Shariah Advancing In The West, Especially In Finance

From Creeping Sharia:

Sharia Advancing in the West


Posted on October 22, 2010 by creeping

Islamic banking, working through global banks, is doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: giving legitimacy to Sharia law and infiltrating it into the fabric of Western society.



Sharia Advancing in the West Like a Snake in the Sleeve by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury



While most people are still ignorant of the tremendous growth of Sharia Banking in the West, a recent report by International Financial Services London reveals that Britain’s Islamic banking sector is now bigger than that of Pakistan.



What is important to grasp is that Islam recognises no authority superior to Sharia law. When trillions of pounds and dollars are locked into them, Sharia banks will not recognize the superior authority of the law of the land.



One thing possibly many of the Westerners are yet to realize is, by simply opening an account with any of the Sharia compliance banks, they in other words are giving endorsement to — and enabling — the advance of Sharia law, which endorses, among other tenets, stoning for adultery; hanging for homosexuality, and an offically inferior status for non-believers and women.



Equally troubling is the potential cover provided by Sharia finance for the financing of terrorism. Sharia requires Muslims to tithe a percentage of their money to charity, called “Zakat.” But charity in Islam is more like a solidarity, so some of this money donated to Islamic charities finds its way to organizations promoting jihad and supporting suicide bombing, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, and Islamist madrassas in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Egypt, among others.

The UK now has five fully “Sharia-compliant” banks which prohibit interest payments, and investment in alcohol or gambling firms in accordance with Islamic Sharia law – while another 17 leading institutions, including Barclays, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, have set up special branches or subsidiary firms for Muslim clients.



The $18 billion [£12bn] in assets of Britain’s Islamic banks are said to dwarf those of Muslim states such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey and Egypt. There are also 55 colleges and professional institutions offering education in Islamic finance in Britain – more than anywhere else worldwide. Whether they know it or not, Western institutions that endorses Sharia-compliant banking therefore effectively endorse the extremist ideology behind it of conquering the West for Islam.



There are thought to be about 1.8 million Muslims in the United Kingdom, or 3% of the population, half in the London area; about half a million regular Muslim visitors to the UK, and approximately 12 million Muslims living in the EU, principally in France and Germany. Islamic financial products are available in the UK from a number of High Street banks, which offer current accounts and mortgages tailored for Muslims.



The UK is home to the first wholly Sharia compliant retail bank in the West, Islamic Bank of Britain, which was authorized by the Financial Service Authority [FSA] in 2004. The FSA has also authorized the European Islamic Investment Bank, the first such investment bank. In addition, London has become an important financial center with major international firms and the Middle East’s biggest traditional banks offering Islamic products. The main centers for Islamic banking still tend to be concentrated in the Middle East and Gulf region. Assets controlled by Islamic banks at the global level are estimated to be $200-500bn and are growing at a pace of 10-15% per year.



Islamic Sharia banking has been entering the United States and other Western nations, thanks to global banks such as Citigroup, HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. Why do Western banks seek to participate in Sharia banking? It gives them a chance to enter the Islamic banking industry which has over $1.5 trillion available today and is growing at a steady and explosive rate of over 10-15% per year. The implications for the West, and especially for the United States, are staggeringly destructive. Islamic banking, working through global banks, is doing for Islam what it could never do on its own: giving legitimacy to Sharia law and infiltrating it into the fabric of Western society. To insure compliance and to become “Sharia banking” compliant, banks must hire Sharia experts to review and approve each product and practice of the bank, to make sure that whatever transactions occur there are “Halal,” or in compliance with Sharia law. As there is a shortage of such Sharia experts, there is competition among banks to find such experts to sit on their boards of directors