Ramadan Zakat Distributions

--tis the season for Ramadan Zakat Collection and distribution. Many legitimate alms projects are begun during this time. It is also the season to watch for the resupply of Jihadist organizations.

Zakat Collectors employed by Jihadist organization from Ivory Coast, Algeria, Morocco, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, and now Etritria are lined up with appointments throughout the Middle East as Corporate Zakata distributions are being made.

The collectors may not say they represent Al Qaeda in Magharebia, Shabaab, Al Qaeda in Iraq, but an authorized use of Zakat under Sharia is to pay the "Expenses" of Jihadis, and those collecting Zakat.

We can bet arms dealers, explosive material suppliers and simple arms dealers are standing by from Bosnia to Bulgaria to the Barakaa arms markt in Somalia, just waiting for that Zakat to come in.....

and don't forget the Brotherhood collectors who are funind those Salafist Youth radicalization projects in Ghana, Benin, Liberia, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Egypt, Angola....

See the article below from the Islamic Voice, complaining about the hectic schedule...

-Shimron


Ramadan sets the agenda for those who want to give Zakat and those who want to collect Zakat. Majority of Muslims consider it as auspicious to disburse Zakat during the Ramadan.

Looking at the entire system of Zakat collection and Zakat disbursement, it is torturous for both Zakat payers and Zakat recipients.

• For the entire month, those who want to pay Zakat, face the painful onslaught of people who want their share of Zakat.
• Those who deserve Zakat, compete with those who launch and manage mega and micro projects.
• In the process, those who pay Zakat, many times neglect their own poor relatives. In fact poor relatives should have the first right over the Zakat.
• The plight of the Zakat collectors who collect Zakat on behalf of Islamic organizations, non government organizations and Madrasas is pitiable as they have to struggle for the appointment and also wait endlessly to get their share.

The Rest @ Islamic Voice

World Wide Distribution of Zakat to come from One Source

from The Terror Finance Blog by John Wood

• In April 2007, a $600 million sukuk (Islamic bond) was structured and registered in the Cayman Islands.
• On August 26, 2007, the Khaleej Times reported that the Cayman Islands was introducing Arabic and English language registrations and certificates.
• According to Arab News, other tax havens have also been courting the Islamic finance market: Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and Luxembourg, to name but a few.
• In fact, the Jersey law firm of Voisin pioneered Islamic securitization deals with the Caravan I Sukuk.

Meanwhile, the UK is trying its level best to establish itself as the premier Western center for Islamic finance.

• On January 30, 2007, Economic Secretary Ed Balls announced that the UK government intends to introduce legislation to facilitate the UK issuance and trading of sukuk, as well as to provide guidance on musharka (an Islamic financial vehicle used for mortgages) and takaful (Islamic insurance).
• This announcement laid the groundwork for a major public and private sector high level Islamic Finance Summit on April 16, 2007.
• HSBC stands at the head of Western financial institutions offering Sharia’ah compliant mortgages and pension funds.
• In addition, in the UK, Standard Life also offers pension funds, Lloyds TSB offers shariah business accounts, and Children's Mutual offers a Shari'ah compliant Child Trust Fund.
  

Saleh Kamel, President of Dallah Al-Baraka Group, believes that there are now over 400 Islamic financial institutions in 75 countries, with total assets over $500 billion, growing at a rate of 15% per annum.

Mark Hanson, CEO of Global Banking Corporation, estimates that Islamic banking is growing at a rate of between 35-40% per annum.

In the space of just five years, the sukuk market has grown to $50 billion, at a rate of 40% per annum.

With the project finance market in the GCC estimated at $1 trillion, an increasing number of Middle East companies are looking to Shari’ah compliant financial instruments to meet their needs.

Thus, Islamic finance has become increasingly attractive to Western countries and financial institutions.

The pioneer and driving force behind modern Islamic finance is Saleh Kamel.

However, he is now calling for Islamic finance to move from being Shari’ah compliant to that of being Shari’ah based.

