Reminds us of the West Bank.

Al-Shabaab imposes at 2½ percent zakat tax on every stage of Somalia’s charcoal production and exportation.  NTV Kenya notes that “According to the military spokesman, Colonel Cyrus Oguna, charcoal business has been the main source of funding to the Al-Shabaab militants.”

Truck with illegal Pakistani timber

Deforestation enriches jihadists

The Taliban may regard the trees as their right to exploit as they please due to Islamic laws on “unused” land, or they deem their takings as a form of zakat on timber or ushr taxation on Swat’s residents.  Via the Guardian on Jan. 17:

Pakistan’s forests fall victim to the Taliban

The forests of northwestern Pakistan have become the latest victim of the Taliban’s increasingly desperate quest for resources to sustain and fund its military programme

The landscape of Swat, an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and once a luscious valley, is now dotted with thousands of tree stumps as militants decimate acres of forest for timber revenues.

“Nearly all the forested areas have been mercilessly stripped of trees but the Swat in particular has borne the brunt of the Taliban’s atrocities over the last two years,” Jamshaid Ali Khan, secretary of the Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad (SAFI), told IPS.

SAFI was founded in 1997 in the hopes of conserving, managing and developing forests, providing income for local workers, reducing air pollution and minimising soil erosion during floods but its operations were severely restricted between 2007 and 2009, when the Taliban exercised full control over Swat.

Despite all its best efforts, the organisation has failed to stop the lopping of trees to fund the Islamic movement. Jamshaid lamented the Taliban’s tactic of enlisting the services of the ‘timber mafia’ to fell forests and sell the wood for throwaway prices.

Rahim Gul, a researcher at the University of Peshawar, says the Taliban frequently ‘clean their hands’ on natural resources, whenever they are short of funds.

“The Taliban finance their movement by (extracting timber) or imposing harsh taxes on the transportation of marbles from the northern Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),” he said, adding that the Taliban’s crude methods of tree cutting cause permanent damage to the environment.

“A tree takes 100 years to mature before it can be cut for construction wood. The government cuts the trees after evaluation and planting sapling as substitutes,” Jamshaid said. The majority of trees felled by the Taliban have not yet reached their full state of maturity, he said. Citing research conducted by the Pakistan Forest Institute of Peshawar, Gul claimed that the Taliban also employs methods such as kidnapping for ransom, growing poppy crops and harbouring criminals as income-generating schemes. They also mine and sell precious stones, including fine quality emeralds.

However, timber extraction remains the most popular, and arguably most destructive, activity by far.

Wide-scale deforestation

Mohammad Jawad, a forest officer for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, explained that before the onset of militancy in 2005, the province accounted for 40 percent of the country’s forest resources.

Although no fresh research has been done since, “it is largely believed that the Taliban have destroyed 80 percent of those forests,” he said.

The Malaknd Division of northwestern Pakistan, renowned for its vast expanses of pine, dewdar, cedar and byar trees, now wears a deserted look.

“Fewer forests mean less money for the more than 20,000 households in Swat and adjacent districts in the Malaknd Division, all of which considered the forests to be their ‘lifeline’, since it provided them an income and royalties from the sale of trees,” he added.

Ameer Muhammad Khan of SAFI told IPS that local communities had traditionally relied on forests for firewood, construction wood and grazing pastures.

“The government is responsible for protecting these forests but it has no authority to stop the Taliban from the ruthless laceration that has deprived 80,000 people of royalties from the sustainable sale of trees,” he stressed.

According to SAFI, every resident of the forest-rich areas of Malaknd used to receive about 100 dollars in annual royalties before the Taliban’s onslaught against the forests began but now that amount has plunged to just 10 dollars. People are cursing the Taliban for bringing about such a swift cut to their meagre income.

Not only the residents of Malaknd but the government too has suffered losses of up to 350 million dollars according to a report by the Forest Development Corporation.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Forest Minister Wajid Ali Khan told IPS that his ministry had launched a programme aimed at mobilising local communities to plant more trees and hopefully make up for the losses wrought by the Taliban.

“We have also begun consultations with lawmakers, bureaucrats, local communities and the media to promote good plantation habits in the affected areas,” he said.

