(Editor’s Note: IA has visited the subject of Sharia law several times…See below for earlier posts on the topic. The accepted spelling is Sharia or Shariah.)
~~By American Lassie
The first thing I’d like to state before I get into the meat of this article is the fact I hold the opinion that most Muslims are just like you and me, only believing in a different religion. Their everyday lives are much the same as ours. It is the fanatical Hanbali form of Islam that is so autocratic and dangerous and considered authoritative in Saudi Arabia and other areas around the Persian Gulf.
During the Bush Administration, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmett’s visit to Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Persian Gulf states was with the purpose of recycling of petro dollars in the form of foreign investment in the United States to alleviate the financial crisis. I’m sure Mr. Kimmett was told by the Saudis and others that in order to obtain their money, the banks would have to abide by Sharia Finance Law. Whatever went on in his meetings with the Persian Gulf States, he came back to America and co-sponsored the Harvard University Law School’s Project on Islamic Finance. The host of a seminar held at the Treasury Building was Neel Kashkari, Interim Secretary of The Treasury for Financial Stability and also administrator of the first of the TARP money while George Bush was President. Kashkari was Henry Paulson’s top assistant. Unfortunately Shariah-Compliant Finance seems to be the current party line in The Treasury Department. (See: http://www.thebobofiles.com?p=632)
I’ll come back to this seminar later, but first I would like to present a little more background. This seminar is very important so please stay with me until the end of this article.
The United Kingdom is in deep trouble with all the concessions they have made to Sharia Finance and Sharia Law. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has caused a lot of turmoil in England with his pronouncements in favor of Shariah Law. Her Majesty’s government has allowed the establishment of at least five Shariah Courts to hear (initially) family law cases. Polygamists in the UK can get welfare for each of their wives as long as all marriages beyond the first were performed overseas), Sharia promoting Islamists are seeking to achieve “parallel societies” here and elsewhere in the West. Islamists secure footholds over other Muslims through “parallel societies” and then to non-Muslims. This is an insidious industry meant to foist Islam on the policy community, the markets and western countries.
The differing views of Archbishop Williams and the Bishop of Rochester, England, Michael Nazri-Ali, are causing a rift in the Church of England. The debate over the path of the western sociopolitical system is the most pivotal in today’s world. This is more and more evident in the crack it is causing in the Church of England.
Multiculturalism and universalism are fundamentally opposed beliefs. The level of danger to Britain, Europe, and the entire West created by homegrown Islamists will be determined by which system prevails.
An op-ed by Dr. Nazir-Ali (January 11, 2008) discusses why he believes that “Britain’s campaign to reconstruct itself as a multicultural society has failed.” (See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1574695/Extremism-flourished-as-UK-lost-Christianity.html)
Dr. Nazir-Ali has resigned his post to devote his time to working in communities where Christians are a minority. He said he was inspired by the story of Hanna Shah, an imam’s daughter who faced being killed by her family for refusing an arranged marriage before she became a Christian.
Radical Muslims have became more militant as Britain has increasingly accomodated the strictures of Islam’s law:
“The death threats that followed Nazir-Ali’s essay only bolstered his thesis. ‘The irony is that I had similar threats when I was a Bishop in Pakistan”, he noted, “but I never thought I would have them here.'”
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested that official acceptance of some facets of Sharia not only “seems unavoidable” but could actually improve social cohesion. To Williams the idea that “there’s one law for everybody and that’s all there is to be said, and anything else is completely irrelevant in the process of the courts – I think that’s a bit of a danger.”
(See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm)
Michael Nazir-Ali witnessed the realities of Sharia Law as a man in Pakistan. He came to Britain to escape this for himself and his family and now finds himself in the same situation in Britain. And the cultural split becomes more prevalent as native Britons see more and more acquiescence to Islamic Law. There will be more strife. It will be battling enclaves with more and more social unrest.
