Working in interest related companies organizations : business of ETFs fund management

السؤال

[Question One] : Walaykum As salaam Dr. Kahf, Jazak Allahu Khayran for your comments. I have a few follow up questions. 1. I guess I am confusing speculation vs investment. Because in my mind when I am investing with the sincere intention to grow my wealth (and not hoard), that still involves speculation, we may call it a healthy speculation. So I am not where and how should I draw the line, may be a bit philosophical. Of course you can buy and sell while investing but not with the heat that is the spirit of speculation. 2. In regards to currencies, from what I understand is that utilizing currency rate differentials as means to 'create wealth' is not permissible, even if it’s a genuine investment and not based excessive speculation or day-trading. I know in Islam we treat Gold and Silver as currencies. We have goldsmiths producing fancy ornaments / jewelry and selling more than the value of gold, perhaps a mark-up for the 'design' service. We also have people (very common in the Mideast), that deal in gold bars- the business would make income out of gold rate differentials, would this be impermissible as well ? There is no genuine currency trading except by money exchangers who provide service and while they do that they need to buy and sell currencies and to hold balances in different currencies. Gold and silver are same as currencies because the Saying mentioned it. Jewelers buy, add services and sell. They are entitled to sell at higher than purchase prices although the market may turn against them sometime like any other trader. Sitting on the internet to buy and sell. In the Middle East small gold bullions are used as jewelry, the same applied. Of course there are people who do many things that are in violation of Shari’ah, especially among jewelers ! This is perhaps why we find jewelers / goldsmiths classified as a bad profession in Fiqh ! 3. In your opinion based on your extensive experience Masha Allah, do you find Malaysians extremely liberal in their approaching Shari’ah Banking ? and what about Middle Easterners ? Malaysian practices are not the same as Malaysian scholarship. On scholarship area we have very little differences and most scholars agree on most of the details. There are practices in Malaysia that are not accepted by Malaysian scholars and others (discounting debt under name of sale of debt, sale and buy back at a higher deferred price, loan and renting a safety box at exorbitant rate that amounts to interest, and the like). These were done in the early 1980s based on misinterpreting certain classical Fiqh statements but actually are not accepted by all scholars in Malaysia (they are still in practice by virtue of support from some older traditionalists and by secularists (in Malaysia many secularist appear like very Islamic ! When you go to Malaysia you will realize the weaving of the Muslim community there and its culture !). I the Gulf we have a new problem (Tawarruq) that is opposed by an overwhelming decision by the OIC Fiqh Academy but supported by a very small group of traditionalist Shari’ah scholars ! After my education in Malaysian, I am considering traveling to the Middle East for employment opportunities to gain good exposure to the industry. The North American market seems to be reluctant, nervous, and a little conservative in taking Shari’ah Banking to the next level. As I spoke to one of the bankers (Muslim) today, and he mentioned we still don't have a market for it. Personally I don’t agree with this assessment. Jazak Allah Khayr for your comments Sh. Monzer. FiAmanAllah [Question Two] : Assalaamu Alaikum Dr. