Following the money in early Islam

The Koran dictates that 20 percent of the booty or spoils of war, known as khums, belongs to Allah and Muhammad.  As Iraqi expatriate I.Q. al-Rassooli points out in this talk entitled “Allah’s Share of the Plunder,” does it really make sense that Allah needs a cut of the spoils?  What’s the exact breakdown between Muhammad and Allah—10 percent for each?  The only logical explanation is that Muhammad got it all.  What kind of religion would devise such a system?  As al-Rassooli points out, the kind of religion that attracted other men who believed that they too could become very wealthy from plundering and looting non-believers.  This is about 5 minutes long:

Revisit another great analysis from Mr. Rassooli here.

Seven ways to stop funding terror

Money Jihad has previously proposed methods to limit zakat and hawala—two major mechanisms for funding terror.  Here’s a more comprehensive set of our recommendations that would reduce terrorist financing overall:

1. Drill, baby, drill.  The U.S. should expand offshore oil drilling, open federal lands for drilling, ease its permitting process for new refineries, encourage hydraulic fracturing methods that tap previously inaccessible energy sources underground, and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.  Increasing domestic U.S. and Western Hemisphere energy production will reduce reliance on Persian Gulf oil supplies and thereby minimize the profits reaped by hostile, foreign regimes that sponsor terror.
2. Eliminate foreign aid to Pakistan.  Pakistan uses its ISI spy service to fund the Taliban, the Haqqani network, and Lashkar-e-Taiba.  Continuing to waste money on Pakistan is not only wasteful when we can least afford it, but it is suicidal.
3. Study the true enemy and threat.  Among the most important concepts for the Western public to understand are:
   • The Koran calls upon Muslims to strive with their lives and wealth for the cause of jihad (Chapter 9, Verse 41).
   • Zakat, one of the five pillars of Islam, shall be allocated to several categories in accordance with the Koran 9:60, one of which is for those waging jihad for Allah.
   • Islam imposes the jizya tax on “infidels” living in Muslims territory (Koran 9:29), even today.
   • Islam calls for taxes on Muslims apart from zakat such as khums and ushr which finance terrorist organizations throughout the Islamic world.
   • Sharia finance is a destructive, opaque financial system that has kept Islamic economies in tatters for centuries.
   • Sharia banks and halal businesses are involved in financing terrorism.
   • Radical Muslims believe, as Anwar al-Awlaki instructed them, that there is a basis in Islamic law for stealing (through robbery, welfare fraud, tax cheating, etc.), especially if the theft takes place to finance jihad.

   If we fail to acknowledge Islam as the animating force behind terror finance, we’ll get confused and aim at the wrong targets.  For example, we’ve spent billions of dollars complying with extensive bureaucratic requirements such as currency reports that have yielded minimal results.

4. Launch a new offensive against Muslim American charities and entities that fund terrorism.  Pick a few of the highest profile ones and make an example of them by prosecuting their leaders and dressing them in orange jumpsuits.  Prosecute Islamic Relief USA under the laws against providing material support for terrorism.  Prosecute the Council on American-Islamic Relations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.  Strip the halal food certifier IFANCA and the mosque deed financier North American Islamic Trust of their tax-exempt status.

Anti-graft board reveals Koran buying scandal

It’s never been clear who’s funding the recent, massive Koran giveaways in traditional non-Muslim countries such as Germany and Hong Kong, although religious ministries or charities from Islamic countries are the likeliest sponsors.

And if recent developments from Indonesia are any indication, one should also wonder how aboveboard the contracts between the Koran printers and the distributors have been.  From Foreign Policy:

In the name of Allah, most gracious and merciful, I steal

Posted By Endy Bayuni Friday, July 6, 2012 – 1:51 PM

Before performing any deed, a good Muslim would say “In the name of Allah, most gracious and most merciful” — either to make sure that he or she is not committing an act of sin, or asking God to show mercy in case a sin is committed. But would a Muslim say that before stealing, too? The bad ones probably do.

