulators,
documents show, including whether these institutions could be reliably
audited, governed by directors or monitored. “Are the deposits
insurable?” one OSFI paper asks, suggesting the banks may have higher
liquidity risks and suffer from a “lack of knowledgeable external
auditors.”

The applications are taking Canadian regulators into largely
uncharted territory as they puzzle over what sort of regulatory
treatment would apply.

Regulators say the challenge is trying to discern exactly what types
of financial transactions are being proposed and whether they could
conceivably fit what’s allowed under the Bank Act.

Islamic banks apply to set up shop in Canada | Breaking City News | Reuters.co.uk

Canada’s banking regulator said on Monday it has received two applications from groups wanting to set up the first Islamic banks in the country, a small but growing industry in Western nations.

“In terms of formal applications, this would be the first two,” said Normand Bergevin, managing director of approvals and precedents at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).

Islamic finance complies with the religion’s ban on charging interest — a key facet of traditional banking — and on investing in products associated with alcohol and gambling.

Mufti Taqi Usmani – Lecture and Q & A on Riba

Mufti Taqi Usmani – Lecture and Q & A on Riba

First Bank To Operate On Basis Of Islamic Law Opens In Syria – Middle East News

Syria on Monday opened its first Islamic bank – one that operates exclusively on the basis of Shariah, or Islamic law – with a starting capital of 5 billion Syrian pounds ($100 million).

The opening of the Kuwaiti-owned Cham Islamic Bank in Damascus was attended by Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed al-Hussein and Adib Mayaleh, governor of the Central Bank.

Adnan Mosallem, head of the Cham Islamic Bank’s administrative council, said the bank would start business by offering various financial services in accord with Islamic law.

SunniPath Blog – » Meet SunniPath at ISNA!

Before ISNA:

How to Benefit the Most from ISNA
A Pre-ISNA Online Lecture with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Wednesday, August 29th at 6:30pm PST / 9:30pm EST
Attend through the SunniPath Homepage

At ISNA:

Fall Semester registration launches at ISNA.
Visit us at Booth #522.

At ISNA’s MSA Conference:

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani:

Parallel Session 3a – Creating & Sustaining North American Muslim
Scholarship
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Saturday, September 1st
Rosemont A

Main Session 4 – Eliminating Ethnocentrism: Creating Connections
9:00am – 10:30am
Sunday, September 2nd
Hyatt Grand Ballroom

Parallel Session 4a – Islamic Leadership: Avoiding Arrogance
11:00am – 12:00pm
Sunday, September 2nd
Rosemont A

Ustadha Noura Shamma:

Parallel Session 3c – The Soul & The Student Struggle
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Saturday, September 1st
Rosemont C

Parallel Session 5a – Serenity in Every Struggle
4:15pm – 5:15pm
Sunday, September 2nd
Rosemont A