Discussion about Sharia Law
From the Middle East Forum: David J. Rusin, a research associate at Islamist Watch and a Philadelphia-based editor for Pajamas Media, writes:
“Historians may one day look back on these two prelates and the church they serve —- a body faced with plummeting attendance and approaching disestablishment — as a symbol of the early twenty-first -century discourse over the future of the West. For now, Michael Nazir-Ali and Rowan Williams illuminate the diverging paths before us: one paved with an ardent defense of Western Liberties, the other with a nihilism that leads inexorably to dhimmitude. (See: http://www.meforum.org/1890/a-schism-over-sharia-in-the-church-of-england)
Melanie Phillips in the Spectator newspaper offered this statement in her rebuttal to Williams’ comments. (See: http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/492106/the-archbishops-speech.thtml)
“One law for all is the very basis of legal and social justice and is the glue that binds a society together.”
DO WE WANT THIS FOR AMERICA? Our Treasury Department is inviting just this scenario because of the greed of our officials. In the wake of all the brouhaha about the banks–the Wall Street crisis, the enormous bailouts, The Federal Reserve’s suspect bailouts of AIG–one thing troubling me is the lack of publicity on our government’s support of Islamic financing. Is it being done under cover of all this other money boondoggle so that the American people don’t know what is going on?
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“JIHAD WITH MONEY”
“While America struggles with the sub-prime and credit market crisis, Sharia-Compliant Finance, is quickly infiltrating our financial markets – and bringing Islamic Shariah Law with it. As one leading Islamic authority on Shariah-Compliant Finance has stated, “it is jihad with money.” In a new ACT! for America video, Joy Brighton, ACT! for America’s financial expert on Shariah Compliant Finance warns America of this chilling threat.” (See: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023435.php)
Sharia means “path” or “path to water.” It means God’s Law that will provide salvation if followed. The Quran, Islam’s holy book is considered the literal word of God. Unfortunately, the Quran is interpreted in different ways by different teachers.
Sharia governs all aspects of life, not just financial. It governs men and women’s relations, education and inheritances. Some Islamic nations temper the application of Sharia in criminal law, but Iran and Saudia Arabia are exceptions. They fully implement Sharia in all areas of the law.
(See: www.cfr.org/publication/8034)
***
FROM: Shariah, Law and ‘Financial Jihad’: How Should America Respond?
Analysis and Findings of a Workshop Co-sponsored by: The McCormick Foundation and The Center for Security Policy
(See: http://www.rrmtf.org/publications/JihadReport.pdf)
The primary purpose of Shariah is to promote Islam as the only legitimate theo-political system and to accomplish it’s dominance, through violent jihad if necessary, worldwide. (This is what is meant by the “Islamist” agenda.) Shariah rules govern all aspects of life but are most notorious for the mandate they provide for–toning of adulteresses, execution of homosexuals, amputations for petty crimes, beheading of Muslim Apostates, institutionalized misogyny and myriad other violations of western values and international norms. For example, a popular poster from the Islamic region of Nigeria, shows the dire punishments of Shariah in a country torn in two by conflicts over new Shariah Courts. In the top row, a woman is shown riding a bike with a man, and next is shown her punishment: being stoned to death. (Page 7)
SNIP
The Law of Shariah is the source of the command for faithful Muslims to practice jihads. For peaceable Muslims the term is usually interpreted to mean a personal, introspective “struggle” against Muslims own sins or temptations. The authoritative rendering of Islamic jihad, however is a ‘just’ war against non-Muslims and Muslims who have gone astray. “Shariah-adherent Muslims must engage in jihad to bring about the global Islamic state under a caliph who governs pusuant to Shariah. (Page 10)
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Islamic Finance and the U.S. Treasury Department
The United States Treasury Department is opening the back door to Sharia Law in this country by wooing the money of the Muslim States. This wooing of Sharia began in the Bush Administration. In addition to the Nov 6, 2008 seminar at the Treasury Dept. there was an earlier seminar on April 26, 2002. Following are the introductory remarks by John B. Taylor, undersecretary for International Affairs at the Islamic Finance 101 seminar at the Treasury Department (www.treas.gov/press/releases/po3068.htm).