The Muslim politicians and bureaucrats involved in the latest scandal over the procurement of a Quran, no doubt would have said bismillah (in the name of God). But while they may believe God will be merciful, don’t expect the public to be so forgiving.

In Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, you don’t go any lower than stealing in the name of God.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named Zulkarnaen Djabar, a Golkar Party member of the House of Representatives, and his son as suspects in the scandal. It’s possible, though, that the case may soon expand to include more suspects.

Zulkarnaen, a member of the House’s Budget Committee and Commission VIII (which deals with religious and social affairs), played an active role in pushing the House to approve hefty increases in the budget allocated for the government’s program to procure Qurans. Zulkarnaen had a personal interest in the project: His son, Dendi Prasetya, got the lucrative contract to supply Qurans to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Other Commission VIII members have since confessed that they each received over 500 copies of the Quran from the Ministry. None of them saw this as a kickback for securing the budget increases. Some claimed they were simply helping the Ministry to distribute Qurans (no doubt to appease voters before the 2014 elections).

Others claimed that the free, government-distributed Qurans would help promote moderation and tolerance in Islam as part of the campaign to fight radicalism. This claim has been refuted by an Islamic group that found that the government-issued Qurans carry translations that promote violence and radicalism.

At a cost of Rp 1 million ($106) each, these volumes of the Holy Book must be among the most expensive Qurans ever found in Indonesia.

Public reaction to the news has been largely muted — primarily because no one was really that surprised. It’s not the first time that God’s name has been corrupted. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has already earned a reputation as one of the most corrupt state institutions, according to a Corruption Eradication Survey conducted in 2011.

Rather than a fortress of morality, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has long since become a bastion of hypocrisy.

To many bureaucrats and politicians, God has become a commercial project, whether it’s procuring Qurans, or dispatching a huge Indonesian delegation to the haj pilgrimage in Mecca, the most lucrative of all government projects. Not surprisingly, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has jealously guarded this project in spite of repeated calls to leave it to an independent agency that would subject it to closer scrutiny to ensure better management.

Indonesia sends more than 200,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia each year, the largest contingent from any country. As far as business goes, this is a captive market over which the government holds a monopoly. The ministry rakes in huge profits from the project, and it now sits atop a $4 billion endowment.

The temptation is just too big…

There is more at this link, particularly about corruption in Indonesia’s hajj allowances.

Wednesday word: maysir

Maysir means “gambling,” and it is prohibited by Islamic law.  Muslims throughout the centuries have regarded maysir as any type of game of chance with money at stake.

In the time of Muhammad, however, it is possible that maysir simply referred to one particular game of dice, as described in Franz Rosenthal’s book Gambling in Islam.  Nonetheless, Rosenthal says that no proof is available either way, and Muslims have been consistent in outlawing virtually any type of gambling.

The Koran, Sura 5, Verse 90 says, “O ye who believe!  Strong drink and games of chance [maysir] and idols and divining arrows are only an infamy of Satan’s handiwork. Leave it aside in order that ye may succeed.”

The advocates of sharia law are so adamant on this point that they’re willing inflict severe injuries on those who gamble.  See this recent news (h/t Atlas Shrugs) out of Aceh, Indonesia, where 11 were caned for gambling.

Would you look forward to living under Islamic law where a private bet over a sporting event or a game of cards subjects you to a public caning?  Do you, like some in Washington, D.C., Paris, and London eagerly anticipate the ascension of “democratically” elected Muslim Brotherhood partisans in the wake of the Arab Spring who will impose penalties such as the ones Acehnese authorities have meted out against low-stakes gamblers?

The prohibition on maysir is based on irrational superstitions, petty whims, and ill-conceived utterances of a violent man 14 centuries ago.

Salafists give out 300,000 Korans for “free”

But somebody paid for the Korans.  The radical group handing out the Korans intends to distribute 25 million Islamic books in Germany in total.

