Islamic Terrorism And Islamic Finance Essay

Islam is one of the world’s oldest religion with over one billion followers. There are many groups of people that classify as followers of Islam (Esposito p. 222). One group that does this is called Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is a jihad group, which is an armed struggle in defense of the Muslim community or often called terrorists (Esposito, p. 243). This jihad group was created in the late twentieth century. “Al-Qaeda began as a logistical network to support Muslims fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan War; members were recruited throughout the Islamic world” (Al-Qaeda 2016). Al Qaeda was not always bad as one can see that they were not created as a terrorists group but to fight against the Soviet in the nineties. After the war ended they turned into a group of Muslim that started to kill innocent people (Esposito p. 222). “When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the organization dispersed but continued to oppose what its leaders considered corrupt Islamic regimes and foreign (i.e., U.S.) presence in Islamic lands” (Al-Qaeda 2016). The leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, moved the group to target countries that were going against the sharia (Esposito, p. 232, Class discussion, 11/2). These attacks toward other countries will start a war against terror that would take many lives.

These days, when a news channel makes a report on a terroristic attack or issue, the anchors are most likely talking about ISIS. If a poll was given across the U.S asking what people thought of when they thought of modern terrorism, the majority would say ISIS. If that same poll was given before the rise of ISIS, however, the obvious answer would be Al Qaeda. Throughout the 2000’s, Al Qaeda and terrorism were synonymous terms. One could not have one without the other. So, the question must arise: What happened to Al Qaeda? This question is easier asked than answered. Al Qaeda rose to power through the late twentieth and early twenty-first century very effectively and rapidly, but they lost that power just as quickly by divisions in violent Islamic radicalism.

This essay provides an analysis of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah from its foundation and grass roots development up until the splintering of the group in 2000. It also provides analysis of the motivations behind its founder and the future of JI and radical Islam.

Terrorism has been a major concern for the United States government for many years. Citizens of the United States have been immune to the terrorist attacks that are taking place overseas. When The World Trade Center was attacked using a car bomb in 1993, terrorism was brought upon the door steps of Americans. What was once a headline on the daily news has now became a reality in the life of the American citizen. An essential element in the strategy for the war on terrorism is to dismantle or disrupt the financial network used by terrorist. After the September 11 attack the Federal Government took several steps to combat terrorist financing, resulting with "More than $140 million in terrorist's assets have been frozen across the some

Becoming an expert in Islamic economics and finance field is one of my long-term goals in life. I started to organize and made a plan towards achieving that dream since senior high school. The concern towards Islamic economics and finance concept, and its application for society and the country began when I was reading a book entitled Islamic banking-theory and practice. After finishing reading the book, my interest in Islamic economic and finance topics rose and strengthen my own determination to become the expert of Islamic economics and finance. The main principle of Islamic economics and finance which offers the just and ethics in economic activity, poverty alleviation through income distribution mechanism, and prevention of economic and

The failures and bailed out of large banking and financial institutions during economic turmoil of 2008-2009, is an emblematic of the excessive and imprudent lending and securitisation activities. Most economist, politicians and commentators referred the crisis being a reminiscence of capitalism and its inherent greed. The conventional economics, which ignored “centrality of human beings and their well-being” (Asutay, 2007), has led to the emerging calls for economics well-being thus contributed to the rapid development in Islamic finance globally. Reilly (1990) commented that this “phenomenon is the search for a new and just economic and political structure to replace the unacceptable and/or unworkable socialistic or capitalistic systems” or in other words, a moral economy. The discussion hereafter is to look at how moral economy is defined, the articulations and implications and whether Islamic economics as being grounded on the axioms and foundational principles of Islam, can be considered as moral economy from both aspirational expectations and operational aspect of it, thus served as a distinctive moral economy system.

Islamic banking is banking action that is reliable with the ethics of sharia and its applied presentation over the change of Islamic economics. As such, a more right word for 'Islamic banking' is 'Sharia compliant finance'.

The prosperity and peace of a society much or less depends on its economy. While for the smooth running of both, there are several instructions in Islamic Shariah and allows what is right and forbids what is wrong. When we talk about financial issues, Islamic Shariah strictly condemns Riba. The question may arise why Islam prohibits Riba? While it was already in practice before the advent of Islam and still it is a part of different economic systems throughout the world. It is simply because Islam gives respect to human beings and condemns all the attempts that are harmful and disgraceful for humanity. Therefore, Riba is not only forbidden in Islam but economic experts are also in search of its substitute. Since borrowing on interest rate creates several issues including: less efficient allocation of resources, indebtedness, unemployment and economic instability. While in society it causes injustices, inequity, poverty and imbalance etc. In this paper we are discussing how Riba causes imbalance in the society and instead Riba what Islam demands from its followers.