The programme further seeks to mobilise, organise and empower forest owners, rights holders (anyone owed royalties from the sale of government-owned trees) and non-owners in order to influence policy reforms, the minister added.

“We have embarked on reforms in collaboration with the rights holders to carry out plantation drives and prevent further cutting of trees. More than 20 forest checkpoints have been established, which are managed by the local communities in collaboration with the government,” he said.

SAFI is also asking the government to enhance royalties, since the militancy has damaged local business.

Forest-dependent communities are the hardest-hit victims of the Taliban’s tirade against forests, which has also caused enormous damage to the entire forest ecosystem, necessitating integrative and interactive methods such as farm forestry.

“To promote farm forestry we have distributed 1.5 million plants among the local residents,” Jamshaid told IPS.

SAFI also planted 100,000 saplings on 2000 acres of land in Malaknd after the Taliban’s defeat in 2009.

In another effort to counteract the effects of rampant deforestation, SAFI hosts an annual People’s Forest Assembly, where methods of conservation and management are discussed, Ameer Muhammad Khan told IPS.

Yet Jamshaid warned a lot more needs to be done to create an environment conducive to sustainable and participatory forest management.

Militants have not only deforested the Malaknd district but also felled 6,000 acres of forest in the surrounding region. Abdul Rasool, a forest officer at the FATA secretariat, told IPS that the militants have so far chopped down roughly 50,000 big trees.

Of the Malaknd’s seven districts the Swat, Dir and Buner have suffered the most; their hills, which used to be covered with tall trees, now stand deserted.

Bermuda looks to pioneer Western Shariah-compliant hub

The favourable tax haven is actively seeking to become the first Western centre to provide a Shariah-compliant platform by reviewing its existing legislation.

Bermuda is set to become the first Western centre for Islamic finance in a favourable tax domicile, as the region looks at existing legislation to accommodate a Shariah-compliant platform for such vehicles and products.

In an exclusive interview with Euromoney, executives at Business Bermuda, a non-profit business lobby group that works with the Bermudan government, revealed it is actively educating and pursuing potential clients in Asia and the Middle East, while also working on reviewing existing laws to eventually launch a Shariah-compliant platform for investors.

“We are looking at the Shariah side of Bermuda’s legislation to become the first Western centre for Islamic finance,” says Peter Hughes, group director of Apex Fund Services who also works with Business Bermuda. “We are looking to launch a Shariah platform that will allow us to have Shariah vehicles and products, which would enable us to become the first one of its kind. We have made a real push into this niche area.”

Islamic finance centres around Shariah compliancy – Islamic law derived mainly from the Koran and Hadith. Shariah-compliant finance has consistently grown during the past 10 years, with Western financial institutions looking to tap into the burgeoning markets.

Shariah-complaint finance has become a trillion-dollar business, with sukuks – commonly seen as an Islamic bond, but are actually certificates representing participation and ownership rights in an underlying asset – being one of the largest product sectors.

According to KFH Research, an Islamic investment research firm that is a direct subsidiary of the Kuwait Finance House, sukuk issuance in 2012 is set to increase by 25% to 30% and break the $200 billion barrier. The note says that despite a raft of challenges faced by industry, much like the rest of the world, sukuk issuance will continue to grow.

In 2011, sukuk market issuance grew by 88% compared to 2010.

Cheryl Packwood, CEO and deputy chairman of Business Bermuda, said that the continual growth of Islamic finance and stronger ties with Bahrain and Malaysia led to a focus on developing existing Bermudan legislation more than 18 months ago.

“We now have strong links in Bahrain and there is a commonality of wanting to create a niche jurisdiction for Shariah compliancy, that is closer to the US timezone,” she says. “We are also focusing on Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, as it has an enormous sukuk market. The process for getting this off the ground may be slow but we have the Bermuda Monetary Authority and the Bermuda Stock Exchange behind us.”

The burgeoning Bahrain-Bermuda relationship is not encouraging from an anti-money laundering standpoint.  Bahrain still has no legal means of freezing assets that are laundered or fund terrorism.  Bahrain’s Islamic finance sector recently received a major black eye when an audit of one of its major sharia banks revealed 58 potential criminal offenses by its CEO.

