The Islamic Medical Association and British Muslims were shocked on 5th May to see an erroneous, misguided statement, written by Professor Bill Reilly (a consultant in veterinary public health) regarding the religious slaughter of animals used by Muslims and Jews, where he accused us of being cruel to animals as we do not use secular stunning methods before slaughter!

This statement was published in many newspapers, like the Independent and the Daily Mail… and originated in theVeterinary Record 2012;170:468-469 doi:10.1136/vr.e3100.

We would like to establish the FACTS and separate them from Fiction and Myth.

We all are aware that there is no scientific evidence, which has been properly done and agreed to by broad consensus of scientists proving that unstunned animals as actually properly practiced during the religious slaughter of animals suffer pain. Even the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) stated this in its Report on the Welfare of Farmed Animals at Slaughter or Killing: Part 1: Red Meat Animals (10 June 2003) in clause 194: “It is difficult to measure pain and distress during the slaughter process in an objective scientific manner and subjective indicators…” So how can Professor Reilly claim for sure that the animal feels pain when religious slaughter is done? Where is the scientific evidence? In fact, there is some scientific studies that strongly suggest that stunning causes pain to the animal, i.e., according to EEG brain studies.

It is also common sense that putting electricity onto the skin/body of man or animal causes pain and discomfort and may even cause burning in some cases. It can even lead to death, but animals cannot talk or complain as we all know. Electricity has and is still widely used in the world today to torture people in prisons, so why do we allow this torture by electricity for sentient, innocent, voiceless animals? It must be that financial greed of the slaughter industry, which uses stunning to permit it to kill more animals quickly without showing any respect for the lives being taken.

Or is this rejecting of the religious slaughter of animals a widely erroneous “subjective feeling,” that is predicated on a number of false assumptions that are encouraged by the power structure. Do many people believe that by doing the direct cut with a razor sharp knife on a conscious living animal that it causes pain to the animal? Or is it the mere medical physiological ignorance of the public about the medical physiology of the animal that makes them regarding the cut when done properly in religious slaughter a problem?

Medically and physiologically religious slaughter can be fully explained: A proper cut to the major blood vessels in the neck will produce a large hemorrhage followed quickly by hemorrhagic shock with immediate loss of consciousness and “instantaneous anaesthesia” or “stunning” leading to unconsciousness, especially as the blood is under high pressure and will come out quickly when a large hole has been opened by a razor sharp long knife, in the right anatomical site of the neck of the animal. In this way, the animal is rendered unconscious,  leading to a painless death. The brain is immediately deprived of its “living blood supply” (glucose and oxygen) which are essential for its functioning or for any feeling of pain, if there were any.

It is a MYTH, it is an ILLUSION and is a DELUSION, too, to consider proper religious slaughter of animals without stunning as painful and cruel. The British public is unaware that in the US religious slaughter is officially considered a HUMANE METHOD of slaughter! We do recognize that any improper religious slaughter might cause pain or discomfort to the animal and it is the responsibility of the religious communities to assure that this does not happen by ensuring regular Halal audits are done at facilities certified for Halal slaughter.

It is important to mention also one fact which most of the public are not aware. Religious slaughter, without the use of stunning, is allowed in the UK and is LEGAL, according of the law of the land.

One more thing: Muslim and Jewish believers have discovered that there are many forbidden (Haram) outcomes that result when stunning is used with animals. These are additional reasons to oppose stunning, such as:

-The death of some animals before doing the cut or the act of slaughter, especially in poultry. FAWC reported that about 1/3 of the chickens are dead before doing the cut/slaughter. In Islam it is forbidden to eat the meat of any animal who died before slaughter.

-Blood: staying inside the meat (Salt and Pepper hemorrhage) and is unseen,when the capillaries and small blood vessels in the meat crack up and explode from the power of electricity?

-BSE/Mad Cow disease risks increase when the captive bolt pistol is used to crack open the skull of cattle to stun them.

For Muslims, the meat that is produced according to the religious requirements is TAYYIB (pure and natural) while that when stunning has been used is not Tayyib.

It is important to emphasize that in the secular abattoirs, there is also a lot of cruelty inflicted on the animals before slaughter:

Kicking, beating and sticking and pushing of the animals in a harsh disrespectful way.

Moreover, much of the public is not aware that in using stunning: Some animals become paralysed while conscious, some have broken bones. And that does not consider the pain when an animal is mis-stuned and has to be stunned again. The best animal well-being standards permit a 5% mis-stun. However, some plants get down to about 3% — but that is a lot of animals suffering.

