Stand tall for halal standards

WESTERN historians of science have systematically and consistently played down the contribution of Muslim scientists to civilisation inspite of the fact that the medieval Western world diligently imitated, copied and plagiarised the works of Muslim scientists.

But then, consider this frank, honest statement by Mark Graham in his book "How Islam Created the Modern World" (2006): "In the Middle Ages, while Europe was mired in superstition and feudal chaos, Baghdad was the intellectual centre of the world. Baghdad created a scientific, mathematical and philosophical golden age.

Their medicine, chemistry and algebra. Muslim scientists correctly calculated the circumference of the globe in the 10th century.

Muslim musicians introduced the guitar and musical notation to Europe. And Muslim philosophers invented the scientific method and paved the way for the Enlightenment."

At the dawn of the Renaissance, Christian Europe was wearing Persian clothes, singing Arab songs, reading Spanish Muslim philosophy and eating off Mamluk Turkish brassware.

This is the story of how Muslims taught Europe to live well and think clearly.

It is the story of "How Islam Created the Modern World."

But now suddenly the World Health Convention has turned-turtle by heralding "eureka!" that male circumcision is one of the best protections against HIV.

(Ref: "Male circumcision is best weapon in fight protection against Aids'; - The Independent, London, May 9, 2008)

Note: They only consider in terms of "against HIV" rather than the normal regular religious hygienic requirement in Islam.)

Consider this passage from a book entitled "Clean — Unsanitised History of Washing" written by Katherine Ashenburg: "The cleanest corner of early medieval Europe was Arab Spain. Unlike in Christianity, cleanliness was an important religious requirement for the Muslim, and a 9th-century observer described the Andalusian Arab as 'the cleanest people on earth'.

While the Christians in the north of Spain wash neither their bodies nor their clothes which they only remove when they fall into pieces, a poor in the Arab south would reportedly spend his last coin on soap rather than the food Healthy and impressive as these arrangements (Islamic religious requirements) sound, to the Christians they were decadent and abominable The Spaniards associated washing with the hated Moors' heretical beliefs, and their own dirty ways with the True Faith."

In fact, numerous so called health spas, beauty spas, spas this, spas that, have mushroomed worldwide. All these are the Islamic legacies. So are the bidets in the washrooms. Numerous other Islamic serious, legacies both socio-economic-religious and educational-medical-scientific ones are now being practised worldwide.

These are vouched by those books such as "Muslim Heritage in our World-1001 Inventions" by Salim T S Al-Hassani, Elizabeth Woodcock and Rabah Saoud, 2006 — published by Foundation for Science,Technology and Civilisation.

While Tin Wallaco-Murphy wrote: "What Islam Did for Us — Understanding Islam's Contribution to Western Civilisation" (2006). Dr Mohammad Ilyas and Dr Bushra Saeed Ilyas authored "Glimpses of Muslim Genius in Science - Modern Day View of its History and Mysteries" (2008). Mohammad Yasin Owadally wrote "The Muslim Scientists" (2003).

So now with this old maxim: "Where there is adversity-crisis, there is opportunity". So Islamic baking-finance-takaful practitioners, regulators, auditors and experts must now strike while the iron is hot by promptly and professionally giving an SOS to the West, in particular those USA leadership, the Islamic banking-finance-takaful solution.

This Islam ready-made socio-economic-ethical-religious halal standards as the ultimate solution to the rampant ultra liberal system and practice is further reinforced by the economist and Middle East expert, Dieter Weiss who says this about the Islamic guidelines (The World Standards?!) for economic action: "We see the model of an economy based on social justice, economic independence, personal responsibility and achievement. Work done with care guarantees the satisfaction of material and spiritual needs.

There is an emphasis on emotional and social balance and a prohibition against doing damage to the social environment by uncontrolled greed.

Resources may not be misused unproductively and in an unethically questionable way. For their sole owner remains Allah, who leaves them to human beings as trustees for a limited lifespan.

Such ideas manifestly hardly differ from Christian norms...Islamic economists ask whether, in the long run, the market can exist without morals...In the modern world many moral ties fell away with the religious ties. Today's economic systems have not only emancipated themselves from the church and theology but also detached themselves from the overall structure of the world in which we live, with all its norms and laws, including morality and sometimes also from the state and its legal order.

This has led to a rampant ultra-liberalism, with all its well-known consequences: financial bubbles, the falsification of balance sheets, exaggerated managerial salaries and scandalous compensation payments couple with mass disposal for the sake of shareholder value." (Excerpt from "Islam" by Hans Kung, President of the Global Ethic Foundation.)