Shariah Finance Watch has speculated that the purpose of introducing sharia finance to Bermuda is to spread Islam and sharia law.  That is certainly a factor.  We must also be concerned that an island nation that is a known tax haven is being specifically targeted by sharia advocates.  One might even wonder if the ruling Sunni elites of Bahrain are attempting to off-shore their wealth and protect their long-term self-interests in case Bahrain’s Iranian-backed Shia majority succeeds in an Arab Spring coup.

Bermuda has growing internal problems as well.  Four ex-Guantanamo detainees live in Bermuda.  Bermuda also appears to be facing a rash of street gang violence with possible Muslim involvement.  The introduction of sharia wealth to the island will probably lead to new mosques and Islamic centers.  Given the history of Gulf-funded mosques, such future mosques are unlikely to be “moderate.”

If a food manufacturer wants to call its products halal, and obtain a label that attests to its halal compliance, that manufacturer must submit an application for review by a halal certification organization.

In the U.S., halal certifiers are not government entities and, unlike organic food certifiers, are not accredited by the government.  The halal boards are privately run.

One of the largest halal groups is the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), a Chicago-based multi-million dollar enterprise.  But as Family Security Matters has noted, “There are very few transparent news reports of the expansion” of the halal industry in North America.  The time has come for fuller scrutiny.

First, IFANCA proclaims on its own website that it is recognized and endorsed by the Saudi-based, Wahhabi hegemon Muslim World League.  The MWL has funded Al Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations throughout the world in an effort over several decades to export and ingrain Wahhabism across the planet.  But this doesn’t seem to bother IFANCA.

Second, IFANCA claimed tax-exempt status in its 2010 tax return even though the vast majority of its reported revenues comes from “inspection fees.”  These are fees that IFANCA charges to food producers for the “privilege” of sporting IFANCA’s halal food logo.  Such fees sound a lot more like ordinary business income that should be taxable rather than charitable or “public” contributions which would qualify the entity for tax-exempt status.  IFANCA’s Form 990 showed $5,519,829 in inspection fee revenue.  Its only other reported revenues were $14,466 in gifts.

To qualify for tax-exempt status, a charity needs to get over one-third of its income from donations or grants and no more than one-third of its income from business activity.  With 100 percent of its income from apparent business activity, IFANCA falls far short of federal standards for a nonprofit charity.  (IFANCA’s six-figure salaries to its president and vice-president documented in its tax returns may also raise a few eyebrows.)

IFANCA casts itself as an educational entity of sorts, promoting “knowledge” and “community development” with respect to halal foods.  But it does not base its claim for public charity status on its educational or religious mission, but rather by describing the inspection fees as public contributions.

IFANCA’s tax approach makes it relatively unique among food certification groups such as organic, vegan, and kosher certifying entities.  Several U.S. organic food certifiers are tax exempt on the bases of Section 501(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code because they have an agricultural mission—not on the basis of any professed public charity mission under 501(c)3.

The Vegan Awareness Foundation, which is a major certifying entity for vegan foods, maintains tax-exempt status on the basis that it receives a substantial portion of its revenues from donations or grants—not from site inspections.

Many kosher certifying entities are set up as regular businesses and pay taxes.

The IFANCA case illustrates a flawed federal system that accepts 99 percent of all claims for tax-exempt status.  The IRS can start making amends by revoking IFACNA’s tax-exempt status.

Moreover, due to its tax-dodging behavior and World Muslim League affiliation, consumers should avoid buying any IFACNA-certified foods, and grocers should refrain from stocking their shelves with such products.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited describes itself as South East Asia’s first sharia bank.  In the 1980s, it helped handle transactions for the Saudi-based Muslim World League to promote Wahhabism in Bangladesh.

IBBL is not a minor financial institution.  Its September 2011 balance sheet shows bank assets of 330 billion Bangladeshi taka (BDT), or approximately 3.9 billion U.S. dollars.  IBBL has about $3.5 billion in deposits, which would put it on par with a local/regional financial institution in the U.S. such as a large metropolitan credit union or a statewide bank system.

