Download Part 2. What are the problems?

Debate
Impact of cultural & sociological parameters on business efficiency and on the
choice of foreign markets & partners
Moderator: Mr. P.J. Riedo
Expert: Mr Sami Aldeeb
www.sami-aldeeb.com
Introduction
Please notice the following things:
1)
2) An intellectual or researcher must be as a sentinel and see farer than others.
Otherwise he is useless.
3) He must surprise and irritate his audience; otherwise he is just repeating what others
already said.
4) He must say the truth
In vino veritas is a Latin phrase that means "in wine, truth", suggesting a person under
the influence of alcohol is more likely to speak their hidden thoughts and desires.
The Roman historian Tacitus (c. AD 56 – c. AD 120) described how the Germanic
peoples kept council at feasts, where they believed that drunkenness prevented the
participants from dissembling.
Capital is coward
Capital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and
unpredictability. It shuns ignorance, disease and illiteracy. Capital goes where it is
welcomed and where investors can be confident of a return on the resources they have
put at risk. It goes to countries where women can work, children can read, and
entrepreneurs can dream (As quoted by Ambassador Cameron R. Hume in a speech
on U.S. Government Initiatives in South Africa at the American Chamber of
Commerce, Johannesburg, South Africa,18 September 2002).
Why Switzerland is prosperous?
First of all peace. Internal peace and external peace
The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych
Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate (Mark Reust) and population of
Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich
and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Seven cantons
remained Roman Catholic, though, which led to inter-cantonal wars known as the
Wars of Kappel 1529 and 1532.
Kulturkampf
By the mid-nineteenth century, liberal policies had also come to dominate Germany
and the separation of church and state became a prominent issue.
The Kulturkampf in Germany is usually framed by the years 1871 and 1878 with the
Catholic Church officially announcing its end in 1880 but the struggle in Germany had
been an ongoing matter without definite beginning and the years 1871 to 1878 only
mark its culmination in Prussia and Germany. In the wake of other European countries,
most German states had taken first steps of secularisation well before unification.
The Catholic dogmas and doctrines announced in 1854, 1864 and 1870 were perceived
in Germany as direct attacks on the modern nation state.[45] Thus, Bismarck, the
Liberals and the Conservatives representing orthodox Protestants found the Centre
Party’s support of the pope highly provocative. Many Catholics shared these
sentiments, especially against the pope’s declared infallibility and the majority of
Catholic German bishops deemed the definition of the dogma as "'unpropitious' in
light of the situation in Germany". According to the Bavarian head of government,
Hohenlohe, the dogma of infallibility compromised the Catholic's loyalty to the
state.[46] While most Catholics eventually reconciled themselves to the doctrine,
some founded the small breakaway Old Catholic Church.
the Federal Council broke off diplomatic relations with the Vatican on 12 December
1873
In 1874, Switzerland enacted the second federal constitution which was accepted in a
plebiscite. Except for the following restrictions, for the first time, this constitution
allowed complete freedom of religion.
Article 2 [Goals]
The aim of the Confederation is to preserve the outward independence of the
fatherland, to maintain internal peace and order, to protect the freedom and the rights
of the confederates and to promote their common prosperity.
Article 4 [Equality]
(1) All Swiss citizens are equal before the law. In Switzerland there shall be no
subjects, nor privileges of place, birth, person or family.
(2) Men and women have equal rights. The law shall provide for their equal treatment,
especially as regards family, education and work. Men and women are entitled to
equal pay for equal work.
Article 49 [Freedom of Religion and Belief]
(1) Freedom of creed and conscience is inviolable.
(2) No one may be forced to participate in a religious association, to attend religious
teaching or to perform a religious act, nor be subjected to penalties of any sort because
of his religious beliefs.
(3) The holder of the paternal or tutelary authority shall determine the religious
education of children in conformity with the foregoing principles until they have
completed their 16th year.
(4) The exercise of civil or political rights may not be restricted by any prescription or
condition of an ecclesiastical or religious nature.
(5) Religious beliefs do not exempt anyone from carrying out civic duties.
(6) No one shall be bound to pay taxes the proceeds of which are specifically
appropriated to cover the cost of worship within a religious community to which he
does not belong. The detailed implementation of this principle shall be a matter for
federal legislation.
Article 50 [Right to Worship]
(1) The free exercise of acts of worship is guaranteed within the limits set by public
order and morality.
(2) The Cantons and the Confederation may take appropriate measures for the
preservation of public order and of peace among the members of the different religious
communities, as well as against encroachment by religious authorities on the rights of
citizens and the state.
(3) Disputes of public or private law which may arise out of the creation of new
religious communities or out of the splitting up of existing communities may be
brought before the competent federal authorities by lodging a complaint.
(4) The establishment of bishoprics on Swiss territoy is subject to the authorization of
the Confederation.
Article 53 [Registration, Burial]
(1) The determination and registration of civil status rests with the civil authorities.
Federal legislation shall lay down further provisions on this subject.
(2) The disposal of burial grounds is a concern of the civil authorities. They shall
make sure that every deceased person can have a decent burial.
Article 54 [Right to Marry]
(1) The right to marry is placed under the protection of the Confederation.
(2) This right may not be limited for religious or economic reasons nor on account of
previous conduct or of other police considerations.
(3) A marriage which has been celebrated in a Canton or abroad according to the local
legislation shall be recognized as valid within the whole territory of the Confederation.
(5) Children born before marriage shall be legitimized by the subsequent marriage of
their parents.
(6) No bride-admission fee or any other similar tax may be levied.
Article 64 [Federal Civil Legislation]
(1) The Confederation is entitled to legislate
- on civil capacity,
- on all legal matters relating to commerce and movable property transactions (law of
contracts and tort including commercial law and law of bills of exchange),
- on copyrights in literature and arts,
- on protection of inventions suitable for industrial use, including designs and models,
- on suits for debts and bankruptcy.
(2) The Confederation is also entitled to legislate in the other fields of civil law.
(3) The organization of the courts, procedure, and jurisdiction shall remain a matter
for the Cantons as before.
Article 64bis [Federal Criminal Legislation]
(1) The Confederation is entitled to legislate in the field of criminal law.
(2) The organization of the courts, procedure, and jurisdiction shall remain a matter
for the Cantons as before.
(3) The Confederation is entitled to grant subsidies to the Cantons for the construction
of penitentiaries, workhouses and reformatories and for penal reforms. It is also
entitled to assist institutions for the protection of neglected children.
Article 65 [Capital Punishment]
(1) No death sentence may be passed for political crimes.
(2) Corporal punishments are prohibited.
Geopolitical importance of Islam
Muslims represent 20% of World population. They live mainly in 57 States which
constitute the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. This number plays an
important role in the votes inside the United Nations Organization that counts 192
member States.
There are also growing Muslim minorities living in other non-Muslim States:
Switzerland
Year
Muslims
Total Population
1970
16'353
6'269'783
1980
56'625
6'365'960
1990
152'217
6'873'687
2000
310'807
7'204'055
Langue en Suisse
The main languages of Swiss residents 2013, in percentages, were as follows:
Year German French Italian Romansh other
2013 63.9
22.5
8.1
0.5
21.7
Minority or majority has no importance as long as there is equality in rights and duties.
France
Second religion after Catholicism, before Protestantism and Judaism.
Exact number is not known in reason of prohibition to carry out censuses based on
religious membership.
Estimation: between three and seven millions out of approximately sixty million
inhabitants
Importance of religion in the Muslim countries
We must divide the Muslim world in two categories: Arab countries and non-Arab
countries:
There are 22 Arab countries which constitute the League of the Arab States.
Lebanon excepted, the constitutions of the Arab countries indicate that Islam is the
religion of state and/or Islamic law, the main source of law.
I give you few examples:
Egypt 2014
Article 2 - Islam is the religion of the state, and the Arabic language is its official
language. The principles of Islamic law are the chief source of legislation.
Morocco 2011:
Article 3 - Islam is the religion of the State, which guarantees to all free practice of the
cults.
Yemen
Article 2 - Islam is the religion of the state, and Arabic is its official language.
Article 3 - Islamic Shari'ah is the source of all legislation.
Tunisia 2014
Article 1 - Tunisia is a free, independent, sovereign state; its religion is Islam, its
language Arabic, and its system is republican.
This article might not be amended.
Article 6 - The state is the guardian of religion. It guarantees freedom of conscience
and belief, the free exercise of religious practices and the neutrality of mosques and
places of worship from all partisan instrumentalisation.
The state undertakes to disseminate the values of moderation and tolerance and the
protection of the sacred, and the prohibition of all violations thereof. It undertakes
equally to prohibit and fight against calls for Takfir and the incitement of violence and
hatred.
Article 74 - Every male and female voter who holds Tunisian nationality since birth,
whose religion is Islam shall have the right to stand for election to the position of
President of the Republic.
Besides the Arab countries, there are 35 non-Arab countries
Afghanistan
Albania*
Azerbaijan*
Bangladesh
Benin*
Brunei
Burkina Faso*
Cameroon*
Ivory Coast*
Gabon*
Gambia*
Guinea*
Guinea Bissau*
Guyana*
Indonesia
Iran
Kazakhstan*
Kirghizstan*
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali*
Mozambique*
Niger*
Nigeria*
Uganda*
Uzbekistan*
Pakistan
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Suriname
Tajikistan*
Chad*
Togo*
Turkmenistan*
Turkey*
Among the 35 non-Arab countries, 24 countries (with *) mention secularism of the
state in their constitution in one form or another.
The Arab world, although numerically a minority, constitutes the center of Islam for
historical, linguistic and cultural reasons.
Concept of the Law
Muslims and the West have different concepts of the law. After explaining these two
concepts and their impact on human rights, I will show the remedies proposed by
liberal Muslims and those proposed in the West.
When a British driver goes to France, he drives on the right side without complaining,
even when the driver is the Queen of England:.
When Malian family goes to France, it practices female circumcision although
forbidden.
In France, burqa is forbidden, nevertheless, some Muslim women continue wearing it.
Why the English driver has no problem respecting French law, while some Muslims
do not respect it? The answer is very easy: they have a different concept of law. In
fact, we can say that there are three concepts of law: dictatorial, democratic and
revealed.
1.1.
Three concepts of law
The democratic law
According to this concept, people decide its law and change it, according to their
interests and tastes… as they do with the cheese.
The dictatorial law
In this system, law is done by a dictator. Either you obey or he cuts off your head.
The revealed law
According to this concept, law is an emanation of the divinity, transmitted either
directly through the revelation to a prophet, or indirectly through the religious
authorities representing the divinity on earth. Jews and Muslims, to quote only these
two groups, follow the concept of the law as emanation of the divinity. It is almost nonexistent among Christians.