It is important to remember that CRUELTY AND MALTREATMENT of animals are rampant and rife in our modern world. Our advice to Compassion in World Farming and all the other animal welfare organisations is to concentrate more on the huge and increasing suffering of animals on our farms(factory farming/cage batteries…), secular slaughterhouses, and in homes. There is a lot of important work to do. People should know that all the believers in the three Abrahamic Faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, believe in the same form of proper religious slaughter as performed since the time of the Prophet Abraham.

Dr A Majid Katme(MBBCh,DPM)

Spokesman: Islamic Medical Association/UK

uk-british-group-creates-intl-halal-certification-programme

By Geraldine Chahine, Radio Lite RM

A group of scholars in the UK has created what they say is a halal certification program that has the potential to become the international standard for the global food industry and make life easier for the world’s 1.6 billion Muslim consumers.

The Halal Authority Board (HAB) in the UK has designed what they say is a “realistic and practical” certification scheme that regulates the production of halal products in accordance with Islamic law and modern food processing.

The hope is that a worldwide, uniform standard would streamline the process for halal food production and end the confusion among consumers who are confronted with a patchwork of different standards in the market, says HAB.

The main pillars of the certification program will include the production, processing and preparation of halal foods, particularly meat.

The HAB’s certification program has the backing of 950 of the UK’s 1,400 mosques. The Shariah board itself is made up of 13 Islamic scholars who represent a wide cross-section of the Muslim community.

The system will also be overseen by third-party certification group Cert ID Europe.

Article 2

Partnership promotes a global halal certification www.canadianmanufacturing.com

Nuneaton, U.K. – Certification groups have formed a partnership to offer a new worldwide standard for Halal certification for the food industry.

Cert ID Europe, a U.K.-based certification business, and the Hijaz Group of Saudi Arabia recently formed the Halal Authority Board (HAB) to offer this new standard for food and beverage producers.

A story on FoodNavigator.com reports that currently Halal certification standards are not all the same. In addition, there is no one type of Muslim consumer – even among that community there are different opinions on what constitutes Halal.

On top of that, Halal requirements are based on the Koran and Sharia laws that date back more than 1,500 years. So producing Halal foods in today’s world is not as simple as it seems.

Clear guidelines

HAB’s new standard offers the industry realistic and clear guidelines, which it says is especially useful for a market that is estimated to be worth more than US$600 billion and includes more than 1.6 billion consumers worldwide.

The standard was created with 13 well-known Islamic scholars to represent a wide cross-section of the Muslim community, reports FoodNavigator.com.

HAB says the new standard also brings together different Halal standards from around the world, “giving full assurance to Muslim consumers that the products are Halal wherever they are in the world.”

The standard sets out guidelines on all aspects of production, including food health and safety regulations, storage, delivery, cleaning and cleansing, which takes into account scientific developments to prevent contamination from pork and other unacceptable derivatives.

Currently, there are five modules covering:

1. Primary Production of Livestock;
2. Primary Processing of Livestock, which includes guidelines on cleaning and cleansing; slaughter of livestock, packaging and labelling.
3. Further Processing;
4. Logistics;
5. Foodservice, which covers the preparation of Halal foods.

The American Halal Association reports as a matter of due diligence to inform consumers.

The Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that ensures the nation’s meat and poultry supplies are correctly labeled and packaged. Temporary approvals can be granted by the Labeling and Program Delivery Division (LPDD) for up to 180 days to a company that has a need to correct a deficient label. It gives time for the company to take corrective action, but unfortunately the consumers may be misled by the faulty packaging distributed in that time frame.

In August 2011, an on site USDA inspector for Park Farms questioned the usage of a label on Halal Pride brand chicken marked “Hand Slaughtered” that was actually initially machine killed. By September 2011, Halal Pride obtained a temporary approval to use 125,000 labels from the LPDD in Washington. Again, the on-site USDA inspector was uncomfortable and felt it was “misleading to the consumer” and questioned FSIS about using the label. He received his answer in Nov, 2011 and the deficient labels were approved for use until Jan 2012.

It is ambiguity like this that can mislead Halal consumers about the process by which their food is packaged and labeled. Read the attached Freedom of Information Act letter. FOIA 12-42 Responsive records Applied

Click on the thumbnail for access to the DinarStandard American Muslim Market Study and Complimentary Executive Summary.

Republished from Huffington Post
By Annalisa Musarra
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) Muslim consumers are growing in the U.S. and they have money to spend. Now, businesses are starting to take notice.