The bank’s sharia advisory board met most recently in December at the posh Islami Bank Tower, and was presided over by sharia board chairman Sheikh Moulana Muhammad Kutubuddin.  The members of the sharia board get paid by the bank to give their blessing to the investments IBBL makes, and to approve the structures that IBBL uses avoid paying riba (interest) to their depositors or charging riba to their borrowers. IBBL has over 11 billion taka invested in “government” instruments, which suggests that Bangladesh’s taxpayers are on the hook for dividends being paid out to IBBL.

Chairman Muhammad Kutubuddin

IBBL provides mostly mudarabah savings accounts for its customers, which in theory is a permissible Islamic form of profit-sharing, but in practice is probably like a conventional money market account.  The difference is that the mudarabah profits are siphoned off by the sharia board to fund radical jihadist groups in the region like JMB and HUJI.

A portion of IBBL’s profits are spent as corporate zakat by the bank’s “charitable” wing, the Islami Bank Foundation.  Last year, the Bangladeshi home ministry revealed intelligence that indicated that 8 percent of the bank’s profits were diverted as zakat to support jihad in Bangladesh.

IBBL has won numerous “best Islamic bank” awards, but that is mostly meaningless in a sector where sharia banks (like Unicorn Investment Bank) routinely win awards until it’s discovered that their CEOs have swindled or defrauded investors.

That was bad enough, but Tim Geithner’s Treasury Department (specifically, David Cohen’s Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office [TFI]) has made an even broader statement than Franken in a mostly unnoticed Treasury blog post in late-December.

In a very craftily written post, TFI policy advisor Scott Rembrandt wrote, “The Treasury Department expects financial institutions, in their compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act, to reasonably discharge their due diligence obligations — not that they be infallible in doing so.”

What Mr. Rembrandt is saying is that Treasury expects banks to do a decent job of enforcing BSA provisions, and not to implement its provisions too strictly.

It is not too far to extrapolate that the suggestion here is that banks should not adhere strictly to counterterror finance laws if such adherence could limit Somali-Americans’ ability to transfer money as they please, and that Treasury would not seek legal action or fines against banks that loosen compliance standards on international money transfers.  This position taken by TFI is troubling on several levels.

Let’s leave aside the possibility that the Muslims in Minnesota would intentionally fund terrorism (even though Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan were recently convicted of doing exactly that).

Let’s also leave aside the possibility that Muslim Somali-Americans are not trying to fund terrorism, but the relatives that they are sending money to could support al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The fact remains that many of the Muslim-Americans’ relatives in Somalia live in territory subject to forced taxation by al-Shabaab.  Al-Shabaab receives its revenues by the aggressive, coercive theft through Islamic taxes on ordinary Somali commerce along trade routes and harbors.  Whether local Somalis want it or not, and whether Muslim-Americans like it or not, the money that is remitted to Somalia stands an unacceptable risk of being given to or stolen by Al-Shaabab.

Any plain reading of the Bank Secrecy Act, the Patriot Act, and other modern know-your-customer provisions would convince even the most hard-nosed, profit-driven bank president that it simply is not legally (never mind morally or financially) acceptable to facilitate such money transfers.

Granted, modern anti-money laundering laws are onerous and often ineffective.  But for the Treasury Department to make a public statement that banks are not expected to be “infallible” on carrying out the laws which have been imposed by Congress on the financial sector is absurd.

Suppose that one of the banks in question are taken to court someday by family members of somebody who has been murdered by Al-Shabaab.  Will the victims and the judge be comforted when the bank’s lawyers quote Treasury’s blog by saying, “Your honor, Treasury told us we don’t have to be infallible”?

With respect to HUJI’s funding sources, Hillary Clinton’s State Department’s annual report on terrorism last year said that “HUJI’s access to resources is unknown.”

That statement inaccurate.

Prior year State Department reports have named the Islamic organization “Servants of Suffering Humanity” as a donor.  HUJI has also received funding from British Muslims.  HUJI has also been helped by Islami Bank Bangladesh, a sharia bank that has diverted zakat toward militant jihad.  And as the above video noted, Osama bin Laden provided the seed money for the establishment of the HUJI’s Bangladesh-branch.

JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman

Maulana Saidur Rahman, the jailed chief of the terrorist organization Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), has admitted that JMB’s financial sources include the major Saudi international Wahhabi charities and the Great Britain-based charity Muslim Aid.  Here is Saidur Rahman’s account of JMB donors along with the countries where they are based:

• U.K.:  Muslim Aid
• Saudi Arabia:  World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)
• Saudi Arabia:  Rabeta-al-Alam-al-Islami (an alternate spelling for Rabita al-Alam al-Islami, more commonly known as the Muslim World League [MWL])
• International Federation of Islamic Organisations (probably referring to the Nigeria/German-based International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations [IIFSO])
• Islamic World Committee
• Qatar:  Charitable Society (a front also used by Osama bin Laden)
• International Islamic Front (an alternate designation for Al Qaeda)
• Kuwait:  Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS)

Most of the above entities will be familiar to Money Jihad regulars.  Do not be lulled into the false argument that WAMY and MWL only have religious, charitable, or educational objectives.  They have violent, terrifying, and political objectives, and JMB’s bomb attacks have killed citizens across Bangladesh.  That Muslim Aid is still allowed to operate in Britain (or that RIHS is allowed to operate in Spain) shows the deadly consequences of Western political correctness and dhimmitude.

This information comes from Rajeev Sharma writing for the Sakal Times on Dec. 30:

Terror funds via Dhaka

Bangladesh has to do a lot more to curb terrorism

Under the prime ministership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has cracked down on the jehadi brand of terrorism and terror outfits that have been needling India for years. But Dhaka needs to do more to make the efforts more effective. The Hasina government needs to clamp down on sources of funding to the militants.

Militant organisations like Jama’tul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) or Harkat ul Jehad Islam (HUJI) have been banned but not liquidated. Another set of leaders has taken over. Training camps continue to impart ideological and arms training. Mere banning will not serve the purpose. A top  JMB commander, Mustafizur Rahman Shaheen, who was arrested recently, said during interrogation that JMB has not been liquidated after its ban, or with execution of its topmost leaders Abdur Rahman and his deputy Bangla Bhai. He said JMB cadres were operating under various banners to stage Islamic revolution.

The JMB, HUJI and Islamic networks were spawned by al Qaeda and Taliban jehadis. They were trained by Inter Services Intelligence and Lashkar e Toiba. None of the umbilical cords has been cut for good. In all 20 local and foreign NGOs including al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front finance radical Islamic groups JMB and HUJI. Huge funds pour in every month from Pakistani militant leaders, Sajedur Rahman and Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim through the hawala channel to JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman. This was revealed by Maulana Saidur Rahman.

JMB chief Saidur Rahman said its activists learnt operational tactics of hitting multiple targets simultaneously from the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. From them they acquired techniques for manufacturing explosive devices and arms. He said the JMB follows al Qaeda’s ideology and works to expand and strengthen al Qaeda’s base in Bangladesh. Information about location of JMB suicide squad members was disclosed by JMB military wing chief Boma Mizan and Zaved Iqbal, both of whom were arrested ahead of Saidur Rahman’s arrest.

Saidur Rahman said bin Laden’s International Islamic Front (IIF) has been offering financial assistance to JMB and HUJI regularly as part of its worldwide endeavour to assist all pro-al Qaeda outfits. He admitted that huge funds were provided when the IIF was apprised of JMB’s plan to carry out synchronised bomb blasts across Bangladesh and deploy suicide bombers at strategic points in August 2005. Saidur Rahnan, who was former Habiganj district JEI Amir, said JMB was receiving funds regularly from 20 local and foreign organisations, including Saudi-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Rabeta-al-Alam-al-Islami, Kuwait’s Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, International Federation of Islamic Organisations, Islamic World Committee, Qatar’s Charitable Society and UK-based Muslim Aid. He said that in 2008 the two Pakistan militant leaders, Sajedur Rahman and Hafiz Mohammad Ibrahim, sent $42 million for JMB through hawala channel.

Dhaka police commissioner A.K.M. Shahidul Haque said militant organisations receive funds from expatriate Bangladeshi community in the US, Europe and West Asian countries. Money is mostly received through a hundi.