Let us now compare between the Jewish, the Christian and the Islamic concept of law
Jewish concept of law
At Jews, the law is in the Bible, notably in the first five books assigned to Moses: Torah
Moses was a Head of State.
The Bible is completed mainly by
-
The Mishnah (written between 166 and 216) and its comment,
-
The Talmud (that of Jerusalem, written in Tabaria and finished towards the end of
the 4th century; and that of Babylon, written in Babylon towards the 5th century).
Mishnah and Talmud are considered as the oral Bible; they comprise the teaching of
the Jewish religious authorities.
We read in the Bible:
Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it
or take from it (Deuteronomy 13:1).
The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law
(Deuteronomy 29:28).
This shall be a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell
(Leviticus 23:14).
Quoting these verses, Maimonides (d. 1204) writes: "It is clearly stated in the Torah
that it contains the Law which stands for ever, that may not be changed, and nothing
may be taken from it or added to it". According to Maimonides, if one pretends the
opposite, "he shall die by hanging".
Christian concept of law
Jesus was not a jurist; he has never practiced a political function. He was a hippy:
"Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place
to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20).
Adultery case
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her
in the center of the court, they said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in
adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses (Lv 20:10; Dt 22:22-24) commanded
us to stone such women; what then do you say?" he said to them: "He who is without
sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her". When they heard it, they
began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was left alone, and
the woman, where she was, in the center of the court: Jesus said to her, "Woman, where
are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said: "No one, Lord". And Jesus said, "I do
not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." (Jn 8:4-11).
Inheritance case
In another case, Someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide
the family inheritance with me". Jesus answered him: "said to him, "Man, who
appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he added for the crowd which heard
him: "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when
one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions" (Lk 12:13-15).
Law of retaliation
You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I
say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on
(your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well (Mt 5:38-39)
Famous sentence
"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are
God's" (Mt 22:21).
Because of the absence of legal norms in a sufficient number in the Gospels and the
writings of the apostles, the Roman Empire after its Christianization kept following
the Roman law. The jurist Gaius (d. v. 180) defines the law as being "what the people
prescribes and establishes" (Lex est quod populus iubet atque constituit) (Gaius:
Institutes, I.3). The modern democratic system is based on this concept of the law.
Islamic concept of law
Muslims have the same concept of law as the Jews. Islam means submission to God's
will as expressed in the Koran and the Sunnah of Mohammed, the two principal
sources of Islamic law:
Those who do not rule in accordance with God's revelations are the disbelievers,
[…] the unjust, [...] of the wicked (5:44, 45, 47).
No believing man or believing woman, if God and His messenger issue any
command, has any choice regarding that command. Anyone who disobeys God
and His messenger has gone far astray (33:36).
In a case of adultery among Jews, Mohammed stoned the faulty persons as prescribed
by the Bible, saying: "Those who do not judge by that which God descended, they are
the perverse".
Ibn-Khaldun (d. 1406) accepts the possibility of the existence of a secular power, held
up by laws established by wise men. Ibn-Khaldun makes however an exception for the
Arabs,
"Arabs can obtain royal authority only by making use of some religious colouring,
such as prophecy, or sainthood, or some great religious event in general. The reason
for this is that because of their savagery, the Arabs are the least willing of nations
to subordinate themselves to each other, as they are rude, proud, ambitious, and
eager to be the leader. Their individual aspirations rarely coincide. However, when
there is religion (among them) through prophecy or sainthood, then they have some
restraining influence in themselves. The qualities of haughtiness and jealousy leave
them".
The Egyptian Muhammad Mitwalli Al-Sha'rawi (d. 1998) said:
If I were the person responsible for this country or the person in charge of
applying God’s law, I would give a delay of one year to anyone who rejected
Islam, granting him the right to say that he is no longer a Muslim. Then I would
apply Islamic law to him by condemning him to death as an apostate.
The obligation of implementing Islamic law, with the risk of fatal consequences in case
of refusal, can cover an unlimited amount of material which can even be very
controversial. To give an extreme example, Jad al-Haq, the Shaykh of Al-Azhar (d.
1996) had declared in a fatwa issued in 1994:
If a region, out of a common accord, ceased to practice male and female
circumcision, the Head of State should declare war against it because circumcision
is part of the rituals of Islam and its specifities. This means that male and female
circumcision is obligatory.
He would like to wage war just to impose male and female circumcision! You may
imagine to what extend such an ideology can be devastating.
For Muslim authors:
- If the question to regulate has been the subject of an authentic and clear text of the
Koran or of the Sunnah, the nation has to obey to it; it could not establish a contrary
rule.
- If the meaning can have various interpretations, the nation can try to deduce a
solution starting from the comprehension of the text, by preferring an interpretation
to another.
- In the absence of text, the nation is free to establish the norm which is appropriate
to it, if this norm respects the spirit of Islamic law and its general rules and that it
is not contrary to another Islamic norm.
This concept of law originates from the fact that Muslims do not have trust in human
reasoning, and therefore they refer to God. The problem is that God is not accessible
with our human means.
1.2.
Where do Muslims find God's will?
The Koran, God's word according to Muslims, says:
O you who believed! Obey God, and obey the messenger and those charged with
authority among you (4:59).
The Islamic law has two principal sources: the Koran and the Sunnah (tradition) of
Muhammad.
The Sunnah
Muslims grant a particular attention to six collections.
- Collection of Al-Bukhari (d. 870). The most important work after the Koran, it has
more than 300 exegeses. It contains 9'082 narrations.
- Collection of Muslim (d. 874). It contains 7'563 narrations.
- Collection of Abu-Da'ud (d. 888). It contains 5'274 narrations.
- Collection of Al-Tirmidhi (d. 892). It contains 3'956 narrations.
- Collection of Al-Nasa'i (d. 915). It contains 5'761 narrations.
- Collection of Ibn-Majah (d. 886). It contains 4'341 narrations.
1.3.
System of personality of law
Concerning non-Muslim monotheists living in Muslim countries, except Arabia, the
Koran foresees the maintenance of their laws in certain fields, but with restrictions,
particularly in the field of marriage and succession.
Unfortunate are the apostates and the polytheists! Non-Muslims in Arabia have no
right to stay there or to practice their religion.
1.4.
Application of Islamic law in the time and the space
A Muslim is obliged, in virtue of his faith, to apply Islamic law anywhere he lives.
That is the ideal, which is in contrast to reality. This is why we have conflicts between
fundamentalists and Muslim regimes. In fact, the juridical system of Muslim Countries
is composed:
- mainly from laws inspired by Western law;
- from Muslim norms in the field of the personal statute and, for certain, of the
penal law (as it is the case in Saudi Arabia);
- from the laws and sometimes the courts of the religious communities in the field
of personal statute.
But Islamic law influences numerous fields:
- sexual ethics
- clothing
- alimentary prohibitions
- restrictions in the field of art and liberty of expression, economics (interests on
debts and banking activity, bets and games), insurances, religious tax, etc.
- job of the woman and her participation in political life
- physical integrity (male and female circumcision), etc.
Part 2. What are the problems?
2.1.
Problems inside the Arab and Islamic countries
If we take the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we notice that it is proclaimed
by the General Assembly. No mention of God in it. He was intentionally excluded.
There are several declarations issued in the Arab and Muslim countries. We would
like here to mention one of them, the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights
promulgated in 1981. This declaration affirmed repeatedly that human rights are
founded on divine will. The first passage of the preamble states, “For fourteen
centuries, Islam defined, by divine law, human rights, in their entirety as well as in
their implications”. The preamble adds:
- Strong of our faith in the fact that God is the sovereign master of all things in this
immediate life as in the ultimate life...
- Strong of our conviction that human intelligence is incapable to elaborate a better
way in view to assure service of life without God’s guidance and revelation:
We, Muslims, ... we proclaim this Declaration of Human Rights made in the name
of Islam, as one can understand them of the very noble Quran and the very pure
prophetic Tradition (Sunnah).
This declaration has been published in Arabic, English and French versions, but the
last two versions were different from the Arabic original. In this declaration, human
rights are accepted only as long as they are not in contradiction with Islamic law, and
interpretation of these rights should be done in the light of Islamic law. We find the
same problem with the other Arab and Islamic declaration of human rights which do
not contradict existing laws in these countries. While signing the UN documents on
human rights, these Arab and Islamic countries mentioned that they do not accept
norms which violate Islamic norms.
This concept of human rights generates norms which are contrary to the international
standards as accepted in the United Nations:
- Inequality between man and woman in the field of marriage: polygamy,
repudiation, and in dress norms. These two cartoons explain the fear of some
Muslims
Ambulatory prisons as invented by religious scholars
Veil is considered by Muslims as an obligation. If a woman refuses to put the veil she
can be beaten: Verse 4 :34 says:
Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel
others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore
obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part
you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and
beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High,
Great.
Remember here that beauty is an important incentive for acceptance, integration and
success in society. Companies pay to decorate their reception with flowers and
beautiful illustration. Flowers and illustration do not make the job, but they add a
positive ambiance. If you see such persons in your office, I am not sure that you we
would like to work in from of such persons
Best way to recognize your wife.
Inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslim countries don’t accept
the principle of equality of the citizen. Islam divides the word between Muslims, nonMuslim monotheists, and non monotheists. non-Muslim monotheists have the choice
between Islam, paying the tribute (jizya) or be killed an enslaved. Non monotheists
have only two choices: convert to islam or be killed and enslaved. This division was
rehabilitated with the Islamic State, which applies in fact Islam integrally, such as
taught in all Arab and Islamic universities. For this reason Yazidi women were
enslavec and sold as animals in slave markets in Iraq and Syria. In India, there have
been 80 million hindus who have been exterminated between the 11 and 15
centuries… as they are not considered as monotheists and refused to convert to islam.
9:5 - So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever
you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in
every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their
way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
9:29: Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit
what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of
those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of
superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
In all Arab and Islamic countires, non-Muslim monotheists must submit to
discriminatory laws. For example, a Muslim man can marry a monotheist woman, but
a monotheist man cannot marry a Muslim woman; prohibition of marriage between
Muslims and non-monotheists… unless they convert to Islam. Remember here that
marriage is the most important way for social cohesion. If a non-Muslim get married
with a Muslim woman without conversion, he may be killed, and his wife kidnapped.
- Inequality in the field of succession and testimony: the woman generally receives
half of what the man receives, and the testimony of two women is equivalent to the
testimony of one man.