“Welcome to Islamic Finance 101. As the Undersecretary of Treasury I want to thank you for joining us at this seminar on the fundamentals of Islamic Finance….We are very grateful that this diverse panel is here today to share their knowledge with us. They have joined us from great distances – traveling from Bahrain, Houston, Boston, and New York to share their expertise with us”
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Treasury’s Office of International Affairs implements the U.S. Government’s international and finance and economic development polcies and develops U.S. policy toward the World Bank and IMF. We have had a growing interest (sic) Islamic finance because of its rapid growth and significant presence in many partners of the United States such as Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Pakistan.”
***
“Today’s seminar was inspired by a round table that Secretary O’Neill attended last month in Bahrain. At the roundtable hosted by Citibank Bahrain’s Islamic Investment Bank”—
***
“The Secretary wanted to make sure that we hosted a similar event in the United States to “demystify” Islamic Banking for our colleagues in Washington who may not have exposure to this topic.”
Then on Nov 6, 2008 there was another seminar at the Treasury Deparment. This was the first time I learned that this was planned by the Bush Administration. It had to be with the knowledge of the man who had just been elected to replace George Bush.
ISLAMIC FINANCE 101, Nov. 6, 2008.
Welcome by Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary and custodian of the first TARP money.
PURPOSE: “This forum is designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic Financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry.
The Department of the Treasury, working with Harvard University’s Islamic Finance Project, will host speakers from academia and industry to share information on the development of Islamic Finance, both in the U.S. and globally. The primary audience of this seminar is comprised of staff from U.S. Banking regulatory agencies, Congress, Department of Treasury and other parts of the Executive Branch. For some in attendance this may be their first and only opportunity to learn formally about Islamic Finance. We expect about 100 people in the audience. The presentations will be short and focused, and directed toward policy makers rather than academics.
MORE
(See: www.saneworks.us/uploads/news/applications/7.pdf)
Representative Peter King, R-NY reacted, warning that “There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully.”
While our Treasury Department is courting these people, they are teaching insurrection on our very soil. Their mosques and schools and Islamic Centers across the country are inciting insurrection by Saudi trained imams.
THE RISKS OF ISLAMIC FINANCE:
“Of particular concern is the progress being made to establish Shariah-Compliant Finance (SCF) within Western, and most recently, U.S. banks and other institutions that trade securities. Islamic finance’s leading Shariah authorities have made plain that they consider SCF to be “jihad with money”, “financial jihad” and a means of promoting their objective of destroying the West’s economic system and replacing it with an Islamic one.
“Incredibly, in recent days, the Treasury Department has begun embracing Shariah-Compliant Finance. Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmett has professed an interest in “studying the salient features of Islamic Banking to ascertain how far it could be useful in fighting the ongoing world economic crises”. According to a press report out of Saudi Arabia he has declared that “experts in the Treasury Department are currently learning the important features of Islamic Banking.” (See: www.USAStopSharia.org)
STRINGS ATTACHED TO HANBALI MONEY:
Robert Kimmett and his crew in the Treasury Department had better be sure they read the fine print. When you accept Shariah money, you must accept Shariah Law with it. These greedy officials at Treasury can’t see beyond their noses. Their stupidity is going to land us in the same soup pot as the United Kingdom is in if we don’t manage to stop them.
At least Peter King, R-NY sees the danger in what is happening here. Maybe if enough of us contact him he will raise a ruckus in Congress. It’s worth a try.
***
Hanbali Islam (From Overview of World Religions from the University of Cumbria)–
“Today the school is officially recognised as authoritative in Saudi Arabia and areas within the Persian Gulf.”