At the heart of his concern, is a belief that Islamic finance has adopted in part Western models, rather than the purely shari’ah model. Sheik Kamel sees zakat as key to the transformation from Shari’ah compliant to Shari’ah based financial products.
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• In October 2006, Sheik Kamel called for the establishment of a single worldwide organization to collect and distribute zakat, both Zakat Al-Fitr and Zakat Al-Mal from the 20,000 or so organizations that are currently involved in its collection.
• Significantly, the funds will be distributed under the supervision of a committee comprising experts from the IDB, ICCI and the OIC.
• On November 28, 2006, the OIC approved Kamel’s proposal.
• On December 4, 2006, it was announced that the International Commission for Zakat would be based in Malaysia.
• On April 30, 2007, 20 OIC nations, including Saudi Arabia, endorsed the International Commission for Zakat.

It is no coincidence that the most enthusiastic supporter of the new International Commission for Zakat is Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Chairman of the World Forum for Muslim Scholars, a supporter of Hamas and the Palestinian intifada. The Quranic basis for his position is to be found in the admonition that zakat may be given to help those who are confined for the cause of Allah (fisabillillah) (Sura 2:273).

• Dr. Ajeel Jassem al-Nashami, the Secretary General of the International Organization for Zakat in Kuwait, in his interpretation of Sura 9:60, observes that of the eight forms of zakat that are enumerated, four of them are designated for jihad, and the other four for the help of the needy.
• For Qaradawi, Islamic charities who provide support for the families of suicide bombers, represent the practical face of financial jihad.
  On June 20, 2007, Saleh Kamel called for a streamlining of the Shari’ah council system which makes rulings (fatwas) on whether a financial investment or asset is according to Shari’ah law illicit (haram) or not.
• He proposed a central Shariah Council for issuing fatwas. Presently, Islamic financial institutions are encouraged to have their own duly constituted Shari’ah boards that make fatwas, but not all do.

The goal is standardization, in order to create uniformity in fatwas.

• Under Shari’ah law, the charging of interest (riba) (Sura 2:275-280),
• investment in risky (jahala) ventures or uncertain (gharar) arrangements (Sura 2:282),
• gambling or games of chance (maisir) (Sura 5:91),
• alcohol (Sura 2:219),
• pornography (Sura 17:32)

are deemed haram, and as such, are prohibited and must be removed from among the investments or assets of an Islamic financial institution.

That being said, in order to purify the remaining investment or asset portfolio, the earnings from haram activities are to be applied as zakat. With respect to lawful investments and assets, they are subject to Zakat Al-Mal.

Whilst, standardization is a laudable goal, it should not be lost on anyone that most probably the underlying school of jurisprudential interpretation (fiqh) will be hanbali.

In other words, the new international shari’ah council will be wholly wahhabist, and therefore, Islamic fundamentalist.


The Rest @ The Terrorist Financing Blog

An Islamic Caliphate in Seven Easy Steps

A Jordanian journalist writes, "I interviewed a whole range of al-Qaida members with different ideologies to get an idea of how the war between the terrorists and Washington would develop in the future." What he then describes between pages 202 and 213 is a scenario, proof both of the terrorists' blindness as well as their brutal single-mindedness. In seven phases the terror network hopes to establish an Islamic caliphate which the West will then be too weak to fight.

The First Phase Known as "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby "awakening" Muslims. "The first phase was judged by the strategists and masterminds behind al-Qaida as very successful," writes Hussein. "The battle field was opened up and the Americans and their allies became a closer and easier target." The terrorist network is also reported as being satisfied that its message can now be heard "everywhere."

The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is, according to Hussein's definition, the period we are now in and should last until 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaida wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an "army" set up there and bases established in other Arabic states.

The Third Phase This is described as "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria," prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and -- even more explosive -- in Israel are predicted. Al-Qaida's masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger.

The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaida will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments. The estimate is that "the creeping loss of the regimes' power will lead to a steady growth in strength within al-Qaida." At the same time attacks will be carried out against oil suppliers and the US economy will be targeted using cyber terrorism.

The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared. Al-Qaida hopes that by then the Islamic state will be able to bring about a new world order.

The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden.

The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory." Hussein writes that in the terrorists' eyes, because the rest of the world will be so beaten down by the "one-and-a-half billion Muslims," the caliphate will undoubtedly succeed. This phase should be completed by 2020, although the war shouldn't last longer than two years.

Read the complete article by Yassin Musharbash