- Inequality in the field of religious liberty: it is permitted to convert to Islam, but a
Muslim who leaves Islam is punished with the death penalty and/or deprived of his
civil rights (interdiction to get married or to inherit, etc.). A man married to a
Muslim or non-Muslim woman cannot choose the religion of his children who must
obligatorily be Muslims. In Saudi Arabia it is prohibited to practice any other
religion than Islam or to build churches, although this country builds many
mosques in the West. In other countries as Egypt, the situation of non-Muslims is
getting worse and worse. If you like to repair even a WC of a church you need the
permission of the President of the Republic. Many churches have been attacked by
Muslims. Last week the Moroccan press published a fatwa of the supreme religious
council presided by the king saying that every Muslim who leaves Islam should be
killed. This fatwa provoked a huge reaction and two days ago a sheikh said in a
mosque in front of the king that Islam guarantees religious freedom. But one should
know that according to Islamic law there are two sanctions: civil sanctions (an
apostate cannot get married; he is deprived of this children and inheritance) and
penal sanctions. To what extend Morocco will guarantee religious freedom in both
fields? Nobody knows.
- Severity of the penal norms: death penalty, stoning, amputation of a limb,
whipping.
Hate ideology: hate is distructive. 17 times daily Muslims pray:
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universe
the Beneficent, the Merciful;
Lord of the Day of Judgement.
You alone we worship, and to You alone we turn for help.
Guide us to the straight path:
the path of those You have blessed; not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor
of those who have gone astray.
Catholic Good Friday liturgy introduced in the seventh century said: Oremus et pro
perfidis Judaeis, which would mean, in the beginning, "Let us also pray for the
unfaithful Jews" or "Let us also pray for the non-believer Jews" in the sense that these
latter did not adhere to the Christian faith. However, with the evolution of the liturgy
and translations into the common languages, including English (Let us pray also for
the perfidious Jews: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts, so that
they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord), the expression quickly changed its
meaning. It became, in a context of anti-judaism, a synonym for "disloyalty" and
"deceit", a serious offense charged with anti-Semitism.
This terminology was controversial from the beginning of the nineteenth century, both
outside and inside the Catholic Church. The official discussions within the Catholic
hierarchy to abolish or reform began in the 1920s In 1959, Pope John XXIII removed
the disputed terms (perfidis and perfidiam, which appeared in the prayer). During the
liturgical reform that followed Vatican II, these terms do not reappear, and allusions to
the conversion of the Jews present in prayer are deleted. Since the Missal of Paul VI,
promulgated in 1970, the formulation became "Let us pray for the Jewish people, the
first to hear the word of God that they may continue to grow in the love of his name
and in faithfulness to his covenant.”
We have here to add this verse:
3:28 - Let the believers not take for friends or helpers unbelievers rather than believers:
If any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: Except by way of precaution,
that you may guard yourself from them. But Allah cautions you Himself; Because the
final goal is to Allah.
Hate extends after death
Separation in the cemeteries.
Military opposition
The Arab revolution did not offer any amelioration in the region. Muslim and Western
countries sustained military revolt againt the Syrian Regime. Certainly, this one is not
democratic, but no country whatsoever would accept a military opposition. This
opposition of Muslim countries can be explained by the fact that the Alawite minority
governs a Sunnite majority, and this one would like to establish an Islamic regime. If
military opposition wins, it means the extermination of two million alawites who have
nowhere to escape. It will also mean the end of the presence of the Christians in Syria.
Assad himself nourished this opposition by establishing religious institutes, which
teach memorizing the Koran, the first source of terrorism in the Muslim countries and
in the world.
The legend of the hyena
A Palestinian legend says that the hyena bewitches his victim by his voice. The victim
then thinks that he is dealing with his father, and he follows the hyena, crying, "Wait
for me, papa, I'm coming." The hyena then leads the victim into her cave where it
devours him. If the victim hits his head against the cave and his blood flows, or if
someone throws a stone on his head and sheds his blood, the victim finds his brain and
escapes. Now thousands of Muslims, in the face of the bloody tragedy, abandon Islam
and become atheists ... The Azhar is asking the Egyptian state to cut off their heads.
Intellectuals are leaving or using a double language, avoiding any criticism of Islam…
Any society without criticism cannot develop.
A North African professor told me that as long as Muslims believe that the Koran is
God's word, no social progress is possible. And when I asked him where he wrote this
idea, he said, "Are you crazy? No one before fifty will dare to say that".
I am contacted every day by Muslims who leave Islam. Muslims are not less intelligent
than other people, but they have to possibility to express themselves. They speak with
me because they know that I am Christian and outside the Arab world. For some of
them, this the only way to ask questions and to be informed.
Arab league not different from Daesh
Arab League has issued daft laws which should be regarded as models for the laws of
the Arab countries. We find in them the same violations of human rights which exist
in the laws of the Arab and Islamic countries. Even worse. For example, the criminal
code proposed by the Arab league foresees stoning for adultery, cutting the hand of
the thief and killing the apostate, norms which are not mentioned in many Arab laws.
Article 162 – The apostate is the Muslim, male or female, who abandons Islam by
explicit speech or an act whose meaning is indisputable, insults God, his apostles
or the Islamic religion, or knowingly falsifies the Quran.
Article 163 – The apostate is punished by the death penalty if he is proven to have
apostatized and maintains it voluntarily after being invited to repent within three
days.
Article 164 – The repentance of the apostate is achieved by renouncing what
constituted his disbelief; his repentance is unacceptable if he apostatizes more
than twice.
Article 165 – All the acts of the apostate after his apostasy are considered as null
and void, and all property acquired by such acts return to the state fund
After the recent events in some Arab countries, fundamentalist Muslims expressed
clearly their will to apply Islamic law.
Even before these events, the fundamentalists used many methods to force the
application of Islamic law:
- Proposals of law drafts
- Contestation of the constitutionality of the existing laws
- Call for civil disobedience by the judges
- Trial and physical threat against the opponents
- Military revolt, as what happened in Algeria with thousands of murders.
This situation creates a climate of fear:
- among the local regimes
- among Muslim liberal intellectuals
- among women
- among non-Muslim minorities whose situation becomes worse with attacks
against churches and kidnapping Christian girls.
This fear is justified by
- the implicit or explicit intentions of the Islamic movements, through the models
of Constitution and laws already prepared;
- the experiences in fundamentalist Countries (as Saudi Arabia), or those who
became fundamentalist (as Afghanistan, Iran, etc.).
The question is to what extend Muslim fundamentalists will apply Islamic Law? Let
us take some fields:
Art
There is a risk that what happened in Afghanistan with the destruction of Buddha's
statutes will be repeated in Egypt. Al-Qaradawi, the main ideologist of the Muslim
brothers, wrote many years ago that statutes are forbidden in Islam, and his book is
available on his website in English and in Arabic. And now some Muslim leaders in
Egypt would like to put into application this prohibition.
Buddha before and after 2001
Abu-al-Alaa Al-Ma’arri decapitated in Syria
Taha Hussain decapitated in Egypt
Circumcision
One of the Egyptian clerics went to Tunisia where he promoted female genital
mutilation, although Tunisia does not have such a practice which prevails in Egypt
(95% of Egyptian women are excised).
Death penalty and stoning
The abolition of death penalty in these countries is extremely difficult to obtain as the
Koran itself prescribes this penalty. The reason behind these attitudes is that Islamic
norms are of divine origin, and human being has no right to establish a law which
abolishes them. When Hani Ramadan was asked on the Swiss television whether he
condemns the stoning for adultery, he said that he cannot do that because God dictated
this punishment as did the Bible.
Slavery
Al-Mawdudi (d. 1979), the greatest Pakistani religious scholar, does not forbid
slavery. Retorting to an author who denies slavery in Islam, he says: “Is the honourable
author able to indicate only one Koranic norm which suppresses slavery in an absolute
manner? The answer is no".
Sheikh and parliamentary Salah Abu-Isma'il (died 1990) defends the return of slavery
for the captured women of the enemies. An Egyptian professor, Ph.D. in law from La
Sorbonne, proposes an Islamic law that should replace the Conventions of Geneva,
allowing slavery. There are videos on youtube where Muslims consider slavery in
conformity with Islam, and do not object returning to slavery. In fact, slavery is an
integral part of Islamic law; it was abolished by Islamic countries because Western
countries obliged them to do so.
Palestinian problem as eternal pretext
Even if Jews leave Palestine, according to the Islamic doctrine, war will never stop
until the last day. Muhammad said:
The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and
the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone
or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, there is a Jew behind me; come
and kill him.
The jihad is an obligation until Muslims dominate all the world and submit nonmuslims to the Shari’a.
Muslims, according to Muhammad, will one day conquer Rome. When the Pope
invited Jews, Christians and Muslims to visit him in Vatican to pray for peace on June
8, 2014, an Imam called for prayer in the Vatican, although it was not in the
programme. He chanted:
Burden us not, O Lord, with a burden as You did those before us. Impose not upon
us a burden, O Lord, we cannot carry. Overlook our trespasses and forgive us, and
have mercy upon us; You are our Lord and Master, help us against the clan of
unbelievers (2:286).
2.2.
Problems inside Western countries
What happens in the Muslim countries has influence on Muslim minorities in the
West.
Islamic law divides the world mainly in two parts: Dar al-islam (land of Islam) and
Dar al-harb (land of war). Muslims should conquer the entire world to impose Islamic
rules. There can be a period of peace which should not be more than ten years, and
only in case of superiority of the enemy. This is the classical concept of Islamic law.
Every Muslim, living in Country of unbelief, must leave his Country to reach the
Muslim community. This is why Sicily and Andalusia have been emptied from their
Muslim inhabitants on request of the Muslim jurists.
- During the Western colonization, Muslim jurists discussed the question whether to
leave or to remain?
- Post-colonial period: many Muslims immigrated to the colonizing Countries, but
Muslim jurists continue saying that it is forbidden to stay in these countries, except
in case of necessity (but then a Muslim must live according to the Islamic law and
to convert non-Muslims). Some even say that Muslims should not opt for nonMuslim nationality.
Muslims’ claims in the West are growing
- Wearing veil in school.
- Halal butcheries.
- Separate cemeteries.
- Separation between men and women on the level of the hospital services.
- Creation of courts for Muslims.
- Etc….
There is now fear of the repetition of the case of Kosovo in France, in Belgium, in
Germany, in England and elsewhere, putting in danger their territorial integrity, in
conformity with the Islamic principle according to which Muslims must submit only
to Muslim authority, to Islamic law and to Muslim judge. Islamic extremists have
launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Shariah law
enforcement zones have been set up. They ask autonomy for three regions:
Part 3. What are the remedies?
We are moving ineluctably towards a generalized conflict between the Western
secularized concept and the Judeo-Islamic concept of law. How can we solve this
situation? Both Muslim and Western countries are urged to answer this question if
they are not willing to find themselves confronted to a situation similar to Algeria
(internal religious war) and ex-Yugoslavia (disintegration of the country on the basis
of religion).
When a tree is sick, it is not sufficient to treat the leaves; it is necessary to take care of
the roots. When a house threatens collapsing, it is not sufficient putting some nails; it
is necessary to see the foundations. Similarly, it is not sufficient criticizing the
violations of human rights; it is necessary to understand the cause of these violations.