“The emerging American Muslim market is perhaps the new area that a lot of businesses … are starting to look into,” said Rafi-uddin Shikoh, managing director and founder of DinarStandard, a marketing research firm specializing in the emerging Muslim market.

Shikoh said his New York-based firm conducted research in 2011 on the Muslim marketplace and found that, while Muslims are just as hard to categorize as other groups, there are plenty of opportunities for different industries — food, retail and finance — to reach them.

With an estimated disposable income of between $107 billion and $124 billion, Muslim Americans are realizing they can use their size to influence the market, he said. If a business offers halal food products, for example, Muslim consumers will pick that business over the others. “There are these unique things that businesses are not realizing but there’s an opportunity for that,” he said at a recent forum sponsored by the American Islamic Congress.

The Pew Research Center conducted a survey last year on Muslim Americans and estimated a population of about 2.8 million Muslims in the U.S., and they’re growing thanks in part to a higher fertility rate than other Americans.

While the exact number of American Muslims has been disputed, the general consensus in the business world is that the majority of the growing Muslim consumers are young, middle class and misunderstood. Pew also found that U.S. Muslims (14 percent) roughly mirror the general population (16 percent) on the percentage of households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.

Businesses now want to connect with this new market, said Sarab Al-Jijakli, account director at Ogilvy Noor, a boutique subsidiary of the Ogilvy & Mather global ad agency, which specializes in the emerging Muslim marketplace.

“Many brands are playing catch-up,” Al-Jijakli said at the forum.

Arsalan Iftikhar, a contributing editor for Islamica magazine and author of “Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslims in the Post-Osama Era,” said the American Muslim growth trend line is positive and he is glad American businesses are seeing the potential of selling products to a “previously untapped minority population.”

“I think it is quite heartening that our nation’s corporate and business leaders are beginning to notice our community as an up-and-coming minority group within America today,” he said.

The racially and ethnically diverse Muslim population in the U.S. is concerned about the same issues as everyone else, like jobs, the economy and health care, said John Pinna, the AIC’s director of government and international relations. But, like other immigrant groups, they’re also looking for ways to participate in society.

And in America, that often means shopping.

“Now we’re looking for products, we’re looking to participate in the democratic process and we’re this young population that’s hungry to be noticed,” said Pinna, an Afghan-American Muslim.

“The American Muslim community isn’t really extraordinary at all,” he said. “It’s just that it’s now starting to be noticed.”

Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed, founder & President of Muslim Consumer Group For Food Products USA/Canada presented a paper on Processing Aid or Hidden Ingredients in Food Products & ingredients and their Halal status from US food industry point of view at First International Conference on Halal Food Control at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In his presentation he explained which processing aid or Hidden ingredients are used in fresh apple, apple juice, fortified milk in USA & Canada, Bakery products, Pasta, Potato Products, Mayonnaise, Tartar Sauce, seasoning, dry mixes, Beta Carotene, Soft Drinks, Fruit Drinks, Cheese, Whey, Infant Baby Formulas, Cereals, Turmeric Powder, Butter, Margarine, Vanilla Extract in Cookies, Malt Flavoring and Malt Extract in Cereals based on his 30 years of US food industry experience, and his recent experience with Kraft Foods USA until December 2011, which led him to also include the Hidden ingredients used in Kraft BBQ Sauce.

He also mentioned that not all Kosher certified food products are consider Halal unless they meet the Halal requirements. He provided a list of 17 ingredients, if any single ingredient of those 17 ingredients present in a Kosher certified food product then that kosher certified is not consider Halal based on MCG criteria for Halal status.

He provided a solution to Muslim consumers of USA/Canada for not consuming Haram Hidden ingredients in a food product if the food product has a Halal or Kosher symbol(if kosher certification meets the Halal requirements)on the food package because many Muslim consumers in USA and Canada have little knowledge of hidden ingredients in food products and their Halal status.

MCG also had a booth at the exhibition to show how they are serving the Muslim Ummah through the Halal Food Book “A Comprehensive List of Halal Food Products in USA”, and through their website www.muslimconsumergroup.com which is logged in 135 countries with 1100 visits per day and their www.canadianhalalfoods.com website for Canadian Muslims.

Muslim Consumer Group do not Halal certify any food product or ingredients if alcohol is used in food flavors or during processing.

