Ground Zero Mosque Tax Exempt Public Funding Avoids Usury? Shariah Law Comes to NYC

The Retuers headline: "Ground Zero Muslim Center may get public financing," even though the project developer says the facility will hold "1,000 worshippers." Developers are hoping to raise $70 million in tax-exempt debt and the city of New York is considering tax-exempts bonds. Shariah law requires the mosque to built with no funds repaid with interest. How does all this come together? Will New Yorkers provide Shariah Compliant Financing for their Muslim residents, not for a mosque, but for a community center? Shariah finance succeeds where terrorism fails?

Graphic courtesy of Infidel Blogger's Alliance

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Linked by Larwyn's Linx and Doug Ross - Thank you Larwyn!

Shariah Finance - Jihad for Money: Video Transcript

I recently had a conversation with my brothers about Shariah Finance. I realized that I did not remember all that I knew about the subject, and it was time for a refresher. I went back to a previous post, the last half of which is about our U.S. Treasury supporting Shariah Compliant Finance, through the Harvard Law School's Project on Islamic Finance leadership. A part of that post included the video below, with the transcription of the video first.

Shariah Finance - Jihad for Money

This is such an important subject. I see one of my family member's investments held in an institution offering Shariah Financing, and one of the holdings is in a Shariah compliant fund shown below.

Here the video from ACT for America and a transcription: (note that the video seems to be from the period of the Bush TARP bill - late 2008)

Hi, I'm Joy Brighton. As a former Wall Street trader, investment professor, a Democrat, and an American concerned for my country and way of life, I'm here to break the silence and tell you about more greed and negligence on Wall Street and in Washington. While you and the government focuses on the subprime mortgage collapse, there is another financial crisis brewing. The same disastrous formula - Wall Street and their lawyers are focusing on profits and not enough on risk, and Washington is paying little attention to what is going on.

It's called Shariah Islamic Finance, the newest, fastest growing financial market in the world, and oh yes, Wall Street is on board bigtime. So you ask what is Shariah Finance? Though Wall Street is focused on the money side of Shariah Finance, Shariah Law is the reason this market exists; Shariah Islamic Law, comprised of rules like Muslim women are the property of men, "polygamy, forced child marriages, death to homosexuals and the obligation to wage holy war or jihad against infidels.

There are rules for infidels like you and me. Either we convert to Islam, pay a protection tax or we are killed. Who practices such inhumane law? The governments of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and radicals like the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda.

How did Shariah Finance become acceptable in the West? In the spirit of multiculturalism, political correctness, and greed gone way overboard, Wall Street has bought in to a multi-million dollar advertising campaign coming from the Middle East. We are being told that "quote, Muslims have religious banking requirements and if you create investments accord to Shariah Law, 1.2 billion Muslims, loaded with oil money, will beat a path to Wall Street. However, the majority of moderate Muslims worldwide, do not want anything to do with Shariah Law, or Shariah Finance.

Everyday Muslim leaders are warning about the dangers of Shariah Finance.

There is the Muslim Canadian Congress, American Islamic Forum for Democracy,  Muslims Against Shariah and many other Muslim moderates in the West, but no one is listening. You see, Shariah banking was created by Sheiks like al-Qaradawi, a terrorist banned from entering the U.S. and Britain. Yet as I speak, al-Qardawi says:

"I like to call it jihad with money because God has ordered us to fight our enemies with our lives and our money. ~ Sheik Yousuf al-Qardawi

The danger of Shariah Finance is not only that it is welcoming Shariah Law into our society, but a percentage of this money must go to Islamic charities. The problem is that since September 11th, twenty-seven Islamic charities have been identified by the U.S. government as funders of terrorism. Yes, America needs investment dollars, but are we willing to trade national security for it? There are ways to accept oil money into our economy, and protect our democracy without opening ourselves up to Shariah Law.

New evidence shows that al-Qaeda financed 9/11/01 attacks with funds received from Shariah Financing. Let me tell you what Wall Street is doing: First, they are marketing Shariah investment as the hot new product for all American pension funds insurance companies and corporations; Second, they are hiring religious sheiks to sit on advisory boards overseeing where and how to invest dollars to comply with Shariah Law. This is giving Muslim sheiks a seat of power at corporate headquarters all over America. In essence, Wall Street is welcoming Islamic Law into our banking system.