Therefore the bases of the Islamic law must be treated, and not only its effects. Here
are some methods proposed by liberal Muslims.
3.1. Remedies proposed by liberal Muslims
To cut the Koran in two
Some Muslim liberals think that the true Islam is represented in the chapters of Mecca
while the chapters of Medina represent a political conjunctural Islam. They consider
therefore that the first chapters of the Koran abrogate the seconds. So they empty the
Koran of its juridical subsistence. The human beings find again so the freedom to
legislate according to their temporal affairs without submitting to the norms of the
Koran. The Sudanese thinker Mahmud Muhammad Taha has been hung January 18,
1985 because of this theory.
To keep the Koran and to throw out the Sunnah
The Sunnah (Mohammed's tradition) is the second source of Islamic law. It serves to
interpret, to complete, and to abrogate some norms of the Koran. Some liberals think
that they have only obligations toward the Koran, word of God, and they refuse the
Sunnah, judged as human manufacture and unreliable, having been compiled long time
after the death of Mohammed.
This group, often called Koranists, tries by so doing to limit the effects of Islamic law.
For example, the death penalty against the apostate and the stoning for adultery are
not indicated in the Koran, but in the Sunnah. The followers of this group are defined
as apostates by the Muslim religious authorities. One of them, Rashad Khalifa, has
been murdered, in the United States in 1990, because of this theory. Among their
leaders we mention Ahmed Subhi Mansour, now living in the United States, and
Gamal Al-Banna, the youngest brother of Hassan Al-Banna.
To distinguish between the Shari'ah and the Fiqh
The two Arabic terms Shari'ah and Fiqh are indiscriminately used for designating
Islamic law. But according to the Egyptian judge Muhammad Sa'id Al-'Ashmawi, the
Shari'ah does not mean the "law" but "the way to be followed", as revealed by God in
the Koran. The Fiqh covers all the writings of the jurists, based on the Koranic text:
comments, opinions of the doctrine, fatwa, etc. These writings have been considered
wrongly as forming the Shari'ah. The Koran warns not to follow any religious
authority (9:31; 2:165; 3:64) or to grant the holiness to a norm which does not derive
from the revealed text. Today Al-'Ashmawi lives isolated in his house, fearing to be
murdered by the fundamentalist.
To consider Mohammed as the last prophet
For the Tunisian jurist Muhammad Charfi (d. June 2008), the Koranic norms concern
only the period in which they have been established. They cannot be applied in every
period and everywhere.
Muhammad Ahmad Khalaf-Allah goes further: according to him, by declaring that
Mohammed is the last of the prophets (33:40), the Koran grants the liberty and the
independence to the human reason to decide for the matters of this life, in conformity
to the general interest. Muhammad is to be considered as the last baby bottle; after
him, humanity does not need prophets or holy books.
To cut the umbilical cord
The Egyptian philosopher Zaki Najib Mahmud (died 1993), an adept of scientific
positivism, believes that one should take from the Arab past or the Western present
only what is useful to the Arab society. To judge what is useful and what is not. This
attitude supposes the dismissal of all holiness from the past.
What if God were in Rimini to tan?
Husayn Fawzi (d. 1988) is a free Egyptian thinker, scientist, author of numerous
works. He has occupied numerous academic and cultural functions. He introduced
classical music to the Radio of Cairo. For him, "God created the world in six days and
took a rest the 7th day, and he is still resting. Therefore, God could not send the
prophets who came after the 6th day".
What if we call God?
During the International congress on the Egyptian civil Code, organized from 14 to 16
April 1998: the Ministry of justice says that it cannot abolish the laws of personal
statute (which discriminate women and non-Muslims), because they are revealed laws.
Only another revelation can repeal a preceding revelation.
What do fundamentalists think about liberal Muslims?
Liberal Muslims would like to change the religious norms which violate human rights.
This means that they would like to create new norms. Their position is condemned by
Al-Qaradawi, qualified as moderate. He says:
A secular [Muslim] who rejects the principle of applying Islamic law has from
Islam only the name. He is undoubtedly an apostate. He must be invited to repent,
exposing him, with evidences, the points on which he doubts. If he doesn't repent,
he is considered as apostate, deprived from his membership in Islam - or so to say
from his "Muslim nationality", he is separated from his wife and children, and
one applies to him the norms concerning recalcitrant apostates, in this life and
after his death [which means that he should be buried like a dog in a hole].
3.2. Remedies proposed by the West
Interreligious dialogue
It serves only to travel and to eat.
To prepare experts and imams and create polyvalent halls
Europe is too late. Few universities teach Islamic law. Muslims generally are normal
persons who look for work and a peaceful life. The problem is their religious
authorities. If the Western countries take imams from Saudi Arabia, they will risk
transforming their countries according to the Saudi model. Therefore, it is important
to educate imams in the West in conformity with the Western norms and principles.
Mosques are now nest of terrorists. I propose to ban mosques and to create polyvalent
halls which can be used by all the religions, once a week, with free access, to control
what is said inside them.
To redefine the revelation and impose a Koran in chronological order
For Hebrews, Muslims and Christians, God has gone to menopause. He has produced
prophets for a determined period, and then nothing more.
We should absolve God from this serious hindrance. As first footstep, I suggest that
the West starts to teach in its Faculties of Theology and in its schools:
- that "revelation", understood as definitive and valid text forever is a wrong and
dangerous concept for humanity;
- that "revelation" is not the word of God to man but the word of man on God,
made of human imperfection;
- that everyone has a mission to fulfil on this Earth, that the divine spirit has not
stopped blowing, and that God has not gone to menopause, incapable to give
life to other prophets.
Mount Sinai (2285 meters) place of the revelation to the prophet Moses
Mount Hira (642 meters) place of the revelation to the prophet Mahomet
Mount Rosa in Switzerland (4633 meters) where no revelation descended. Does the
cold weather prevent the revelation?
According to Benny Shannon, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, High
on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten
Commandments. Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the
religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.
Mixed marriages
Mixed marriages are one of the major problems. Muslim men get married with nonMuslim women and impose their religion to their children, but they do not allow nonMuslim men to marry a Muslim woman. This is a violation of the constitution.
Western countries must find a solution to this problem. One of the conditions of
nationality, immigration and political asylum should be the acceptance of the respect
of the constitutional principle in this field.
Religious liberty: the right to change religion
Muslims invite people to become Muslims, but do not allow the conversion of
Muslims to other religions. This is also a violation of the constitution. We know the
case of Magdi Allam which provoked a great debate. Here again, West countries
should not give nationality, immigration or political asylum to those who do not accept
the freedom of religion.
"I am not afraid of the death; I am convinced that we must go ahead. All of us
must continue on the road of the truth, of the liberty and of the affirmation of the
life.
In Italy, there are thousands of converts to Islam that serenely live their new faith.
However, there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity forced to
hide their new faith for fear of being murdered by Islamic extremists that nest
among us. If we won't be able, here in Italy, in the crib of the Catholicism, in our
home, to guarantee to everybody the full religious liberty, how could we be
credible when we report the violation of such liberty in the world elsewhere?"
Integration or disintegration… up to the death
Separate cemeteries are the sign of racism manifested even after the death. Western
countries should refuse such cemeteries if they like all groups to live in harmony
during their life, whatever is their religion.
Naturalization and immigration in the respect of the laws
The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees July 28, 1951 says:
Art. 2 - Every refugee has duties to the country in which he finds himself, which
require in particular that he conform to its laws and regulations as well as to
measures taken for the maintenance of public order.
Western countries should refuse nationality, immigration or political asylum to any
person who does not accept their principles.
Now we have the immigration problem. No western country knows how to deal with
this problem.
I propose to take half of the territory of Saudi Arabia and half of their gas resources to
create an international protectorate to solve the problem of Muslim refugees.
I presented this proposal at a conference behind closed doors in a sunny place I will
not specify, neither will I mention the organisers and the participants.
The answer from Western and non-Western participants to this conference was that it
is an ideal solution, as refugees are mostly Muslims, and Muslim countries are not
providing them a safe place to escape. Furthermore, it is not fair that the only Western
countries hold on their own the burden of these refugees who threaten their security.
There is indeed strong evidence to fear that terrorist organisations use these refugees
as a fifth column to destabilise Western countries and destroy them from within. And
this is neither for Western countries’ benefit, nor for refugees’ benefit. The only
objection made against this proposal is about its feasibility. Will Saudi Arabia accept
to give half of its territory, even for Muslims? My answer was: of course, it will not.
Therefore, this solution must be imposed on it, if needed by military action and
occupation.
It is clear that each terrorist attack occurring in Western countries by Muslim extremists
will provide more hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslim communities
and Muslim refugees will pay the price of anger due to these increasing terrorist attacks.
Whatever are the attempts of Muslims in Western countries trying to exempt Islam
from terrorist acts, Westerners are not that stupid they would believe these statements.
Islam is deep rooted in violent teachings, visible for 14 centuries, which are notorious
to anyone.
These Islamic teachings need an in-depth reformation, in order to separate the Medina
violent Quran from the more peaceful Mecca Quran, as proposed by late Mahmoud
Muhammad Taha, hung in 1985, by judgement influenced by Al-Azhar. The
reformation is imperative if Muslims want to live in peace between themselves and
coexist with non-Muslims. But this reformation relates to the very Quran. Therefore, it
cannot take place as quickly as could be wished, because Arab and Muslim countries
cannot dare touching the Quran. Therefore, Muslim intellectuals are trying to find an
acceptable way for Muslims without touching the Quran. But this way is absurd. And
as the Arabic proverb says: “What nature wasted cannot be repaired by fragrance
makers”. For this reason, Arab and Muslim countries will face unprecedented
catastrophes and will be confronted with two choices: extinction from the planet, or the
elimination of Islam teachings as accepted today and as taught by Al-Azhar and all
Arab and Muslim universities, not forgetting schools, mosques, and media.
Furthermore, Western countries cannot impose reformation of Islam teachings to
Muslim communities on their territory. And it is clear that the number of refugees from
Muslim countries is going to increase. Arab and Muslim countries will become a very
hard to live hell. For this reason, Muslims will try to escape … bringing along the
teachings of the religion which devastated their country … just like a patient affected
with Ebola carries the virus of the disease. Neither the Muslim immigrants, nor the
countries where they go to, will be able to protect themselves from such a virus. This
plague could then contaminate the whole of humanity.
Nobody rejoices with the idea of having to undergo a surgical procedure of brain, not
even a simple appendectomy, unless doctors can convince the patient that the choice is
merely surgery or death. And if the patient is a child, the family can give authorisation.