Radical Muslims conduct mass Koran giveaway

Getty Images offered this caption for a separate photograph taken one of the Koran giveaway events:

BERLIN, GERMANY – APRIL 14: A member of the group ‘The True Religion’ shows a copy of free distributed Koran at Potsdamer Platz on April 14, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Islamic radicals in Germany have launched an unprecedented nationwide campaign to distribute 25 million copies of the Koran, translated into the German language, with the goal of placing one Koran into every household in Germany, free of charge. The group, which calls itself ‘The True Religion’, claims that 300,000 copies have already been distributed. German officials have raised serious concerns about the initiative, calling it an abuse of the holy text. (Photo by Target Presse Agentur Gmbh/Getty Images)

Allah requested loan, offered interest

The Koran, Sura 57 (“Iron”), Verse 11 says “Who is he that will lend a generous loan to God?”  The verse continues by assuring that Allah will “double it” as repayment to the lender.

Several passages of the Koran parallel this verse.  From a theological standpoint, it is curious that an all-powerful god would request a loan from the people he created.  An outsider could wonder, as did some of the Jews in Arabia during the time of Muhammad, if “Allah is poor and we are rich.”

But Abu Bakr, Muhammad’s best friend and himself a rich man, did not like being confronted with the possibility of Allah’s state of financial dependence or the verse from the Koran which suggested it.  Here’s the story of the Jewish rabbi Finhas, who resisted Abu Bakr’s appeals by saying:

“We have no need of Allah, but He has need of us! We do not beseech Him as He beseeches us. We are independent of Him, but He is not independent of us. If He were independent of us, He would not ask for our money as your master Muhammad does [for a war against Mecca]. He forbids usury to you, but pays us interest; if He were independent of us He would give us no interest.”

At this, Abu Bakr became angry, and struck Finhas violently, saying, ‘I swear by Him in whose hands my life rests that if there were no treaty between us I would have struck off your head, you enemy of Allah!’

Abu Bakr wished he could cut off Finhas’s head for pointing out the contents of the Koran and the contradictions of riba.  Even assuming that the loan-to-Allah verse is a non-literal expression, we are still left with the contradiction that Allah will “double” the repayment of loans made to him, which sounds a lot like the riba (interest) or usury which is outlawed throughout most other texts of Islam.

Many Muslims now claim in public that the loan to Allah in Verse 11 is actually charity for the poor, but the preceding verse of the Koran suggests, as Finhas suspected, a more warlike purpose:  “Those among you who contributed before the victory, and fought, shall be differently treated from certain others among you!” (Koran 57:10).  Charity toward “victory”?  Charity toward “fighting”?  Charity toward “iron”?  No—in context, the loan does not appear to be for charity for poor people, but financing the conquest of Mecca and the establishment of the Islamic state.

Rewards promised to those who give their money toward the military victory of Islam are frequent throughout the Koran.

Weekly word: Infaq

Infaq means “spending.”  Some people explain infaq as a third type of Islamic “charity” along with zakat and sadaqa, but strictly speaking it is not.  “Infaq fi sabil Allah” is spending for the sake of Allah, which suggests spending for the purposes of jihad, dawah, and charity.  S.M. Hasan-uz-Zaman explains:

Infāq literally means spending.  It signifies any spending whether for good cause or bad.  That is why spending by non-believers for opposing Islam, their spending on their wives, spending by hypocrites, spending by Muslims on their wives by way of dower and sustenance are all termed infāq.  Infāq qualifies itself to become virtuous in case it is made for Allah’s pleasure.  It should be done scrupulously without any desire for publicity.*

It is important to understand the concept of infaq by non-Muslims, because it explains part of the hostility of Muslims toward the Western “infidel” economic and financial system.  The Koran declares that infaq by infidels is “like a freezing wind, which falleth upon and destroyeth the cornfields” (3:113 in J.M. Rodwell’s translation of the Koran, 3:117 elsewhere) and, “The infidels spend their riches with intent to turn men aside from the way of God: spend it they shall; then shall sighing be upon them, and then shall they be overcome.  And infidels shall be gathered together into Hell” (8:36).