This excerpt from Hans Kung's book is in fact a reflection of what the International Association of Islamic Banks (IAIB) stresses as its general guidelines:

"The Islamic banking system involves a social implication which is necessarily connected with the Islamic order itself, and represents a special characteristic that distinguishes Islamic banks from other banks based on other philosophies.

In exercising all its banking and developmental activities, the Islamic bank takes into prime consideration the social implications that may be brought about by any decision or action taken by the bank.

Profitability-despite its importance and priority-is not therefore the sole criterion or the prime element in evaluating the performance of Islamic banks, since they have no match both between the material and the social objectives that would serve the interests of the community as a whole and help achieve their role in the sphere of social mutual guarantee. Social goals are understood to form an inseparable element of the Islamic banking system that cannot be dispensed with or neglected" (IAIB, 1990).

With the current bias against almost everything Islam, (except of course the wealth, oil and gas and natural products of those Muslim countries!) the practitioner of Islamic banking-finance-takaful and economics must stand tall and be counted, full of perseverance in advocating those Islamic principles, system and practices.

Take heart, be proud and full of confidence when you have fully appreciated this statement from Prof Glen M Cooper, Brigham Young University:

"Muslims generally are unaware that their civilisation had a high point of superiority in nearly every aspect. The Quran actually forms one of the cornerstones of science in Islam, in a way unlike any other scripture of any other religion."

Then Sir Thomas Arnold and Alfred Guillaume in "The Legacy of Islam", stated:

"The spread of Islamic knowledge to Europe sparked, or at least helped to spark, the Renaissance and Scientific revolution of the 17th Century. It is highly probable that, but for the Arabs, modern European civilisation would never have arisen at all."

While Prof William Shea, University of Padua, Italy asserted:

"Islam's contribution to international culture is obvious; we have to reinforce the influence of Islam in our institutions in Europe, the UK and the US."

[All the three views just quoted above are excerpted from "Glimpses of Muslim Genius in Science — Modern day view of its History and Mysteries" Edited by Dr Mohammad Ilyas and Dr Dushra Saeed Ilyas, 2008]

In conclusion for this section, when these Western authors, experts are themselves heaping praises and appreciations of the Islamic principles, systems and practices, we just cannot understand why the practitioners, regulators and experts of Islamic banking-finance-takaful themselves are so gullible as to slavishly accept the questionable Global Western standards which lack moral-ethical-religious authority.

So stand steadfastly in promoting to the world the Islamic banking-financial-takaful-economic halal standards!

"Invite to the way of thy Lord." (Al-Quran, such as Surah and Verses 15:94, 26:214, 51:55, 52:29, 87:9), and a Hadith: "(with) beautiful preaching and argue with them in ways that are best."

Third issue:

Issue about the remarks made in public that "Innovation and creativity in Islamic banking too slow as studies show only 25 per cent of Muslims are interested in Islamic financial products and the rest has either vested interest in the conventional methods or has already invested there that Islamic finance is still far from developed" (The Brunei Times, Dec 11, 2008: "Islamic banking needs innovation").

From what we could gather from the above report these remarks were made by Awang Ahmad Zaki from RHB Islamic Bank, one of the panelists at that Islamic Finance News Forum (held on Dec 10, 2008).

These remarks may have been made with good intention to challenge those practitioners, experts and regulators of Islamic banking, finance and takaful to make this Islamic industry more competitive and attractive to investors world wide who always search for new products to invest in and obtain from them reasonable profits.

But these remarks could also mean as inadvertent slights from a Muslim on his own religious obligation (and livelihood) to spread the Divine-based Islamic principle, system and operations.

These negative remarks made by a Muslim practitioner of Islamic banking and finance may have been due to his poor perspective on this subject.

But Allah's Providence works in strange and mysterious ways.

It has been those independent non-Muslims observers, authors and experts, even some of those Western regulators, have for years proven those negatives views, such as the one's made by Awang Ahmad Zaki, to be wrong, as have been adduced earlier above, and shall be justified below. (Also please refer to this similar issue raised in The Brunei Times, Nov 12, 2008: "Halal Islamic finance based on real not virtual economy". This article was an attempt to prove that such negative remarks/views are due to a combination of impatience, a failure to appreciate the relative historical struggles of the birth of Islamic banking-finance-takaful, the ignorance on the prohibitions against creativity and innovation driven by "greed is good" culture through creation of complex, risky paper financial products IOUs, and blind, slavish admiration of everything Western as best.)

Yang Dimuliakan Pehin Orang Kaya Lela Raja Dato Seri Laila Jasa Haji Awang Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abdul Karim DSLJ, PJK was formerly Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Defence.

The Brunei Times

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Continues tomorrow