What is Wall Street not doing? First, Wall Street is not disclosing the connection between Shariah Law, the Taliban al-Qaeda and Iran. Second, Wall Street is not telling customers of the jihadi background of the Shariah experts they are hiring.

Many of your are customers of these financial institutions that are offering Shariah bonds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and insurance as legitimate and ethical.

AIG

Arcapita

BNP Paribas

Bank of America

Citicorp

Barclays Capital

BlackRock Shariah Finance

Dow Jones Index

Deutche Bank

Goldman Sachs

HSBC Amanah

JP Morgan Chase

Merrill Lynch

Millennium Finance Corp

Morgan Stanley Capital

Paulson and Company

S&P Family of Shariah Indexes

Shariah Capital

UBS United Bank of Switzerland

Wachovia

What is driving the Shariah banking craze? Money and lots of it. The Middle East takes in over $1 trillion a year in oil profits. This translates to billions of dollars lining the pockets of investment banks, law firms, insurance companies and consultants. Today lawyers and consulting firms are the key drivers of the Shariah banking craze. In fact, Harvard Law School just hosted their 8th Annual Islamic Banking Conference, where these firms learn that this market is very ethical and culturally important. 

My colleagues were there. No one explained what Shariah Law is, it's link to terrorism and human rights abuses. Harvard Law is even teaching the U.S. Treasury about the opportunity of Islamic banking. I've had hedge fund managers and advisers to sovereign (inaudible) and bank CEOs say "if I don't do this deal, someone else will.  Make it illegal and I'll stop doing it."

 Maybe this all sounds crazy, but no more crazy than September 11th would have sounded on September 10th. No more crazy than our government needing to bailout our economy to the tune of $700 billion and the disasters at Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers.

You must wonder: Isn't someone telling the government about this? Yes we have. Over the past year my colleagues have sat down with top officials at the Security and Exchange Commissions, US Treasury, Attorney Generals offices, aides to Pres Bush and CEOs of banks.

We have provided them with detailed documentation. The response from the Treasury Department:

"I don't know what Shariah Law is, but it can't possibly be what you say it is." 

Another senior Treasury official said:

"We are not responsible for disclosure or transparency." 

The SEC said:

 "Wall Street is disclosing. They are saying that these religious investments can't invest in alcohol or pork." 

So let me ask you, how would you react if your pension fund invested in an ethical, no alcohol mutual fund, and then you discover that there is a relationship between your investment and terrorists killing U.S. soldiers and civilians.

In my opinion, that is securities and consumer fraud. We are selling our soul and our security for money. We have no time to waste. We the people must rise up and stop this.

(The end of the video is about joining ACT for America's effort to stop Shariah Finance. ACT is an excellent and effective organization. Just follow the ACT link above)

End transcript.

Other Resources:
The Washington Times: Frank Gaffney: Treasury submits to Shariah

America Must Not Bail Out Sharia Finance (but we will) - Infidel Blogger's Alliance

Obama appoints Sharia Finance Specialist as White House Fellow

U.S. Interest in Shariah Finance Opens Dangerous Doors, Critics Say





ACT Shariah Law (video)

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Sams Club Offers $25,000 Business Loans to Minorities, Women, Vets

Sam's Club will offer small business loans of up to $25,000 to minorities, women and veteran-owned business' in a test program. The super wholesaler is teaming with Superior Financial Group to make loans from $5,000 to $25,000. Applications are available online.

JP Morgan Chase is also focusing on the small business owner offering lines of credit with lower interest rates for customers approved with a $250,000 credit line. Source for both programs.

Global Governance Needed for Financial Stability

The President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, told Forbes that global governance is extremely necessary if we want to prevent another financial crisis. In his prepared printed and spoken remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations, Trichet emphasized that politicians, economists, and financiers must work across the Atlantic and collaborate on methods to create an international set of standards.

It is his belief that through global governance, the resiliency of the global financial system can be assured, noting that ultimately it was governments’ use of taxpayer’s money, equivalent to around 25% of GDP on both sides of the Atlantic, that prevented another catastrophic great depression from occurring. Read the entire story here.