NEW YORK, LONDON, DUBAI, SYDNEY – Thomson Reuters and Crescent Wealth, the Australian Islamic investment manager, have launched an Islamic investment index for Australia to help open up this resource-rich market to Islamic finance investors globally. The index enables investors to benchmark the Australian equities market and therefore provides a powerful tool to those wishing to expand and diversify their investment portfolios in accordance with Islamic principles.

The Thomson Reuters Crescent Wealth Islamic Australia Index, covering 143 equities with combined market capitalisation of $160 billion, is the first benchmark index to screen ASX-listed companies for compliance with Islamic investment principles using Thomson Reuters unique research-based approach.

The Shariah screening filters used by the index exclude institutions from conventional financial sector companies with high levels of debt or leverage such as property trusts and other stocks that conflict with Islamic finance principles. The screening therefore produces a dynamic bias towards resources and energy firms, including blue chip companies such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

The creation of the index is a key step toward positioning Australia as an attractive destination for global Islamic investment funds and family offices. It is estimated Islamic banking assets globally now exceed US$1 trillion and could reach US$4 trillion by 2020, and that there is US$50 billion in managed funds investing in equities according to Islamic principles.1
Rushdi Siddiqui, global head of Islamic finance and OIC countries at Thomson Reuters, said: “Australian markets are stable and have attractive growth fundamentals that Islamic investors are looking for in today’s challenging macro-environment. Using the well-documented and objective Shariah screening process, the new co-branded index will highlight these investment opportunities across our terminals by necessarily focusing on many highly-regarded compliant companies with low levels of balance-sheet debt. It is a powerful new tool for Islamic investors to geographically diversify their portfolios while increasing investment opportunities into an important G-20 country like Australia.”

Talal Yassine, managing director of Crescent Wealth, said: “The new index is a natural fit for Crescent Wealth, as Australia’s first purely Islamic-focused fund manager. There is a huge untapped potential to grow Islamic-compliant investment in Australia from investors around the world, in particular in Asia and the Middle East. This index gives these investors a local performance benchmark for the Australian market.”

The Thomson Reuters Crescent Wealth index takes a powerful research-based approach to screening, which allows for a better understanding of companies than today’s automated screening. The compliant companies are reviewed on a quarterly basis for continued compliance with Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAIOFI) standards.

The index uses the same free float, market capitalization weighting methodology as all other Thomson Reuters global equity indices and employs the Thomson Reuters proprietary liquidity filter. This ensures that all index constituents, including those in frontier markets, are liquid and therefore investable.

1Source: Ernst & Young Islamic Funds & Investment Report 2010 and Standard and Poor’s Islamic Finance Outlook 2010

From Business Islamica by Kashif Hasan Khan

Understanding the Current Debate on Tawarruq and Sukuk: A Study of the Juristic Opinions of Indian and Arab Scholars

Introduction

Tawarruq and sukuk are the two most controversial Islamic financing tools currently prevailing in the market. Since Islamic finance has its major expansion in the Arab World and its potential market is now seen in India, which is the worlds second largest Muslim Populated country, we find that religious scholars are showing greater interest in it from an Islamic perspective. But, how do the Arab and Indian Muftis (jurists) interpret it, considering its applicability in a financial market dominated by the interest based financial system?
This paper basically aims to examine these points in order to understand whether the current practices of Tawarruq and sukuk are permissible or not in the views of Indian and Arab Shari’ah scholars.

A Paradigm Shift

Islamic banking came into existence in the beginning of the 1960s but only started receiving attention and gaining high popularity in the last two decades. Now, Muslim and non-Muslim countries are giving a warm welcome to the industry, with a number of scholars over that period concentrating on the various aspects of Islamic banking and considering it to be in its infancy because of its small size compared to the gigantic conventional industry. Therefore, despite exemplary advancements and achievements, there remain a number of controversies over various underlying concepts and practices. There are also many issues that were raised in the early 1980s, such as -do Islamic banks operate according to the principle of profit and loss sharing? -Who are the benefactors and who stands to lose from such banks? Currently, there is a paradigm shift. We hardly find questions related to the principle of profit and loss sharing; rather there are some more complicated issues like risk management, transparency and Shari’ah supervision.

Here it would be relevant to answer such questions. But there are others. What is the importance of Shari’ah opinions in financial matters and what needs do these experts have to formulate consensus? And where do the opinions of both the Arab and Indian Shari’ah scholars differ in understanding the permissibility of Sukuk and Tawarruk?