In the absence of the parents, doctors will proceed to surgery without needing parental
authorisation. When someone comes from an affected area with Ebola virus, authorities
would put him or her in quarantine, even if the patient is opposed to it. In this case, the
patient’s freedom is sacrificed for the security of the community.
The intellectual must precede his or her society in the diagnosis of the disease and in
identifying an effective treatment. He will often be mocked at by the community. Arab
tradition reports the story of a girl called Zarqa Al-Yamama who could foresee a person
at the distance of three walking days. According to the legend, she warned enemies
were coming hidden behind trees, but her people would not believe her. And when the
enemies arrived, it was too late, and her people were exterminated.
Remember from me what I am writing to you today … before it is too late. This is a
warning for any reasoning person:
The only solution to the problem of Muslim refugees coming from Arab and Muslim
countries consists in establishing an international protectorate able to receive 100
million refugees who will flee the hell from their countries, and whom Westerners will
not be able to receive because of the threat on their own security. The earlier this
protectorate is created, the better. It can be realised in confiscating half of the territory
of Saudi Arabia and half of its gas income. This solution is the fairest, because it is not
equitable that few hundreds of corrupt princes share the wealth of Saudi Arabia, whilst
millions of Muslims are confronted with poverty, hunger and injustice.
According to some information, about thirty Pakistani migrants who went to Europe
were sent back there. However, once in Islamabad, government put them in a plane to
Europe, on the pretext they had no official documents. See this paper. Yet, thousands
of refugees are hiding their identity. They cannot be sent back to their home country.
And Western prisons are full of Muslims, jailed for illegal presence, or for threat to the
security of the country. In France, more than 70% of prisoners are Muslim … including
a high number of terrorists who cannot be deported to their home country. No one
knows how to deal with these cases, as these people cannot be condemned to death.
What goes for France also goes for Switzerland and for many Western countries.
Creating an international protectorate would allow to transfer there these prisoners and
refugees, instead of keeping them in our streets or our prisons or our detention centres,
at high cost.
Just for your knowledge, in Switzerland, each prisoner costs not less than 300 francs a
day, which is 9000 francs a month: the equivalent of the salary of a university professor
… without doing anything, at cost of taxpayers. Prisoners are kept after two third of
their sentence, because no one knows where to send them, as they do not held reliable
identity documents … and refuse to undertake steps to obtain them from their
embassies.
Interests and the banking system in Jewish, Christian and Muslim law between
ethics and language abuse
Colossal economic stakes
This issue affects vast sums. The debate concerns primarily Islamic finance but we will
se it in a comparative perspective to see the link between the Jewish, Christian and
Muslim standards.
Some indicative figures:
- Today, Islamic banks drain funds estimated to 1000 billion dollars in 2010
- 40% to 50% of the savings of the Muslims will be managed by Islamic finance
within 8 to 10 years, compared to 10% to 2007.
- But Islamic banks represent not more than 4% of global banking.
- 20% growth per year.
Different opinions
Christine Lagarde 2008 praised Islamic finance
Lebanese Sheikh Al-Alayli (died in 1996) considers that the dispute concerning the
interests is a deception on the words (Khida Pass ' al-alfaz)
Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi (deceased in 2010), Grand Egyptian Mufti and grand
Imam of Azhar: gains by Muslim banks and the interest distributed by conventional
banks differ only in name
Mustafa Kamal Al-Mahdawi, Libyan justice retired, calls Islamic banks of the thieves.
Economic relations regulated by religious norms
In any economic system there are abuses, and the legislator tries to reduce such an
abuse
A) Interests among the Jews
Jewish law has two main sources: the Bible and the Talmud which is a commentary on
the Mishnah
In the antiquity, the creditor had exorbitant power over the debtor. the second book of
Kings relates a tragic episode: on the death of the debtor, the creditor seized his children
and enslaved them because of the debts of their father (2 R 4:1-7).
This is in order to react against this situation that biblical legislation repeatedly
intervened to prohibit the imposition of interest Israelites. We give here the most
important passages:
You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money,
food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. You may lend with
interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command
the LORD your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about
to enter to possess. (Deuteronomy 23:20-21).
If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like
a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest (ex. 22:24).
If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, you must support
him; he must live with you like a foreign resident. Do not take interest or profit
from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you. You
must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for
profit. (Leviticus 25: 35 - 37).
This prohibition applies to all loans, regardless of the rate of interest
It makes no distinction between the loan made to a wealthy and made a poor.
According to the Talmud, violate the prohibition of interest the creditor who lends
money against interest, the debtor who agrees to pay interest, the witness and the notary
who drafted the contract. The ban covers the interest for the loan in money, but also
the interest for the loan in kind, or even for a service.
Ways to circumvent the ban
Jeish law prohibits partnership in which a creditor finances a deal in which he would
take part in the benefit while the debtor would assume only the loss.
If however the creditor and the debtor profit and loss, such an agreement is considered
valid
Today, to validate religiously a loan with interest between Jews, you have just to add
to the contract a clause indicating that the loan is done as a partnership.
It is permitted to lend money to a non-Jew, which in turn lends the money to a Jew, or
instruct an agent to borrow money, the two operations being associated with a clause
fixing the rate of interest.
It is permissible to lend 100 units of money to a businessman by indicating in the
contract that the gain realized by the latter will be paid to the creditor against payment
of a salary to the businessman for his work.
The law enables a Jew to borrow money from a non Jew against interest where there is
no other way to get money.
No penalty
The Bible contains none, but simply a divine blessing, as in Deuteronomy 23:21.
Ezekiel classify among serious offences:
[The one] who oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore
the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends at interest,
and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these
abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself (Ezekiel 18:1113).
Here, too, this sanction is of divine order.
But rabbinical courts seem to have exercised the power to penalize the creditor by
refusing to respond to his claim for his capital. They also reject the testimony and the
oath of money lenders.
B) Interest among Christians
Jesus is not a lawmaker
New Testament is moralistic text. It contains very little legal norms, including just a
passage concerning the loan, interpreted as a prohibition of interest, without distinction
between Jews and non-Jews, regardless of the rate of interest:
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners
love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what
benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from
whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to
sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and
lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be
sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful,
even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:32-36).
Position of the Church
As we will see shortly with the social credit system, the Church encourages the free
gift.
-
Creation of Mount of piety which lent interest-free or at a low rate (less than 5%)
was going in this direction, born in 1462 originated in Italy and was developed in
cities as a reform against money lending.
-
Ten years later, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena was established in Siena with the
same objective.
Aristotle: The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a
gain out of money itself, and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended
to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which
means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the
offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of any modes of getting wealth this is the
most unnatural.
Saint Ambrose died in 397: "What is lending at interest, if not killing a man?"
St. John Chrysostom died in 407: "Nothing is more shameful nor cruel than usury."
Saint Leon (around 450): "usurious profit is the death of the soul."
Ways to circumvent the ban
Saint Thomas Aquinas died in 1274: "He who loans a sum of money to one sailing or
going to market, since he has assumed upon himself a risk, is not to be considered a
usurer who will receive something beyond his lot. He also who gives ten solidi (a
monetary unit), so that at another time just as many measures of grain, wine and oil
may be paid back to him, and although these are worth more at the present time, it is
probably doubtful whether at the time of payment, they will be worth more or less, for
this reason, should not be considered a usurer.
In 1311, at the Council of Vienne, Pope Clement V considered as void any legislation
in favor of usury, and 'if someone falls into this error to dare boldly saying that it is
not a sin to do usury, we ordain that he shall be punished as a heretic and we order all
the ordinaries and inquisitors to proceed vigorously against all those who are
suspected of this heresy'.
The encyclical Vix pervenit, addressed on 1 November 1745 by Pope Benedict XIV to
the Bishops of Italy, is the latest doctrinal position of the Catholic Magisterium about
interest. Against the Liberal opinion of a patrician of Verona, the Pope reaffirms the
traditional doctrine of the Church. First, it is not allowed to receive compensatory
interest under a loan agreement. Secondly, it is permissible to receive compensatory
interest under extrinsic title to the loan agreement (for example damage suffered by the
lender). Thirdly, it is allowed to get earnings under contracts other than the loan. This
is particularly the case of the partnership agreement, which allows to make a trade or
lawful business by entrusting his money to others to make a legitimate profit.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church published by Jean-Paul II in 1992, mentions the
prohibition of the loan at interest among the legal measures "from the Old Testament"
to help to the poor (para. 2449) and denounced "abusive if not usurious financial
systems" between nations (para. 2438) as well as "Those whose usurious and avaricious
dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly
commit homicide, which is imputable to them" (by. 2269).
Position of Calvin
Calvin (1509-1564) was the first theologian of the modern era to morally legitimize
the practice of lending at interest.
Up to the time of Reformation, it was forbidden to charge interest in Europe, not least
due to the prohibition of taking interests in the Old Testament (Exodus 22, 25;
Deuteronomy 23, 20f.). However, this prohibition was actually eroded by many
exceptions. The renowned Reformer John Calvin of Geneva (1509-64) got to a
fundamentally positive attitude as to the charging of interests. He justified his attitude
by maintaining that the intention of the biblical prohibition was to protect one’s
neighbor and especially the poor and weak. Hence, also in matters of charging interest
servicing one’s neighbor was vital: He was led by the 8th commandment “Do not
steal” (Ex. 20,15) and by the Golden Rule “Do for others what you want them to do
for you!” (Mt. 7, 12). Thus, he developed the seven criteria (“exceptions” in French;
“restrictions” in English – a kind of qualifying exception) as a guideline to charging
interest:
1) you are not allowed to charge interest from the poor and that nobody may be forced
to pay interest when being in a plight or visited with misfortune.
2) anybody who lends money should neither be so anxious about profit that he neglects
his duties, nor should he – by safely investing his money – disrespect his poor brothers.
3) one should not allow anything to interfere that would not correspond to natural
understanding (what is naturally just and proper). And if the matter is checked
according the rules of Christ, i.e. what you want others to do for you etc., then it should
be considered as generally valid.
4) whoever borrows should profit as much or even more from the borrowed money
(than the creditor).
5) we should neither judge according the usual and traditional customs (concerning
the charging of interests) what we are allowed to do, nor measure injustices against
what is right and proper; much rather should we draw our behavior from the word of
God.
6) we should not only consider the personal benefit of those with whom we have to
deal with, but also should we take into account what may be in the public interest and
serve the community as a whole. Because it is manifest that the interest paid by the
merchant equals a public attainment. Therefore, great care has to be taken to make the
agreement serve the public good more than it may damage it.
7) one should not overstep the limits set by the local or regional laws, although this is
not always enough, as they often allow what cannot be amended or restricted by law.
Hence, one needs to give preference to what is just and proper under the circumstances
and restrict whatever may go beyond.”
(C)) interest among Muslims
Position of the Quran and hadith
Like the Gospel, and contrary to the Old Testament, the Quran prohibits interest for
debt without discrimination of groups. Muslim lawyers distinguish an evolution of its
norms in this area.