Supporters of sharia finance have their individual motives, and among them are those who seek not just to provide an alternative investment option to pious Muslims, but to supplant what they deem as an intrinsically untrustworthy, unholy system of Western finance as characterized by their Koran.

*Hasan-uz-Zaman, Syed Muhammad, Economic Guidelines in the Qur’an (Islamabad:  International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1999).

Weenie sheikh endorses plunder, sex slavery

Sheikh Abu Ishaq al-Hoeweyni

A cross-eyed sheikh says plundering infidel countries will restore Islamic economies plus provide perks like fresh sex slaves.  This tidbit comes from Gates of Vienna as the sheikh recently sought to “clarify” similar statements he made years ago.  The Koran indeed contains a sura entirely on how to divvy up the spoils of war once an infidel group is conquered.  The profiteer Muhammad supposedly would not personally accept zakat, but he always took a cut from the war booty.

Three weeks ago (June 11th), there was an item in the news (and video) about an Egyptian Sheikh Hoeweyni, who made the following statements:

We are in the era of jihad. The era of Jihad has come to us and jihad in the path of Allah is a pleasure. It’s a real pleasure. The companions (of the Prophet) used to compete to (perform jihad).

That we are in poverty — is it not due to our abandonment or jihad? But if we could conduct one, two, or three jihadist operations every year, many people would become Muslims Throughout the earth. And whoever rejected this da’wa, or stood in our way, we would fight against him and take him prisoner, and confiscate his wealth, his children, and his women — all of this means money. Every mujahid who returned from jihad, his pockets would be full. He would return with three or four slaves, three or four women, and three or four children. Each head, multiply by 300 dirhams, or 300 dinars, and you have a good amount of profit. If he were to go to the West and work on a commercial deal, he would not make that much money.

Whenever things became difficult (financially), he could take the head (i.e. the prisoner) and sell it, and ease his (financial) crisis.

Huwaini actually made these scandalous assertions some eighteen years ago. But because they were only recently exposed, and he was invited to “clarify” his position on Hikma TV last week. Amazingly, though he began by saying his words were “taken out of context”, he nonetheless reasserted, in even more blunt language, that Islam justifies plundering, enslaving, and raping the infidel. (Al Youm 7 has the entire interview, excerpts of which I translate below.)

According to Huwaini, after Muslims invade and conquer a non-Muslim nation — in the course of waging an offensive jihad — the properties and persons of those infidels who refuse to convert or pay jizya and live as subjugated dhimmis are to be seized as ghanima or “spoils of war.”

Huwaini cited the Koran as his authority — boasting that it has an entire chapter named “spoils” — and the sunna of Muhammad, specifically as recorded in the famous Sahih Muslim hadith wherein the prophet ordered the Muslim armies to offer non-Muslims three choices: conversion, subjugation, or death/enslavement.

Huwaini said that infidel captives, the “spoils of war,” are to be distributed among the Muslim combatants (i.e., jihadists) and taken to “the slave market, where slave-girls and concubines are sold.” He referred to these latter by their dehumanizing name in the Koran, ma malakat aymanukum — “what your right hands possess” — in this context, sex-slaves:

You go to the market and buy her, and she becomes like your legal mate — though without a contract, a guardian, or any of that stuff — and this is agreed upon by the ulema.

“In other words,” Huwaini concluded, “when I want a sex-slave, I go to the market and pick whichever female I desire and buy her.”

Wahhabi money flows for Koran memorization

The World Muslim League, the Saudi grand poobah of Wahhabist indoctrination around the globe, recently sponsored an international Koran memorization and recitation contest in Pakistan for children.  Two Muslim World League subcomponents, the Holy Quran Memorization International Organization and International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) helped organize the event.  IIRO’s Philippines and Indonesia branches have been blacklisted by the U.S. for financing terrorism.

The winner was a 7-year-old.