Fatwa on financial Transactions

In order to understand the opinion of Shari’ah scholars it would be pertinent to start a discourse on the fatwas issued on financial transactions in India and the Arab world. The fatwa on finance is a most attractive term for both Muslims and non-Muslims, mainly because most of the Muslims are not aware of the terminology. It should be kept in mind that India is the country where fully fledged Islamic financial institutions are not yet in existence, therefore, the Fatwa issued by Indian scholars would provoke more questions such as how can Shari’ah scholars know and formulate opinions on financial matters without having first accepted the system of interest-free banking in India. Indian fatwas are mostly based on the assumptions that whatever form of Islamic finance is in practice, it will also be applicable in the Indian scenario. Arab Shari’ah scholars arent much concerned with the perceived structures of the Indian scholar in a country where most of the financial rules are governed by RBI (the Reserve Bank of India) without taking into consideration the religious sentiments of the people. That is why, when the Indian Muftis (Jurists) deliver any fatwa concerning the Islamic finance it generates debates on its viability in India. The only platform gathering Shari’ah scholars in India is the Islamic fiqh Academy (IFA).

As far as the fatwas in the Arab region, the first of these on the said issues was in 1904, and they addressed the legitimacy of interest banking. But serious attention was only given after the 1970s when Islamic banking started serious operations and some innovations sprung up. During the early seventies, Shari’ah academies also emerged into the scene.

Fatwa Shoppings

Shari’ah Supervision is essential in the Islamic banking Industry because the purpose is to ensure that the financial institutions operate in conformity with Shari’ah. It is usually made up of a number of jurists who provide clarification in regards to any questions that the financial institutions may have (Usmani, 1998). Presently, it has become an impediment to the entire Islamic banking Industry. Fatwa shopping a procedure that enables the financial institutions to seek a fatwa on financial products or contracts from the scholars who, they assume, will consider such products or contracts as Shari’ah-compliant and later grant a fatwa is a threat to the Islamic finance industry because the process works against the harmonization of fatwa.

Malaysian scholars might be considered too liberal for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) investors whereas Pakistani or Indian Scholars follow different Shari’ah guidelines to those defined by GCC Shari’ah scholars. There is additionally the issue of differing interpretation of existing Shari’ah rulings. The existence of various sects in Islam and the fact that each sect has its own authority or body which provides guidance and interpretation on Shari’ah issues makes the process complicated. Differences do arise and exist between the countries and regions. For instance, Islamic financial restrictions are more liberal in Malaysia compared to the Middle East where the financial regulations have been applied more strictly.

Opinions on Sukuk and Tawarruq

Tawarruq is a transaction whereby a needy person buys something on credit and then immediately, in a separate transaction with another party, sells it for cash. It has become increasingly popular in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and other GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries in recent years. However, more recently, two prominent jurists, both housed in Saudi Arabia, tackled the issues of Tawarruq and Fiqh. The Academy of OIC in Jeddah has already forbidden Tawarruq. The Fiqh Academy of the Muslim World League in Mecca issued two rulings on the transactions. The first opinion was issued during the 15th session of the Academy in 1988. It permitted the contract subject to the condition that the customer does sell the commodity to its original seller, to avoid direct interest evidence of Inah as a legal stratagem to circumvent the prohibition of Riba. The second took place in the 17th session of the academy held in December 2003; they tackled the issues of Tawarruq as practiced by Islamic banks today and forbade it. Many Muslim jurists frowned upon the practice of Tawarruq because of its similarity to bai al inah, and its propensity to incur Riba in the transactions. Whereas some of the scholars hold opinion that it is extremely suspicious from the point of Shari’ah compliance.

The well known Indian Scholar M.N. Siddiqui, who is perhaps the most influential writer of the first generation of modern Islamic Economists, says that the Tawarruq practice must be of limited use only for meeting unavoidable liquidity whereas Sheikh Mohammed Mukhtar Al Salami, head of the Shari’ah (Islamic) panel in the Jeddah based IDB, said the present practices of Tawarruq deal as -concealed usury which is prohibited in Islam. Prominent scholar Sheikh Nizam Yaqubi, disagrees with the Saudi Arabian ruling and this has triggered a fierce debate.

AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization of Islamic Financial Institutions) issued its Shari’ah standard 30, indicating the correct way of doing Tawarruq. In reality, of course, Shari’ah standard 30 is never implemented. In recognition of the need for expert, independent advice, and supervision on Shari’ah related matters, the AAOIFI established standards requiring every provider of Islamic financial services to have its own Shari’ah Supervisory Board (SSB) thus, in its auditing standard for IFI no. 4 AAOIFI stated in paragraph three that every Islamic Financial Institutions should have a SSB.