The first step: exhortation to give alms instead of wear
Hence, give his due to the near of kin, as well as to the needy and the wayfarer;
this is best for all who seek God’s countenance: for it is they, they that shall attain
to a happy state! And [remember:] whatever you may give out in usury so that it
might increase through [other] people’s possessions will bring [you] no increase
in the sight of God whereas all that you give out in charity, seeking God’s
countenance, [will be blessed by Him:] for it is they, they [who thus seek His
countenance] that shall have their recompense multiplied! (30: 38 - 39).
The second step: warning to Muslims, pointing to the example of the Jews:
So, then, for the wickedness committed by those who followed the Jewish faith
did We deny unto them certain of the good things of life which [aforetime] had
been allowed to them; and [We did this] for their having so often turned away
from the path of God, and [for] their taking usury although it had been forbidden
to them, and their wrongful devouring of other people's possessions. And for those
from among them who [continue to] deny the truth We have readied grievous
suffering (4: 160 - 161).
The third stage: partial ban which concerns only the anatocism, joining the interests to
the capital to form a new capital bearing interest:
O You who have attained to faith! Do not gorge yourselves on usury, doubling
and re-doubling it - but remain conscious of God, so that you might attain to a
happy state; and beware of the fire which awaits those who deny the truth! (3:130131).
The fourth step bans categorically everything that exceeds the capital, requesting the
rebate of interest already planned, a reprieve for debtors in difficulties and an
admonition to give up the debt by charity, foreseeing the war against recalcitrant:
Those who gorge themselves on usury behave but as he might behave whom Satan
has confounded with his touch; for they say, "Buying and selling is but a kind of
usury" - the while God has made buying and selling lawful and usury unlawful.
Hence, whoever becomes aware of his Sustainer's admonition, and thereupon
desists [from usury], may keep his past gains, and it will be for God to judge him;
but as for those who return to it -they are destined for the fire, therein to abide. O
you who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God. and give up all
outstanding gains from usury, if you are [truly] believers; for if you do it not, then
know that you are at war with God and His Apostle. But if you repent, then you
shall be entitled to [the return of] your principal: you will do no wrong, and neither
will you be wronged. If, however, [the debtor] is in straitened circumstances,
[grant him] a delay until a time of ease; and it would be for your own good -if you
but knew it -to remit [the debt entirely] by way of charity. And be conscious of
the Day on which you shall be brought back unto God, whereupon every human
being shall be repaid in full for what he has earned, and none shall be wronged.
(2:275 - 281) .
Ways to circumvent the ban
In Classical Muslim law, lending at interest is prohibited. The term Arabic riba, which
means increase, includes any benefit, without counterpart, stipulated by the
Contracting Parties during a loan without making any distinction between the interest
and usury, which today means the excessive interest.
- What is prohibited is the fixed interest in advance.
- The formula for alternatives to the fixed interest rate is the participation in the
profits and sharing losses.
- It is not forbidden that a debtor voluntarily pay a surplus to the creditor. A
companion had made a loan to Muhammad. The latter gave him more that he
had lent him. And after the hadeeth: "the best of you is the one that best repays
his debt".
- Muslim law allows to borrow at interest in case of necessity. But the state of
necessity is strictly defined by Muhammad who says: "the state of necessity is
when from morning to evening you not find enough to eat".
- Double sale, called bay' al-'inan: I lend you money without interest and I sell you
an object at a very high price.
- Contract of salam : olives
No penalty
Usury is classified among the great sins. Sanctions for the violation of the prohibition
of usury in the Quran are the following:
-The loan sharks are fought by God and his Prophet.
-The loan sharks will be agitated by the daemon.
-Their fortune will be annihilated.
-The loan sharks will be doomed to hell.
Three syaings of Muhammad indicate the punishments that will be imposed on the loan
sharks:
During my night journey, I have seen people who have big bellies, in which crawl
snakes who are seen from the outside. I asked Gabriel: who are these people, he
answered me, these are individuals who have experienced usury.
Will be cursed by God who takes usury, one who gave the loan, the clerk of the
usurious contract, as well as the witnesses of this contract.
The punishmend of one dirham taken in usury will be more severe than that of 36
adultary.
Despite virulent position of the Quran and the Sunnah against usury, the sanctions
remain purely religious.
But lawyers have provided a sanction ta'zir, discretionary, left to the choice of the
authority, which can go up to death penalty. A companion of Muhammad said: "he
who transgresses the prohibition of usury and continues to do so, it is imperative to the
imam to intimidate him; If he perseveres, he must condemn him to death".
Legislative and doctrinal debate in Muslim countries
Interests in the Arab civil codes
Currently, most Arab countries accept interest loans and interest on arrears. This is
enshrined in their laws.
Article 542 of the Egyptian civil code, which has inspired several Arab codes, says:
The borrower shall pay the interests stipulated upon their maturity, if no agreement on
interests exists, the loan shall then be considered made without a price.
Article 544: If an interest on the loan is agreed upon, the debtor, after the lapse of six
months from the date of the loan may announce his wish to cancel the contract and
refund the object borrowed, provided returning the object shall take place within six
months from announcing his wish, in which case, the debtor shall pay the interest due
on the six months which follows the said announcement.
He may not in any way be obligated to pay interest or anything in exchange, because
of expediting the settlement. Nor shall agreement be made on dropping the right of the
borrower to refund, or to restrict that right.
Article 226 When the object of an obligation is the payment of a sum of money of
which the amount is known at the time when the claim is made, the debtor shall be
bound, in case of delay in payment, to pay to the creditor, as damages for the delay,
interest at the rate of four percent in civil matters and five percent in commercial
matters. Such interest shall run from the date of the claim in court, unless the contract
or commercial usage fixes another date. This Article shall apply, unless otherwise
provided in law.
What has just been said concerns relations between private persons. In the relations
with the banks, the Central Bank determines the interests taking into account the
international market, the local market and the economic policy of the State. Article 233
of the civil code says: "The legal rate of commercial interest on current accounts varies
according to the local market rate applicable, and capitalization is effected on current
accounts according to commercial usage".
Opinion in favor of the interests
The doctrine is divided into two camps: there are those who are in favour of
maintaining the current system, and those who are against the interests. Here, we give
a reflection of this debate through representative personalities.
(A) Position of the Egyptian ' Abd-al-Razzaq Al-Sanhuri
Al-Sanhuri (d. 1971) is the Egyptian father of the civil Code. He considers that the
prohibition of interest, whatever their form, must be the rule, to prohibit people to
exploit the needs of others or to speculate. But some forms are more serious than others.
This is the form prescribed by the Koran which, according to him, should correspond
today to the interest on interest. However, he allows simple interest for social need. He
also allows the investor to receive interest for money deposited in the Bank because he
is the weaker party to protect.
B) Position of the Egyptian judge Muhammad Sa'id Al-Ashmawi
The most noted defender of the system of interest is the Egyptian judge Al-Ashmawi.
This judge begins with a distinction between the shari'ah and the fiqh and gives his
view on interest:
- The Koran gives no precision the the content of the verses prohibiting interest
leaving to the people the possibility to do so and to establish penalties for abuse.
- Prohibition of the interests mentioned in the Koran does not relate to the contract of
loan, but the barter contract. What says Islamic law is part of fiqh, the work of
lawyers who are fallible. However, even the fiqh allows the loan which includes
interest if it is not an original condition.
- Those who banned such interests sought to make an ideal society, a society of
ascetics, an ideal that is not for an average man.
- The Koran forbids to eat the meat of the dead beast, but allows to do so if necessary.
- The prohibition of interest concerned the case of a needy who wanted to support
herself. Having ignored the social realities, fiqh failed to establish a limit that the
lender should not exceed. And this is only the Egyptian civil code which established
this limit between 4 and 7%. Instead of tricks and mocking God who is supposed to
see and know everything, it is better to have a system of interest with a control of
abuse.
- Certainly, there are still today people who borrow to meet their immediate needs:
feeding and care. These cases should be the responsibility of State social agencies
such as the social Bank Nassir or the Ministry of waqf.
- Interest on the deposit of money in any form whatsoever (deposit, bonds, certificate
of investment) are regarded by Islamists as unlawful. These are modern institutions.
On the other hand, this kind of interest cannot lead to exploitation or slavery that
the Koran wants to avoid.
The Court of appeal presided over by this same judge Al-Ashmawi Egyptian dismissed
in 1986 a decision of a Court of first instance which had refused to award interest. The
decision said that the judge must apply the positive law under his oath of investiture. It
adds that it would be wrong to say that the interests, admitted in Egypt since 1883, are
contrary to Islamic law. The judge may not invoke the constitution. It considers as the
main source of law not Islamic law, but the principles of Islamic law, without
specifying the content. Due to the differences of opinion, it is the Egyptian legislature
and not the judge to choose one in accordance with the requirements of the situation
and the judge is obliged to apply the law of the legislator. The contrary would create
fluctuating norms and undermine confidence of litigants.
C) Position of the Tunisian Professor Mohamed Charfi
Citing the verse 3:130 "O YOU who have attained to faith! Do not gorge yourselves
on usury, doubling and re-doubling it", Professor Mohamed Charfi said this verse
refers to characterized usury rather than to reasonable interest.
In interpreting the concept of interest in an overly broad way, forbidding any loan
interest, the scholars have created a social and economic problem. Subsequently, to
solve the problem they created tricks such as sale salam to meet economic
requirements... which was provided for in articles 712 to 717 of the code of obligations
and contracts: the farmer sells his crop that he will deliver after picking while he will
collect the price immediately, giving him the cash he needs. But the remedy has proved
to be much more harmful than the disease. Farmers who were very needy and who
were afraid that their harvest rotted had to sell this crop under the contract of salam at
any price, often for half of its value. What constitutes a real usury.
After independence, the Tunisian legislator has repealed by Act of 28 January 1958 the
section of the code of obligations and contracts on the contract of salam. This was a
beneficial measure for farmers.
The system of Islamic banks is an another trick to divert the banned lending at interest.
These banks operate on the basis of contracts such as ta'jir, mucharaka, mudaraba,
murabaha which are disguised interest loan contracts, with the particularity that
interest is not clearly established in advance. The alleged association between the
Islamic Bank and its client allows all the surprises. Sometimes the behavior of these
bankers is real scams, as proved by the scandal of Islamic banks in Egypt in the 1980s.
Opinion against the interests
(A) Position of religious organizations
Not all Muslims are familiar with islam. The ignorant shall enquire of the religious
scholars to adapt his behavior to Islamic norms. There are the opinions of groups and
individual opinions. We start with groups.