This is a multilateral financing organization. It has its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Islamic Development Bank was formed in the year 1973 by the Finance Ministers of member states. It was formed during the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (formerly known as Organization of the Islamic Conference). The King of Saudi Arabia (Faisal) supported the creation of this organization. The Islamic Development Bank started operating on October 20th, 1975 (Schiavone, 2015). Currently, the bank has 56 member states who are the shareholders of the bank. By the year 2013, the bank decided to triple its authorized capital to $150 billion. This move was meant to better serve non-member countries and Muslim in members. The Islamic Development Bank has a good credit rating of AAA, which it got from Fitch and Standards & Moody’s. A large portion of the paid-up capital of the bank is held by Saudi Arabia. It holds approximately one-quarter of the capital. This bank also plays the role of observer at the United Nations General Assembly.

In most jurisdictions where Islamic banks operate, they have to compete with conventional banks involved in interest-based borrowing and lending. The legal framework governing the licensing of banks and their regulation was designed primarily for conventional institu¬tions, not least as there were no Islamic banks in existence in most cases when the banking laws were drafted. Three choices therefore arise: firstly, whether Islamic banks can be accommodated within existing legal provision, whether the existing banking legislation requires amendment or, more radically, whether new legislation is necessary.

Petrodollar flows have been among the major factors supporting the growth of the Islamic finance industry ever since the 1960s GIFF (2010). The rising petrodollar flows in global markets imply continued and increasing petrodollar investments in the Islamic finance sector. This has led to a surge of interest in the Islamic Finance sector, with more and more countries positioning themselves as strategic locations to tap into part of this abundant pool of funds. For instance, a number of countries worldwide have announced their plans to issue Sukuk (Islamic bonds) and thus meet their financing needs by attracting high net worth investors (HNWIs) and wealth from the Middle East region. HNWIs are particularly on the look-out for efficient and secure jurisdictions for investing their funds, more so in the context of the present economic downturn . Operating in a facilitative business environment and reducing cost of operations are deemed instrumental factors for market players. Accordingly, a number of jurisdictions have actively encouraged the development of their Islamic capital markets as a key strategy for attracting both HNWIs and Islamic finance businesses . In particular, it has been observed that jurisdictions from across the world are developing their Islamic capital markets by utilising the efficiency provided by Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs) to structure Shari’ah compliant products which adhere to the

Forty years ago, the Islamic banking industry was created, on a modest scale, to fill a gap in a banking system that was not listening to the fervent Muslim believers. Morocco has been following the same development in offering Islamic finance services to its citizens through Islamic windows in conventional banks. In parallel to this development of the Islamic financial industry in Morocco, it seems very crucial to evaluate critically based on Maliki law school the previous experience of Islamic windows in conventional banks. Taking into considerations, the differences between schools in the interpretation and implementation of Islamic law in economy life, the objective of this paper was to critically analysis the practice of Islamic banks in Morocco. This paper aimed at analyzing the characteristics of different schools of Islamic law and how this would affect Islamic banking. The final aim of this paper was to highlight the importance of jurisprudence/ new interpretations in developing Islamic banking. Qualitative methodology based on semi directive interviewees was the main approach for this paper. Three levels of gaps have been found out. These gaps are related respectively to Murabaha, Musharaka and Ijara. Three recommendations have been advised to fill the gaps: Absolute isolation of Fund, Sharia auditing committee And Compliance with AAOIFI Standards

Islamic banks heavily in democracies. The advantage on return on assets of .0105 and on return on sales of .1507 outline conventional banks` better financial performance and asset utilization than Islamic banks compared to crisis period. The difference between conventional and Islamic banks on Net interest margin/ Total interest income have also grown from .0275 to .1001 point in the favour of conventional banks, this shows that conventional banks have become even more cost efficient than Islamic banks in democracies. Conventional banks are better on profitability, asset utilization, return on asset and were effective and efficient in all respects.

Results indicate that conventional banks perform better in profitability, while Islamic banks perform better in liquidity and credit risk. In t-test of the return on asset (ROA) and total equity to net loans, there are no major difference between Islamic banks and non-Islamic banks. In the return on equity and common equity to total assets, there are statistically significant differences in these two groups. The statistically significant difference was shown in the area of liquidity which means that the Islamic banks liquidity performance has major difference with the non-Islamic banks.

The challenge for Muslim countries like Bangladesh is to overcome its late entry into the market against well-established jurisdictions all over the world. Another subsequent challenge would also be to educate the masses and the other industry stakeholders regarding Islamic Problems and Prospects of Islamic Capital Market In Bangladesh 59 financial principles, products and investments. The challenge for them is to motivate authorities to provide favorable platforms and policies to make such initiatives viable. The Islamic financial operations are subjected to strange rules different from the ones applicable to the conventional operations; there are a number of challenges being faced by ICM. For instance, in many cases, the Islamic capital market has had to comply with the regulatory provisions meant for the conventional system which has an entirely different underlying objective and approach. Additionally, it should be noted that the