Related Posts:
The Scanner–Politics March 18, 2009: (Taitz-Supreme Court; Sharia Law in Minnesota re: Home Mortgages; Stimulus Money Wanders from the States; Privatizing Vets’ Healthcare)
The SCANNER-Politics 11/7/08: Newsweek Editors on Charlie Rose in the SCARIEST Description of Obama So Far…(Video/Partially Transcripted); Sharia Hits the Treasury Department/HARVARD Alert!; Hill the Shill (UPDATE 1X)
While Hillary and Sarah Get Trashed in the U.S., Muslim Women in Britain Get Sharia Law
Obama-Odinga:50-50 Split Demands Sound SOOOO FAMILIAR…(UPDATE 1X–Author of “The Obama Nation” Detained in Kenya; UPDATE 2X–Corsi Released, Odinga Official Website)
Filed under: Current Politics | Tagged: ACT!, AIG, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Bahrain, bailouts, Bishop of Rochester England Michael Nazri-Ali, Church of England, Citibank Bahrrain's Islamic Investment Bank, David J. Rusin, Egypt, Hanbali Islam, Harvard University Project on Islamic Finance, Henry Paulson, imams, IMF (International Monetary Fund), Indonesia, Islamic banking, Islamic Finance 101, Islamist parallel societies, Islamist Watch, Islamists, John B. Taylor Bush Administration Undersecretary for International Affairs, Joy Brighton, Kuwait, Malaysia, Melanie Phillips, Middle East Forum, multiculturalism, Neel Kashkari, Pajamas Media, Pakistan, Persian Gulf, radical Islam, Rep. Peter King R-NY, Saudi Arabia, Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability, Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, Sharia Courts, Sharia courts in the UK, Sharia Finance Law, TARP, The Federal Reserve, The Koran, The McCormick Foundation and the Center for Security Policy, The Quran, The Spectator, U.S. Treasury Department, universalism, Wall Street crisis, World Bank |
InsightAnalytical -- Watching Our World 
sharia finance has become alternative options:
http://iipalbanjary.net/global-crisis-islamic-finance-and-life-insurance/
When you state that with Sharia there is no interest, you fail to note that there are other fees attached and a compulsory donation of a percentage of the transaction.There is also a guaranteed profit for the bank or investment entity involved.
Tit for tat. And with conventional money transactions you are not bound by Sharia-Compliant Finance Law.
I have no trouble believing that the leadership of this country would accept Sharia Law because they will do anything, accept anything that allows them to stay in power. A patriarchal power that showed it’s face quite plainly during both the primary and general elections of last year.
It is shown in the fact that we support, indeed prop up the government of Karzai who just signed into law sharia law that denigrates, humiliates and enslaves, just as with the Taliban, the women of his country. And our government, our State Department, our Secretary of State are enraged, right? More like, yawning or diplomatically quiet. As usualthe “concerns” about women’s rights must be put aside for the greater good.
Great work lassie. But I fear we are just Cassandra crying out to fools who will not listen until the Greeks are inside the gates.
Lassie,
Great article! Thanks for all the research – this was a monumental undertaking and presented in a tasteful manner that should not offend anyone except radical Islamists. That being said, I will limit my comments somewhat since this is GRLs blog.
I believe Sharia, while a dangerous threat to all that is America, is merely a parasite living off the backside of TPTB. Those powers couldn’t care less about Sharia because they are so cock-sure that their manipulations will rule the day (and the planet). They may even eventually use it as a means to their own twisted end. It provides a lovely scapegoat for all their machinations, yet still gets us to the place they intend us to be.
There is, however, no such thing as a “moderate Taliban” (as Obowma is so fond of saying) or a moderate Muslim. There are only violent/radical Muslims and silent ones. This is no different than when the so-called Moral Majority professed to speak for all Americans with their misguided agenda several years ago. Until other Christians started to raise their voices in protest and condemnation of this group, they threatened to take over this country because they knew most of us would sit idly by, mentally disdaining their actions and words but physically too afraid to offer words of opposition. Islam is currently at the same crossroads.
Sharia Law is, quite simply put, illegal in the Unites States of America. It opposes the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence completely. It’s very fiber screams out against the most basic of American values:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
If there are Muslims out there that value their right to live in this Republic and wish to remain here, you can no longer be the Silent Majority. Now is the time to speak, to act, and to stop these parasites from destroying the last bastion of freedom in the world in your name. Be silent no more; stand with the rest of America tomorrow. Join a Tax Day Tea Party and use the opportunity to decry the hijacking of your spirituality by violent madmen! There is no longer the luxury of protesting only in your living room.
Grail, Sharia law is in direct opposition to our Constitution but that will not stop certain individuals from endorsing it here if it means the petro dollars come along with it.