The Academy of Islamic Research of Azhar, in Cairo, took the following decision in
its Congress of 1965 in which were represented scientists from 35 Muslim countries:
1) Interests on all kinds of loans is prohibited Riba. There is no difference between
loans for consumption or that is described as a productive loan as the texts in the
Book and Sunnah are definite in outlawing both kinds.
2) Large or small amounts of Riba are both unlawful as is well understood by
Allah's saying: "O Believers, devour not usury, doubling its rate many times.
Have fear of Allah, and you shall prosper.
3) Lending of riba is prohibited; It is not justified by any need or necessity.
Usurious borrowing is also prohibited. This sin is forgiven only if committed for
4)
5)
6)
7)
necessity. Every peson is given the discretion to judge this necessity, according
to his belief.
Bank operations (current accounts, payments of cheques, letters of credit, bills
which are handled internally by merchants and bankers) are legal banking
operations. Any taken in return for these operations is not riba.
Fixed term deposits, interest are usurious operations. They are forbidden.
Consideration of bank operations concerning external bills has been postponed
for further study.
As the bankiing system has a clear effect on modern economic activity, and as
Islam is keen on preserving useful innovations – while avoiding their burdens
and sins, the Council of islamic studies will study an Islamic alternative for the
present banking system. The council calls upon Muslim Ulema, investors, and
those concerned with the economy to submit their suggestions in this field.
The Council of Islamic Fiqh Academy, dependent of the Organization of the Islamic
conference, which is headquartered in Jeddah, also voted against the interests in its
1985 decision:
First: All increments (or interest) in return for the postponement of paying a debt on its
due date even though the borrower is unable to repay it on time, and all increments (or
interest) on the loan from the date it was first made, are considered legally prohibited.
Second: The alternative, which guarantees financial liquidity and helps economic
activity in a form that is acceptable to Islam, is to transact according to Islamic law,
particularly after what has been published by concerned organizations on the various
aspects of operations which are actually implemented by Islamic banks.
Third: The Council has decided to call upon Islamic governments to encourage the
existing Islamic banks, enabling their establishment in all Islamic countries to answer
the needs of Muslims, so that a Muslim does not have to live in a state of contradiction
between actual conditions and the tenets of this creed. Allah, the Almighty, knows best.
A similar decision was taken in 1986 by the Council of Islamic Fiqh of the Muslim
world League, which is headquartered in Mecca.
What to do with the money deposited in the conventional banks?
A similar decision was taken in 1986 by the Council of Islamic Fiqh of the Muslim
world League, which is headquartered in Mecca.
Everything that comes from usurious interest is forbidden by law. No Muslim may
benefit from it for any of his needs or for those of anyone whom he supports. Such
interest must be spent for the general good of all Muslims, (such as for schools,
hospitals, etc.) and doing so is not charity, but, rather, is cleansing oneself from
unlawfulness and impurities. Such interest must not, on any account, be left to usurious
banks, because it will strengthen them and help to spread sins elsewhere as this money
is usually spent on Christian and Jewish institutions. In this way, Muslim money
becomes a weapon to fight Muslims and to lead their children away from their creed.
It should be known that investing any money with these usurious banks, whether
interest is paid or not, is forbidden.
Banks and Islamic investment companies
Islamic banks as a right and duty
The condemnation of the system of interest is a call for the creation of Islamic banks
and the boycott of the so-called banking system loan shark.
Some Muslim authors do not hesitate to propose death penalty against a person who
engages in transactions with interest. Sheikh Isma'il ' it Khalil says that who denies the
prohibition of interest denies a prescribed prohibition clearly prescribed by the Koran
and, so, he is a kaafir.
Creation of Islamic banks: new wine in old barrels
The pioneer in this area was Ahmed El-Naggar, who studied in Germany and created
with the help of the German Government in July 1963 in the village of Mit Ghamr a
savings bank without interest on the model of the German savings banks. This project
has been developed by Egyptian students at the University of Cologne. During the four
years of life, 9 sections have been opened, with one million clients. These savings were
governed by Act No. 17 of 1961. They were able to distribute gains amounting to 8%.
These cases were regional. But the government tried to centralize them, they failed.
They were then annexed to traditional banks.
The Nasser Bank was established, in 1971, as public company placed under the
authority of the Minister of insurance and Social Affairs. It is both social and
commercial. In social matters, it consents loans without interest for weddings, funerals,
studies, the pilgrims and the poor. Its resources, in addition to its capital, are formed
by its own profits, customer deposits and 2% of the net profits of public enterprises. In
addition, the Bank may obtain interest-free loans from the State. It distributes the
profits to investors. Then was created in 1977, the Egyptian Faisal Islamic Bank by law
48 of 1977. The Egyptian Central Bank and other traditional banks have opened
branches who work according to the Muslim method.
Islamic banking began with the creation of the Dubai Bank in 1975, followed in the
same year by the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, grouping the OIC member
countries.
In Saudi Arabia there is no Islamic Bank although most capital funding Islamic banks
come from this country. This country still has the system of traditional banks, but
solves the problem of interest through the term revenue (dakhl) instead of interest
(fa'idah). There are however Sharikat al-Rajihi al-masrifiyyah lil-istithmar, which
became an Islamic Bank in February 1988, with sections in different Western and Arab
countries.
The Islamic Development Bank was established in Saudi Arabia, and that country is
the principal shareholder. It is an international bank created for political reasons, on
October 20, 1975, in Jeddah.
We should also mention Dar al-mal al-islami, created in Switzerland on February 27,
1981, which is a holding company, dealing with 22 banks and society. Then the Muslim
group Al-Barka, subject to the laws of the Bahamas.
The first Islamic Bank to be established in Europe is the international Islamic Bank in
Denmark in 1983.
In some Arab countries Islamic banks coexist with traditional banks as Egypt, Bahrain,
United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Mauritania.
There are also many investment companies created by businessmen recommending
Islamic practice and bringing capital on the basis of this reference. These companies
perform their activities in areas as transport by taxi, raising chickens, food or plastics
industry. Some of these companies have on their head members of the Muslim
Brotherhood converted back into the business.
Activities of Islamic banks
Islamic banks offer services including most of those offered by traditional banks:
opening of accounts, payments, receipts, foreign exchange transactions, granting of
guarantee, etc. These operations do not involve the payment of interest, but are subject
to the collection of commissions.
They grant credits especially in three forms:
- Mudaraba: agreement whereby Islamic banks provide financial capital, other
partners, human capital. It corresponds roughly to the partnership. Here, the Islamic
Bank acts as sponsor. It finances totally an industrial or commercial project for the
benefit of the customer, and brings his work and experience. The benefits resulting
from the project are divided according to a previously fixed proportion. In the event
of loss which is not due to bad management, the Bank supports the injury.
Otherwise, the customer also assumes the loss without having to compensate the
Bank of profit which has not been achieved.
- Moucharka: Islamic banks and the contractor are pooling their financial resources,
to provide the capital necessary to start an activity. This contract confers on each of
the partners the right to administer the Affairs of the company, as well as the right
to participate in profits and contribute to losses proportionally to the input.
- Murabaha: it consists in the purchase of a property for cash and its resale to term,
with its purchase price, increased to a benefit determined in advance.
- Interest-free loans: (the good loan: notion repeated verses 2:245; 5:12; 57 and 18;
64:17; 73:20). These banks have accounts that stakeholders agree to lend to this
title. But some banks require commissions covering costs... not to exceed 4%.
Use of the label religious to attract customers
Traditional banks have existed for centuries, and they have their customers. Despite
this, Islamic banks have no difficulties to attract Muslim customers taking advantage
of the Islamic label. This phenomenon occurs in the case of halal meat.
It should be noted in this regard that Islamic banking activities have all Arabic names
that differ from those in use in the Arab countries. Aware that such terms may be
misleading and unfair competition to the normal banking transactions, the Morocco
refuses to use them and prefers to call them alternative operations. And Islamic banks
Bill calls "the participatory banks. Saudi Arabia denied the use of "Islamic banks".
Then why call them Islamic banks in France?
If Western countries impose to the Islamic banking institutions the use of terms in local
languages, Islamic banks will be less attractive for Muslim customers.
The Islamic label is so effective that Islamic banks have become dangerous concurrent
to traditional banks. For this reason both in the Muslim world than in the Western
world, traditional banks felt compelled to open bank branches to offer Islamic finance
services. Then arises the problem of conformity between the slogan and the goods, both
for banks than for States.
Control of Islamic banks
Islamic banks create problems for Governments insofar as they are beyond the control
of the monetary authorities. The Muslim system escape the control of the monetary
authorities (remuneration of deposits, cost of credits, bank liquidity, volume of
permanent capital). Each Islamic Bank decides itself profits (or losses) sharing among
stakeholders. No rule governing this sharing that differs from one bank to another and
one operation to another.
The operations of Islamic banks are supervised by a religious Council composed of
one or more members chosen from among the scholars and specialists in comparative
law believing in the idea of the Islamic Bank. Thus the Statute of the Bank Islamic
Faisal of Egypt provides in article 40 a Board consisting of up to five members. The
Islamic Bank of Jordan or Denmark has only a single Councillor. Its members have the
same resources and the same powers as those of accounting censors. A representative
of the religious Council may attend any meeting of the Board of Directors, without
right to vote. Members of the religious Council can request a special meeting of the
Board of Directors to explain their point of view on a religious issue.
In order to unify the views of members of the religious councils of different Islamic
banks, a supreme religious Council is created at the level of the federation of Islamic
banks created in 1977. It is composed of the presidents of the religious councils of
different Islamic banks, as well as a number of Jurists, with an in-depth knowledge of
Islamic law. Fatwas taken by this Council unanimously are binding for member banks.
But a bank may request a reconsideration of the decision. In some countries like the
United Arab Emirates, the Act provides for the establishment of a religious superior
Control Committee which depends on the Ministry if Islamic Affairs. There are
therefore three controls; control within the Bank, on the part of the supreme religious
Council of the federation of Islamic banks, and control of a national Committee.
In addition to advice of religious supervision of Islamic banks there are specialised
bodies in the development of Islamic financing. We major in include:
(1) The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions
(AAOIFI): this organization, which is headquartered in Manama (Bahrain), is
supported by institutional members (155 members of 40 countries so far) including
central banks, financial institutions Islamic, and other actors banking and financial
world..
(2) international Islamic Financial Market (IIFM): this organization, which is
headquartered in Manama (Bahrain), was founded with the collective efforts of the
central banks and monetary agencies of the Bahrain, Brunei, the Indonesia, the
Malaysia, the Sudan and the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia. It is mandated
to take part in the establishment, development, self-regulation and promotion money
market and Islamic capital.
(3) General Council for Islamic Banks and financial Institutions: this organization,
which is headquartered at Muharraq (Bahrain), includes banking organizations of 18
Muslim countries: Azerbaijan, Benin, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Jordan, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Egypt and Mauritania.