Funny or Die Presidential Reunion Video: George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan Star in FOD video

Funny or Die filmed a presidential reunion featuring Ronnie, Barack, The Bushes and Bill. The message supports the Consumers Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), which I'm not fond of - more big government control, and all that. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce does not support CFPA. But the message isn't obnoxious, and Bush isn't bashed any more than anyone else, although Barack receives a tad more protection than the others. It's a fun video.

Opie directs. Especially love Jim Carey as Reagan, Dana Carvey as Bush 41 and Will Ferrell as Bush 43.

The second video is a behind the scenes look at the good time had by all. You'll like it.

FunnyorDie.com

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

President's Reunion Behind the Scenes - watch more funny videos

Will Ferrell as G. W. BushDana Carvey as George H. W. BushJim Carey stars as Ronald ReaganFred Armisen as BarackMaya Rudolph as MichelleDarrell Hammond as Bill ClintonChevy Chase as Gerald Ford Dan Akroyd as James Earl Carter 

IMF $100 Billion Green Fund: George Soros Directs the IMF $100 Billion Green Fund?

A disasterous no-climate-change scandal, the UN's IPCC disgraced, a distinguished (not any more) British scientist asked to resign his position at the University of East Anglia Climate Unit - and it's not enough. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is proposing a $100 billion green fund to "finance low carbon development in the world's poorer countries." And guess what? George Soros is likely behind the plan.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The idea seems to be this: The central banks of developed countries would inject capital into the fund using some of their SDR allocations. The fund would then issue bonds to investors, including sovereign wealth funds that would be backed by the green fund’s capital.

So, with no agreement in Copenhagen, the US will participate anyway?

The idea appears to be uncannily similar to that proposed by financier George Soros around the time of the Copenhagen meeting -– though the IMF boss didn’t give him a name check.

How many water systems would $100 billion build? How many DDT sprays would it buy to abolish malaria? How many schools would it build? How many tractors would it buy?

The Wall Street Journal asks: How will it be paid for?

According to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF managing director, who made the proposal public Saturday, the capital will come from Special Drawing Rights – the IMF’s own currency — held by world’s central banks.

What does "Special Drawing Rights" mean? From the IMF website:

The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries' official reserves. Its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies, and SDRs can be exchanged for freely usable currencies. With a general SDR allocation that took effect on August 28 and a special allocation on September 9, 2009, the amount of SDRs increased from SDR 21.4 billion to SDR 204.1 billion (currently equivalent to about $324 billion).

In short, the IMF says they will use their "own currency." But where does the currency come from? The international community is the answer. In 1969:

...the international community decided to create a new international reserve asset under the auspices of the IMF.

Here is a more specific explanation of a Special Drawing Right (SDR):

The SDR is neither a currency, nor a claim on the IMF. Rather, it is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members. Holders of SDRs can obtain these currencies in exchange for their SDRs in two ways: first, through the arrangement of voluntary exchanges between members; and second, by the IMF designating members with strong external positions to purchase SDRs from members with weak external positions.

Similar to a carbon credit, maybe? A wealthy person with a large carbon footprint, buys carbon credits to plant a tree in a third world country?

This from the Wall Street Journal article linked in the second paragraph:

SDRs were first created and issued to IMF members in 1969 in an era of a dollar shortage, where central banks couldn’t find enough dollars and gold for their reserves. Now, after a new issue last year, the amount held in central banks around the world exceeds $300 billion.

The fund would then use that money to make grants and low-cost loans to developing countries to finance low-carbon growth.

In the meantime, the people have no drinking water in their communities, no agriculture, no roads, no electricity, no way to combat malaria, but they will have a tiny carbon footprint.

One World Bank Tax: Banks Favor Global Fee

"Tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars" could accumulate from a global fee to be paid by the world's biggest banks. Think of it as an "insurance scheme," to rescue future bank failures. Will it eventually fund Hamas? Just a thought. Financial Times has the story straight from the Davos World Economic Forum.

Tim Geithner Out? Jamie Dimon In? Jamie Dimon Tim Geithner Replacement?