There are already many banks in the U.S. already using Islamic-Compliant financing. Two in particular:
The University Bank in Ann Arbor Michigan and the Devon Bank in Chicago, of all places.
The Loundy family of Chicago owns the Devon Bank, and they have expended to other cities recently. They are known as the primary lender of Islamic finance.
David Loundy was an honored speaker at the “Islamic Finance 101” seminar at the Treasury Building on Nov. 6, 2008. His topic was “U.S. Market for Islamic Financial Services”.
Another interesting note- Neel Kashkari the host of the seminar and at the time Deputy Treasury Secretary, and Overseer of the TARP program, – prior to coming to Treasury and being made assistant to Henry Paulson, was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs, in SAn Francisco. Small world, isn’t it?
Waves to GG- points very well stated.
Lassie, terrific post, well researched and scary as heck. I have a daughter and a son, who are in their early twenties. They went to a High School for the performing arts, and are working their way through University/college, while maintaining jobs and in the son’s case, a very active performing schedule – in Heavy Metal. Not my taste, but he is good. I don’t want them to have to face what the folks in Britain are facing, stealth infiltration, censorship, enclaves etc. I’m all for religious freedom, but that goes only as long as the state is secular – no intertwining of state and religion. With the infilitration of religion into the financial sector, can the government be far behind? Geez, this is beyond the pale. It’s bad enough to have honor killings in North America, but Sharia Law? We already have a separation of law between the rich and poor, now we’re looking at an additional separation between the religious and non. What next?
And what about all the people who emigrated here to escape this sheite?
Thank the goddess that I’m getting to senior status – I won’t have long to watch as our world is plunged back into the second great dark ages, and if those wealthy global corporatist a$$%holes think that they will somehow be exempt, they are not only venal and greedy, but bleeding stupid.
*waving back*
Not on my watch! I refuse to sit idly by an watch these bastages destroy what so many brave men and women have died to protect. They may take me out, but they will never have my consent!
Grail, now that the United Nations has passed a resolution that Islam is not to be criticized , I wonder how our Ambassador to the United Nations will reply.? The U.S. didn’t vote on the resolution because we are not a member of the Human Rights council, but the Muslim and African nations passed the resolution with a simple majority vote. The European nations all voted against it, but didn’t prevail.
I didn’t hear diddly squat out of the United States Ambassador, Susan Rice. As far as I’m concerned one religion (Islam) should not be singled out for preference. Christianity and Judaism are maligned every day and I don’t see any resolutions passed against that.
It’s time that the U.N. was sent packing to other shores, IMO. We are giving our enemies a bully pulpit from which to throw mud in our face, and this they do every chance that they get.
Sharia Law is unconstitutional.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/023435.php
I know this is OT, but I simply must post this at my home site:
I just got off the phone with the local office of my representative. Her name is Jan Schakowsky and I just read a small (because I’m not an anarchist and because I’m polite) riot act to the person in the office.
I have read the congresswoman’s statement on the “Tax Day Tea Parties” and her calling them a Right wing Republican stunt. I gave my name and address and reminded the young person answering the phones that the Congresswoman started her political career in Ilinois by literally chasing Dan Rostenkowski down the streets in his town, as a consumer advocate for older adults – I believe addressing insurance and cost of living issues – and laying the blame for the problems on the Congress.
I said I’d been a Democrat for over 50 years and that I was no Republican. That I was tired of increasing taxes in Illinois (currently Chicago has the highest sales tax of any major city in the nation). That property taxes are increasing, Illinois is facing increasing income tax, that county taxes have increased and the services and benefits are being cut in my town and throughout Cook County. I also “mentioned” that I resented bailing out “banks that are too big to fail” while my social security benefits will be cut, my pension will be cut and I’ve lost half of my 401K so that AIG and Goldman Sachs can continue to rape the economy.
I said that to call this protest a sham is appalling and shameful. I also said that this is not a party issue. It is a people issue. And that I intended to remember this when Jan is up for re-election.
(I originally posted this at uppity woman – about 12 seconds ago.)