Sukuk

Sukuk has been derived from the term -sak in classical Arabic. The term -Sukuk (the plural of sak) as used today is synonymous with -Islamic bonds. But, in fact, it is different from it. It is a new dimension of this very industry that came into existence only two decades ago; it was an attempt by the modern scholars to confront the conventional debt market, because in the present era one can find that the debt based market has been rooted much deeper than the equity based market. Sukuk is the subject of an ongoing discussion, weighing the balance of halaal and Haram in the context of a gradual approach.

Sheikh Taqi Usmani, a leading Shari’ah scholar and chairman of the AAOIFI board of Shari’ah, said that 80% of sukuk are not Shari’ah-compliant. According to him it violates the principle of risk and profit sharing on which it should be based, and as a result, the AAOIFI brought together its board of Shari’ah scholars to clarify the issues raised by him and to form a consensus among Shari’ah scholars. They published a six point paper in 2008 outlining their position on sukuk, which included a ruling that purchase undertaking at face value for Musharaka and Mudarabah sukuk structures are no longer permissible. The Fiqh Academy of Jeddah is also in favor of the six point paper by AAOIFI.

According to Siddiqui, distancing sukuk from debt is necessary to make them free of Riba and the element of Maysir (gambling). The thing which makes the sukuk a debt instrument in the view of Siddiqui is inclusion of Murabaha receivables into the package of assets against which sukuk are issued and the commitment to redeem them at their face value at some future date, with regular periodical returns being paid in between. There is no difference, in effect, between this and some of the money lent for an interval being serviced by periodical payment covering the interval.

CONCLUSION

While going through these two important modes of finance, considering the opinions of scholars both from India and the Arab world, it emerges that Sukuk is getting approval from a number of scholars and is also found to be a viable option for a long-term project financing. However, Tawarruq is still found to be a more controversial and ambiguous financing nature, where most of the Islamic banks seek legal roots to justify lending.

About the author

Writer is a research fellow at the centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India. He can be reached at Kashif_islamicfinance@yahoo.com

Book Download  Click on the Meezan Bank logo!

Guide to Islamic Banking, by Dr. Imran Usmani, is a comprehensive publication which enables the reader to understand what Islamic Banking is and how it works. The publication covers all Islamic Banking modes, methods, related Islamic Shariah concepts and includes a complete Glossary on Islamic Banking terminology.

This humble effort by Dr. Imran Usmani will surely help the students, practitioners, bankers, customers and anyone interested in Islamic Banking to have a better understanding on all the major areas under the umbrella of Islamic Banking.

ISBN:
969-428-006-0
Publisher:
Darul – Ishaat Urdu Bazar Karachi – I Pakistan

Edition:
FIRST (2002)

2012 LSE-Harvard public lecture on Islamic Finance

Date: Wednesday 22 February 2012
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Speakers: Mukhtar Hussain, Professor Volker Nienhaus
Chair: Justice Cranston

It is felt that conventional financial systems have failed and should be replaced, or supplemented, by more ethical banking and socially responsible finance. Can Islamic Finance, as a system with a strong religious background and moral framework, satisfy this hope?

Mukhtar Hussain is chief executive officer at HSBC Malaysia.

Volker Nienhaus is visiting professor, University of Reading.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia January 16th, 2012 – OSK-UOB Islamic Fund Management, a joint-venture company formed between the OSK Group, one of Malaysia’s leading investment bank and Singapore’s UOB Group, one of Asia’s leading financial institutions, announced today that it has signed a strategic agreement with IdealRatings, Inc. a global Shariah compliant fund management service provider to utilize IdealRatings’ unique research based screening for their global growth strategy of equity funds.

According to Mohamed Noor, CEO, OSK-UOB Islamic Fund Management, OSK-UOB Islamic Fund Management was looking to find a partner who could provide detailed analysis of the revenue breakdown for the global stock market specifically for food companies involved in any non-halal elements. “IdealRatings, did an outstanding job screening companies with their one of a kind research methodology along with their comprehensive Shariah fund management solution. We feel confident relying on IdealRatings to provide us with top quality Shariah screening data for our Global Halal Food Fund and also for the other unique funds we will be offering as part of our portfolio in the future” said Mohamed Noor.

“The team at OSK-UOB Islamic Fund Management has great plans for much needed products in the market. We are proud to help such team with our service to develop successful products to meet the market demands in a high growth market” said Mohamed Donia, CEO of IdealRatings.