Last week, in a meeting of the Joint Economic Committee, Republican Kevin Brady (Texas) asked Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, if he would resign "for the sake of our jobs." Michael Burgess (R-Texas) told Geithner, face-to-face, "I don't think you should fired, I think you should have never been hired." And in a television interview, Democrat Peter DeFazio (Oregon) said America needs a new economic team.

Jamie Dimon

We have reports out from Bloomberg and the New York Post speculating that J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon might be a replacement for Geithner, although most believe such a move will be "a stretch."

People familiar with Dimon's thinking said he "would love to serve his country," and in recent weeks Dimon has had a noticeably higher profile in Washington, making frequent visits to government officials and earlier this month publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post that makes the case for letting large institutions that take big risks collapse rather than receive government aid.

It appears that Jamie Dimon has a close personal relationship with Barack Obama, has known him for a very long time, and is a "frequent" visitor to the White House, although the official White House visitor logs released recently, only shows Dimon on the premises twice.

From Bloomberg: Dimon’s Missteps

Not that he hasn’t stumbled. When the housing collapse started, for example, Dimon viewed it as an opportunity to expand in the California market for jumbo mortgages. He was also slow to exit the business of purchasing mortgages originated by outside brokers.

Nevertheless, Dimon has maintained a stronger stronger balance sheet than rivals. JPMorgan’s tangible common shareholders equity was 3.4 percent of assets at the end of last year. This has become a key measure of balance-sheet health for investors. While not necessarily stellar, JPMorgan’s level compares with about 2.7 percent at Wells Fargo Co., Isecond biggest after JPMorgan in market value among U.S. banks.

Achmadinejad Choose Iran or Israel: Obama Treasury Chose Shariah - Funds Terrorism

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Obama to choose Israel or choose Iran: "The support of both Israel and Iran can't go hand and hand," he said. Obama has already chosen Iran.  See an important video below.

U.S. Treasury

Ahmadinejad spoke at the 25th Session of Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the little banty rooster took capitalism to the woodshed. Going in the back door, he tried to pump up the drive for Shariah Compliant Finance in the U.S., indeed throughout the West, through his admonishment of capitalism. God forbid, we have the Democrats echoing him. Forget choosing between Israel and Iran. That little sound bite is a diversion - all of Achmidinejad's sound bites are diversions.

Addressing the same conference a day earlier, Ahmadinejad said that capitalist excesses caused the global economic meltdown and were un-Islamic, as leaders at a Muslim forum touted their religion's banking system a way to revive battered economies.

He also slammed investments that pay interest, deemed usury by Muslims, and said they had contributed to financial and social problems such as homelessness...

"Usury, which is entrenched in the capitalist system, is perhaps the main reason why the system has gone bankrupt," Ahmadinejad said. "It is a way of accumulating capital without working. Usury, according to the Koran, is fighting with Allah." 

One year ago, Frank Gaffney writing for the Washington Times, told us how it is happening in the U.S. with the Harvard Law School's Project on Islamic Finance leading the way.

The department [U.S. Treasury] is hosting a half-day course entitled "Islamic Finance 101" on Thursday at its headquarters building.

Treasury's self-described "seminar for the policy community" is co-sponsored with the leading academic promoters of Shariah and SCF in the United States: Harvard University Law School's Project on Islamic Finance.

At the very least, the U.S. government evidently hopes to emulate Harvard's success in securing immense amounts of Wahhabi money in exchange for conforming to the Islamists' agenda. Like Harvard, Treasury seems utterly disinterested in what Shariah actually is, and portends.

Unfortunately, such submission - the literal meaning of "Islam" - is not likely to remain confined long to the Treasury or its sister agencies. Thanks to the extraordinary authority conferred on Treasury since September, backed by the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the department is now in a position to impose its embrace of Shariah on the U.S. financial sector.

The nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Treasury's purchase of - at last count - 17 banks and the ability to provide, or withhold, funds from its new slush-fund can translate into unprecedented coercive power.

From Australian Islamist Monitor:
SCF or Sharia Compliant Finance is now the hottest product in the financial markets around the world. Wall Street in America is on board big time with this Islamic Banking scheme, although you would think Wall Street would be more careful especially as they are still enduring the GFC (Global Financial Crises) and suffered badly after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001.