The Pakistani Bait-ul-Mal (meaning “house of money,” the traditional Arabic term for the Islamic treasury), an agency funded mostly by Pakistani taxpayers, announced it would award over $3 million rupees (over $40,000) to the winners of each six categories of the indoctrination contest.  Additional cash prizes will be given to the children by the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan.

During a lavish ceremony for the Wahhabi-approved whiz kids, a former president of Pakistan praised Saudi officials for “their keen interest in support the people of Pakistan especially during the 2005 earthquake and 2010 flood.”

The cash awards are small in comparison to the billions spent globally on Islamism, but the attendance of such high-profile guests to the function demonstrates the relevance and influence the World Muslim League still exerts across the globe.

Here’s the report from the Pakistani Observer.  Pakistan’s International News had additional coverage on July 12.

IT IS they who truly follow God’s revelation, and are constant in their prayer, and spend on others, secretly and openly, out of what We provide for them as sustenance- it is they who may look forward for a bargain that can never fail, since He will grant them their just rewards, and give them yet more out of His bounty: for, verily, He is much-forgiving, ever responsive to gratitude. (35: 29-30).

These were the Quranic verses recited by a 7 year old Hafiz Jamal in a well attended function held at The national Library of Pakistan.

The function was organized by the Director General of The Muslim World League and Islamic Relief Organization Pakistan Office, Mohammad Abdu Atian to honour the top 10 Huffaz of Holy Quran among 1577 children below 10 years of age who took part in the annual competition. Children from all provinces of Pakistan participated in the competition.

Four prominent chief guest attended the functions. The are the former President of Pakistan Mr. Mohammad Rafiq Tarar, Chairman Baitul Mal Mr. Zumard Khan, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan Mr. Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Al-Ghadeer and the Saudi Military Attaché Brig (Navy) Abdullah bin Saeed al-Ghamdi. Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Habbab, Director of Education in Islamic Relief Organization in Saudi Arabia also attended. There were a large number of Huffaz, their families and teachers. Representatives from print and electronic media were also in attendance to cover the function.

It was a high profile and well organized function. The Huffaz thrilled the audience with their heart-felt recitation of Holy Quran. Safi Mohammad Nawaz ( 7 years old) secured the first position. Khamsa Javed Ali memorized Holy Quran in just 115 days. Both were asked by Al-Ghadeer to sit on the platform of honour.

Hafiz Bilal Wazir who is 16 years old was introduced. He could tell you within a split of a second the entire detail of a given verse including in which page it is mentioned. Mr. Atian calls him the Computer. Others among the audience believe that he is faster than the computer.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Tarar paid rich tribute to Saudi Arabia and commended the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud for their keen interest in support the people of Pakistan especially during the 2005 earthquake and 2010 flood.

He also paid rich tribute to the Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Al-Ghadeer for his role in promoting the bilateral relations and personal involvement in the relief of the victims of the 2010 flood.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Zumard Khan announced a grant from Baitul Mal of Rs.3.1 million to be spent on the Huffaz. Last year, Baitul Mal donated Rs.2.5 million.

The Saudi Ambassador announced that he would arrange in the near future a dinner at his residence for the Huffaz and their teachers.

Prizes would also be distributed among all the Huffaz as a gesture of goodwill and encouragement from Al-Ghadeer.

The Muslim World League and Holy Quran Memorization International Organization have been recognized by the United Nations. They have now the status of Observer in the UN and OIC.

In collaboration with “ Holy Quran Memorization International Organiozation, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Muslim World League and International Islamic Relief Orgasnization regularly organize a grand annual function of prize distribution amongst the top Huffaz of the age of ten years or below on competitive basis.

The participants are selected from all over Pakistan. Five top selectees are granted return ticket for performance of Umra besides cash awards.

