GARBLED TALK ON ISLAMIC ECONOMICS.

Submitted by Ben Othman (Malaysia), Feb 13, 2011 at 23:42

Rajeev,

I find it rather pathetic that an Indian claiming to be from a secular and democratic India (free country ?) cry baby his way to Daniel Pipes , perhaps kneeling seeking concurrence of a" half baked," biased and preposterous discourse on Islamic Banking. Also apparently you do not know what you are talking about and your article is a clear reflection of that.

The state of Kerala in southern India has a sizeable Muslim population and it is THEY who want Islamic Banking for THEIR own banking needs. To them and to Muslims everywhere interest based banking is haram-not permissible , and the alternative is Interest –free banking

The analogy is Kosher—food; Practicing Jews everywhere will only consume kosher food and in certain places they will go to the extent of producing their own food.To Muslims" halalness " or the Kosherness " is not only limited to food but extend to every aspect of life including banking and economic transactions between themselves and with others. If facilitating a conduit for the halal Banking transactions for Muslims and in the same vein production of Kosher talith/food for practicing Jews are ,as you say 'stealing the agenda and running with the pot (plot ? ) thereby negating democratic values, love of freedom and separation of church and state ( you did not mention separation of people into castes ? ) then you do not really know what democracy stands for.

You also exposed yourself as an ignoramus on Islamic Banking and conventional banking principles and operations by making contradicting statements;you said' It is unfortunate but I see a superior business opportunity in this scenario -- non-muslim entrepreneurs should start Islamic banks. This is a good idea for the following reasons: ???

The you rattle off with ;" if Islamic finance was indeed good for the customers and owners (share holders), the free economies of the world would already have adopted or invented those ideas. If these ideas are still unadopted, they must be bad for owners and consumers.

Those, Rajeev are hypothetical value judgements not supported by evidence-akin to an idle chatter in a bazaar somewhere in Mumbai after a lunch in banana leaf so that the out caste will not touch your plates.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".