(4) Liquidity Management Centre (LMC): this organization, which is headquartered in
Manama (Bahrain), was established to facilitate the investment of the surplus in the
banks and Islamic financial institutions in accordance with the principles of Islamic
law. It is owned by the following banks: Bahrain Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank,
Kuwait Finance House and the Islamic Development Bank.
(5) Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB): created in November 2002, it has its
headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and began its activities in 2003. It has 178
members, including 42 instances of regulation and control, in addition to the World
Bank, the Bank for international settlements, and the Islamic Development Bank. This
institution has the ambition to play the role of a Central Bank Islamic.
(6) Islamic Development Bank: this is the first body on a transnational basis, under the
auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), created in 1973 by 22
States, of which the number will then rise gradually to 57 in 2008.
Types of Islamic banks
The growing number of Islamic banks has resulted in the specification of their
activities. There are today Islamic banks specialising in social development, others in
the harvesting of the deposits, the other still in the issuance of paper-value for the State,
etc.
Most Islamic banks have local, belonging to a State, and without external activities.
Other banks have an international vocation, with branches in different countries. The
most important example is the Islamic Development Bank, which is headquartered in
Jeddah.
It should also be noted the microfinance which is defined as the provision of
cooperative organizations, specialized banks and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), of financial products or services, such as accounts, the provision of credits,
the transfers of funds, etc.
Objections against Islamic banks
- Deception on the words: Sheikh Lebanese Al-'Alayli (died in 1996) considers that
the dispute concerning the interests is a deception on words (Khida Pass ' al-alfaz)
leading to intractable difficulties. According to him, the Bank is an intermediate, a
broker between two parties, one lends money and the other borrows. However, the
brokerage contract is permitted under Muslim law. On the other hand, the
intermediary bank is subject to loss and gain; We cannot therefore considered the
term fawa'id (interests) as a synonym for the term riba (usury) that the Koran
forbids. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, Grand Egyptian Mufti and grand Imam of
Azhar, said that gains by Islamic banks and the interest distributed by conventional
banks differ only in name. In order to solve the problem of the prohibition of
interest, he proposes to establish a commission to review the terms used by banks
to avoid any hint of interest. He propose to, abandon the term fa'idah (interest) and
replace it with the term ribh (gain) or that of 'a'id (income, revenue). At the
beginning of the 20e century, the Egyptian Government created a savings in the post
so that the poor can deposit their surplus. However, 3000 of these poor refused to
touch the interest on their money. Consulted, the Imam Rashid Rida then proposed
to introduce these interests as a gain under a mudarabah contract.
- If the reason for the prohibition of interest is to avoid that money produces money,
Muslim banking system does not realize this condition since there is always a client
who lends his money to the Bank and who expects a gain from this money without
doing anything. The Islamic Bank replied that it does not rate fixed gain to the
client, but does participate in gain and loss. However, it would be fairer to give a
fixed amount because the client has no merit in gain and cannot be imputed the loss.
- Islamic banks lend their money for participation in an economic project, obtaining
sometimes exorbitant annual profits up 32% of the amount of the loan.
- The actions of Islamic banks which are in Egypt, to cite only this country, are mostly
owned by non-Egyptians although 99% of the deposits are Egyptian. Most of these
deposits are invested in Europe and America against interests contrary to their
principles. For savers, the banks give them a small amount of earnings under
different name. So, they defraud investors and drain the money instead of
contributing to the development of Muslim countries.
- Islamic banks have huge money supply which are not used due to lack of projects
that correspond to their principles. This prevents the economic development of a
country. To remedy this problem, Islamic banks lend their surpluses to traditional
banks against interests, thus violating their own principles and misleading their
customers.
- Islamic banks make unfair competition with respect to the national economy. They
attract money through an effective religious technique and are supported by
religious advisors highly paid to legitimise their activities. Some of these advisors
are part of the Academy of Islamic Research of Azhar. They are behind the refusal
of this Academy to declare lawful certificates of investment issued by the
Government. In doing so, they deprive the State of liquidity it needs in the public
interest. The State has to resort to a fatwa obtained on the part of the Mufti of the
Republic. Furthermore Islamic banks refuse to lend money to the public authority
because it refuses to participate in the profit and loss.
- These banks do not clearly publish their activities. It is unknown where they invest
their money. They are satisfied to say that their activities are not interest.
- Islamic banks escape State control for the protection of consumers and the national
economy. Banks distribute gains depositaries, set their commissions and provide
loans without reporting to the State.
- Repeated attacks of Islamic banks against conventional banks in Arab and Muslim
countries will eventually ruin them.
- The annual reports of the religious councils of different Islamic banks are repetitions
year after year. These Councils have no independence since they are paid by the
banks and may be expelled if they do not approve their activities. There are also
reports a competition between specialists who offer their services to the most
paying. Some have tried to influence the Mufti of Egypt to prevent him from issuing
a fatwa in favour of investment certificates.
Scandals caused by Islamic banks
In Egypt and elsewhere scandals have tarnished the image of the Islamic banking
system. Islamic investment companies were able to offer applicants to gain up to 30%,
obviously carefully avoiding using the term taboo interests. These gains came from
new funds obtained on the basis of the appeal of these profits, exactly as in the Madoff
case. These companies, approximately 200, manage fortunes, according to estimates,
between 8 and 14 billion Egyptian pounds which half would have been in the hands of
Al-Rayyan. Without accounting and modern management, they were engaged
primarily to speculation on the international market and the hoarding of goods to enrich
themselves. They have thus caused losses to thousands of savers. Sometimes also firms
amassed fortunes and then their owners disappeared from Egypt taking money from
savers for ever. In Sudan, the banking provisions promulgated by president Numeiri
opened the Muslim Brotherhood a new field of fruitful activities. Linked to the Saudi
capital that is invested since 1979 through the Faysal islamic bank, the Muslim brothers
created several new banks. While the famine extended in Sudan, they did feel not
embarrassed to grab the grains on a large scale and making enormous profits after
reselling the rise in prices. As to the Islamic Bank in question is exempt from income
tax, it had achieved a 100% profit in its first year of operation.
Mutation of traditional banks and creation of Islamic banks in the West
In the current financial crisis and the successful Islamic banks to attract rich Muslim
customers, many traditional banks, in both Muslim and Western countries, began to
turn into Islamic banks, to open branches specializing in Islamic-type activities and
provide such operations.
This infatuation on the part of Westerners is regarded by Muslim authors in general as
proof that Islamic norms are able to manage the society at any time and in any place,
and as an enrichment of the Islamic system because it puts at its disposal the secular
experience and modern technology of traditional banks. But there are also those who
see in this attitude a way to deceive and to attract Muslim customers.
Western politicians fear that the influx of Muslim capital in Western banks influence
the economic system and ideological occidental. The Muslim banking system vehicles
with it not only money, but also rules in economic activities and in human relations. In
terms of economic activities, Islamic banks do not accept to finance casinos, pools
mixed, pig farming, winemaking, cafes, restaurants and markets selling alcohol,
cinema, the Moulin rouge, the media and journals that criticise islam, couples or
cohabiting without marriage, already but you have more than luck to priority if you
married four women according to Islamic law, slaughterhouses, and non-halal butcher.
The supervising Committee will be composed of Muslims. On the human relationships,
these banks do not allow work of women in the same offices as men, impose the veil
on employees and require a separate access for women to their customer services. This
is the principle: "who pays command". There is also the fear that Islamic banks are
used as an intermediary to finance international terrorism. Oscar Freysinger, a Swiss
parliamentarian, warned: "it starts with Islamic finance and it ends with Ben Laden
who organizes attacks with our money". Some years ago I attended a seminar on
Islamic finance in Geneva. A portion of the costs of the Conference was paid by an
Islamic Bank of Bahrain, and admission was charged. Result: lunch was without wine.
In France, several conventional banks deposits have opened Islamic counters, so that
french Muslims can perform operations, in the spirit of islam, with at least four
institutions, including the Société Générale and BNP Paribas. The installation of
Islamic financial institutions faced oppositions, due to arguments:
- The "problem of opacity of origin and destination of funds, so that practicing this
type of finance might unintentionally engage in the financing of terrorist activities;
- Such establishments go against the principles of secularism as a base for the values
of our country.
- To the fact that it would foster a tendency to communitarianism.
Note here that in China, the Muslim population is estimated at 20 million people and
the province of Xinjiang, whose economic growth has accelerated from 2000, and
which houses half of this population, approximately 10 million, has several financial
institutions offering at their counters of Islamic financial products. This which proves,
if need be, that "money has no smell" (Pecunia non olet), according to the reply of
Vespasian.
In any case, gain perspectives and new jobs in the field of Islamic finance today incite
Western universities to provide education for their students. More and more Congress
and meetings are organized in collaboration with universities and Muslim economic
organizations. But in general, we note that experts who combine knowledge of Islamic
financial law, banking techniques and the modern legal rules which govern them are
few.
Saudi Arabia
Article 2 of the Saudi Commercial trademarks
The following signs, emblems, flags and others as listed below shall not be considered
or registered as trademarks:
b) Any expression or sign or drawing violating religion, or which is identical or
similar to a symbol of religious nature.
d) Any expression, sign or drawing inconsistent with public order or public
morality.
e) Public emblems, flags and other signs, names or denominations pertaining to
the Kingdom or pertaining to one of the countries with which it has reciprocal
treatment or pertaining to one of the countries being a member of a multi-lateral
international treaty in which the Kingdom is a party or pertaining to an
international or governmental organization and also any imitation to these
emblems, flags, symbols, names and denominations unless permitted by such
owner.
Article 4 adds:
If the trademark sought to be registered contains one word or more written in a
foreign language, the applicant must submit a certified Arabic translation of such
word / words together with the phonetic transcription thereof.
Bahrain
Article 3 of the Bahraini law
The following shall not be regarded as trademarks nor shall be registered
as trademarks or as elements of trademarks:
B) Any expression, drawing or sign contrary to religion, morality or public order.
D) Armorial bearings, flags, public slogans, and other insignia belonging to
member states of Paris Convention or any imitation of such armorial bearings,
flags, slogans or insignia, subject to the provisions of article 6ter of the Paris
Convention for the protection of industrial property.
E) signs which are identical to the sign of the Red Cross or the Red Crescent and
other signs that are imitations thereof.
F) Marks identical or similar to symbols of a purely religions nature.
Egypt
Law No. 82 of 2002 Pertaining to the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Article 67
The following shall not be registered as trademark or an element thereof:
2- Marks that contravene public order or morals;
3- General emblems, flags and other symbols of the State or other States, regional
or international organizations, as well as any imitation therefor;
4- Marks that are identical or similar to symbols of pure religious nature;
5- Red cross or red crescent symbols or other similar symbols; as well as marks
that are imitation thereto.