ISNA’s zakat scandal par for the course

ISNA Canada is in scalding hot water for how little of the money it collects in zakat actually goes to the poor.  ISNA Canada is the Canadian branch of the Islamic Society of North America, which was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation’s Hamas terrorist financing operation.  The Star has published a devastating article on ISNA Canada’s finances on Jan. 20 based in large part on the findings of a rather brave auditing firm.  The article gives us a rare glimpse into the inner workings of an Islamic charity.

That being said, the article focuses a little too much on the personal mismanagement by Ashraf.  There is a much broader phenomenon pervading most Islamic charities which includes three Koran-based patterns:  1) The use of charitable funds for personal gain.  We’ve seen this everywhere from Pakistan’s zakat ministries to Western Islamic charities.  This is justified by the Muslim charity managers in part because the Koran authorizes those who collect zakat to keep a portion of the zakat.  2)  The Koran mandates that zakat will go toward the mujahideen.  However, terrorist financing is illegal in the West.  That creates a built-in temptation by the Muslim charity leaders to conceal their actual expenses and the nature of their charitable programs.  3) A widespread lack of professional accounting at Islamic organizations.  This is partly a cultural problem of the third world where Muslims have immigrated from, but it also has roots in Islam.  Financially speaking, Islam encourages believers to treat each other with trust, but to treat non-Muslims with doubt and watchfulness.  The prejudice results in greater scrutiny by Muslims of in their transactions with non-Muslims but with meager oversight or controls on their internal revenues and expenditures.

Here’s the Star’s full account (h/t RoP):

Muslim charity squandered money for the poor

Jesse McLean, Staff Reporter

Devout Muslims donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to one of Canada’s largest Islamic organizations on the promise that the cash would be used to help the poor.

But only one in four dollars donated to a special pool of money at the Islamic Society of North America Canada (ISNA Canada) actually reached the needy.

Mismanagement of more than $600,000 is among the findings in a scathing audit obtained by the Star.

A “very small portion . . . is distributed to the poor and needy and the major portion is spent on the administration of the centre,” concluded the 2010 audit of the previous four years.

ISNA Canada is embroiled in controversy, with the audit revealing the practice of giving free perks to family members of a top official; the improper issuing of charitable tax receipts; and the diversion of charity money to private businesses. At the centre of it all is long-time secretary general Mohammad Ashraf, who has recently announced he is stepping down.

Egypt’s Copts are targets for murder, jizya

The murder of 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt on New Year’s Eve could have been easily predicted, says Rasha Elass of the Periscope Post on Jan. 9.  That’s because Wahhabism has become so rampant among young Muslim men that nobody in the Middle East is safe.

Wahhabist traits include violence, intimidation, male chauvinism, discrimination, and mental decay.  And imposing jizya.  Elass writes:

…For years now the New York courts have been hearing asylum cases from Christian Copts who tell an all too familiar story. Their best friends back home were Muslim, as were their co-workers, teachers, neighbors and children’s playmates. But increasingly, so were their tormentors. The stories go something like this: A gang of young men appears at the shop or business of a prominent Christian and demands a Jizya, the archaic term for a tax levied on minorities in an Islamic state to guarantee protection while exempting them from military service. This behavior is undoubtedly influenced by Wahhabi thought. It flows from the same watering hole that the Taliban use to nurture their ideology. And in Egypt, it has been going on for years…

Elass’s description needs a few revisions:  1) jizya is not an archaic term—it’s alive and well throughout dar al-Islam today; 2) at certain stages in history, paying the jizya did exempt non-Muslims from serving in the caliphate’s army, but the Koran itself offers no exemption whatsoever from paying the jizya; and 3) the behavior is not influenced by Wahhabi thought alone—it is based off of a plane reading of the Koran itself, Sura 9, Verse 29.

Nevertheless, we are grateful for Elass pointing out the existence of jizya against the Copts.  Money Jihad has documented cases of the jizya being demanded from non-Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Yemen.  That it’s taking place in Egypt too is not surprising, but such occurrences must be found, highlighted, and publicized in order to counter the Islamophiles who tell lies about jizya “not existing” in the modern world.