Intelligence agencies have found that Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) continues to work as a conduit of foreign funds. Funds are received from Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Libya-based NGOs to the JEI accounts in the Islamic Bank of Bangladesh and handed over to pro-al Qaeda outfits. This enables the party to launder money and incite militants. The party had planned violence during last elections and told cadres that some parliamentary seats including those of JEI Amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, Delwar Hossen Syeedi and Shahjahan Chowdhury must be won, even at the cost of assassination, if needed. The party had planned to resist Awami League as victory of AL would spell disaster and result in virtual decimation of JEI. This plan did not succeed as the army-backed interim dispensation that conducted the elections affirmed that no electoral malpractices or violence would be countenanced.

Internationally banned Islamic NGOs linked to terror funding were functioning in Bangladesh. The Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, al Harmain Islamic Foundation and Benevolence Society based in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Pakistan were directly linked with financing activities of the Islamic radical groups. Two RIHS officials, one from Sudan and the other from Yemen, were deported in 2006 for having channelised from Bangladesh over $700,000 to local and foreign terrorist organisations. RIHS was forced to close its operations in Bangladesh thereafter. Earlier, bank accounts of RIHS in Pakistan were sealed for its al Qaeda links. Another Islamic NGO Al Harmain Islamic Foundation had to wind up its operations in Bangladesh under US pressure as it was suspected to have funded the 9/11 al Qaeda attack on World Trade Centre towers.

Former finance minister Saifur Rahman has said that many bank accounts were being investigated for illegal transactions. Activities of the Islamic radicals will continue unabated until the sources of funds and patronage are identified and choked forever.

Note:  The “hundi” referred to above is just another way of saying hawala.  Prior Money Jihad coverage of JMB’s funding is here and here.

Insurance has Gharar

Abu Hurairah (radi Allahu anhu) narrated: “The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) prohibited sales of ‘whatever a pebble thrown by the seller hits,’ and sales in which there is chance or risk (Gharar).” [Sahih Muslim]

Gharar is chance or risk, meaning it is not known whether it will come to be or not, such as selling fish in the water or birds on the wing. It includes transactions of unknown things, the particulars of which are not fully comprehended by the buyer and seller.” [Reliance of the Traveller by Ahmad ibn Naqib Al-Misri]

“There are certain types of sales and transactions prohibited in Islam. Insurance is one of these. In addition to the fact that insurance is usurious (involves Riba), buying and selling insurance policies is also unlawful because of the Prophet’s prohibition of sales in which there is Gharar.” [Reliance of the Traveller by Ahmad ibn Naqib Al-Misri]

“Urging the permissibility of insurance, one Muslim modernist has written that the very precise statistical data possessed by insurance companies concerning the probabilities of various eventualities makes what they are selling determinately known (Ma’lum). This argument fails when one realizes that statistical data from a group of events yields probability figures that, properly speaking, are a description of the group as a whole, and are only analogically applied to the individual events within it. When generalized to similar groups of events in the future, such probabilities yield commercially useful knowledge about the likelihood of a particular outcome for these future groups. But they cannot and do not tell what the outcome will be for any particular member of the group, in this case the particular insurance policy. Thus, a “17% probability” that circumstances will enable one to collect such and such an amount on a policy is a mere description of the whole group of previous policy holders in similar circumstances, which does not tell whether one will collect the amount or not. One may collect a certain amount or may not collect it, which is precisely the Gharar that is unlawful.” [Reliance of the Traveller by Ahmad ibn Naqib Al-Misri]

Those who support sharia finance point to gharar as a major problem in conventional finance, putting gharar alongside the “sins” of riba and gambling.  Although gharar is often characterized as uncertainty or risk, Vincent Cornell’s Voices of Islam, Vol. III offers a more precise explanation of gharar as deception:

The Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, said, “Do not contract to buy merchandise on the way too market, but wait until it is brought to the market [so that its fair price is established].”  The Prophet also said, “It is impermissible to sell a thing if one knows that it has a defect, unless one informs the buyer of the defect.”  These traditions are examples of ethical exhortations against the practice of gharar.  The majority of Islamic scholars consider gharar as “both ignorance of the material attributes of the subject matter of a sale, and the uncertainty regarding the availability of its existence”…  Gharar literally means “deception.”  Hence, the best definition of gharar in business is “deception based on preventable ambiguity or uncertainty.”

Insurance has been a central part of sparing people from the loss of property, life, and limb since the days of Benjamin Franklin.  Islamists don’t just hate women in bikinis.  They hate the very basis of our legal and economic system.