Tunisia, often considered a moderate Muslim country, or at least a country that has put appropriate constraints on Islam (according to this post from Hugh Fitzgerald on Jihad Watch), is poised to mirror Saudi/Bahraini-style sharia banking.
The Tunisian bank formerly known as “Bank Et-tamweel Al-Tunisi Al-Saudi” is renaming itself Al Baraka Bank Tunisia. The new moniker aligns the bank with the Al Baraka Banking Group (or Dallah Al-Baraka), one of the largest Islamic banking networks in the world, headed by Saleh Kamel, one of the world’s richest Arabs. The full story from Zawya is here, but here are the highlights:
In line with the strategy being implemented by the Bahrain-based leading Islamic banking group Al Baraka Banking Group to have a unified new corporate identity for the Group and its subsidiary banks, Al Baraka Bank Tunisia launched its new unified corporate identity…
On this occasion, Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman of Al Baraka Banking Group said that he was delighted with Al Baraka Bank Tunisia joining the new corporate identity of the ABG Group, a step that would go much further than just a change in the name or logo to include the added value provided by the Bank to its owners, shareholders, investors and the economic and social activities that the bank serves…
Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, member of the Board of Directors of Al Baraka Bank Tunisia and President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking said that “We are glad to see Al Baraka Banking Group, despite the global financial and economic crisis, continue the implementation of its strategic plans since the beginning of the year. During the second quarter of this year, we launched the new corporate identity of ABG group at highly publicized unveiling ceremonies held at head office and the subsidiary units of the Group. The new corporate identity requires us to adopt a set of policies and high ethical and professional standards with regard to the offering of innovative and efficient Sharia-compliant services and products.
Remember that old jazz tune, “Night in Tunisia”? Unfortunately, the dark trends of sharia finance give that title new meaning.
Ten most revealing terror funding stories of 2009
December 31, 2009If the FBI can do a top ten list of terror in 2009, we can come up with a list too! Money Jihad selected these ten stories because they help expose the threat of jihadist financing in 2009 the best.
10. Zakat funds jihad: Candor alert—the leader of jihadists in the Caucasus let the cat out of the bag by admitting that most of his groups funding comes from forced zakat collections from the local populace. Oops, or was it Muhammad that let that cat out centuries ago? (And yes, this story also made my top 10 list of zakat scandals in the past five years.)
9. WMD risks mount: The Brits predicted that more money, more technology, and more mobility would lead to an increased threat of dirty bombs & illicit materials being used against us. Najibullah Zazi and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab are proving them right.
8. President is zakat enabler? Despite ample warnings of the dangers of modern zakat-giving, including the funding of the 9/11 terrorist attacks through zakat, Pres. Obama promised in Cairo to help Muslims fulfill their zakat obligations.
7. Abysmal zakat accounting throughout the year as documented in the short history of this blog here, here, and here. Why is this a problem? If you don’t really know where zakat is going, then you don’t really know where zakat is going.
6. Palestinian aid scandal: United Nations humanitarian “aid” to “Palestinian refugees” is revealed to give “services to people who simply don’t need the charity, and many are not refugees, and some are not even Palestinians” and even to use medical aid for military purposes. This fiasco serves as a perfect case study in what Islamic fundamentalists do with “charity”—they funnel it into holy war.
5. Jizya lives in Pakistan. In accordance with the Hadith, Non-Muslims who wouldn’t pay the jizya (and even some who did), faced the ransack or eviction from their property, or even death. The facts were so disturbing that even the accommodating U.S. State Department was forced to condemn Pakistan in its annual religious freedom report.
4. Philippine ransom spree & beheading bloodbath. Abu Sayyaf beheads those who won’t pay or can’t afford ransom payments as authorized by the Koran.
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