Ironic, isn’t it, that Al-Qaeda used funds derived from Sharia Finance to finance the terrorist act on America. But does Wall Street care? Not when your mantra is “Greed is Good”. It is estimated that the annual profits flowing into the Arab oil states is around one trillion dollars which means the Arab banks are awash with money.

As we will see, part of the profit of Sharia Compliant Finance must be paid as Zakat to Islamic Charities. Now it is up to a board of Islamic clerics to decide which charities are the beneficiaries of this money. [Zakat is paid by American banks instituting Shariah Compliant Financing].

Does the humanitarian side to Islam shine here and do we see billions going to feed the hungry in Sudan, or build infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank to improve living conditions for the poor Palestinians? No, in fact it is exactly the lack of this humanitarian side which exposes the fraud in Islamic charity. Sadly, much of the money finds its way into the hands of terrorist organizations like Hamas or Hezbollah.

 From Human Events: Sharia-Compliant Finance Funds Jihad:

Turn your clock back 70 years. Imagine that Wall Street banks and brokerages sold Nuremberg-compliant bonds and stock funds in 1938. American Nazi sympathizers bought financial instruments certified by Berlin-based advisors as free of “Jewish profits” from, say, Salomon Brothers and Bloomingdale’s.

In turn, a percentage of such funds’ gains underwrote pro-Nazi charities, like the German-American Bund, and similar organizations in the Fatherland, like the Hitler Youth.

Seventy years hence, an analogous outrage grows on Wall Street, only this time for real.

Sharia-compliant finance (SCF) is expanding among banks and securities houses eager to absorb the hundreds of billions of petrodollars cascading into the Middle East, thanks to $100-per-barrel oil.

To lure this cash, financial companies increasingly offer vehicles that neither pay interest nor benefit from gambling, entertainment, alcohol, pork, or anything considered “haram” or “un-kosher” in Islam. Bahrain’s International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) counts $97 billion in Islamic bonds in circulation with another $66 billion forecast through 2008 -- and SCF is not limited to the bond market.

SCF goes far beyond marketing to Muslims and Middle Easterners. IIFM lists “wider sharia acceptance” among its goals. Selling sharia-compliant investments legitimizes a barbaric theocratic orthodoxy that should be defeated, not promoted.

What is your bank doing? I plan to find out about mine.

From the Tehran Times:

Assets held by fully Shariah-compliant banks or Islamic banking windows of conventional banks, rose by 28.6 percent, to $822b from $639b in 2008.

From Shariah Finance Watch:

Shariah-compliant Finance Helps Terrorist Banks in Iran:
If ever there was evidence of the sinister nature of Shariah-Compliant Finance, it can be found in Iran.

Iran is the world’s foremost terrorist-sponsoring nation, a country which sponsors Hezbollah, HAMAS and Al Qaeda.

Iran also supports the Taliban with weaponry in their fight against NATO forces in Afghanistan. And it is common knowledge that Iran is the principle supplier and training ground for insurgents in Iraq.

Shariah-compliant financing, funds terrorists. It is really, really simple:

...a boom in Islamic financing has added much-needed ballast to banks' bottom lines. Iranian banks now hold $235bn of sharia-compliant assets, which makes up 37.5% of total sharia-compliant assets worldwide.

In fact, The Banker's Top 500 Islamic Institutions ranking, published last October, shows Iran has more Islamic assets than all other countries and its banks account for six of the top 10 Islamic institutions worldwide. Bank Melli Iran has the most sharia-compliant assets in the world at $48bn. The others in the top 10 are Bank Saderat Iran, Bank Mellat, Bank Tejarat, Bank Sepah and Bank Keshavarzi.

The Australian Islamist Monitor turns the 2.5% zakat (donation to Islamic charities) into something easily understood: one dollar in very $40 dollars earned - goes to Islamic countries to support their charities jihad.

Shariah-compliant credit cards - see information here. You don't even have to be Muslim to have a Shariah-compliant credit card. You can fund jihad when you buy your groceries. MasterCard and Visa process these cards.





Shariah Compliant Finance in America
Thanks to ACT! for America for the video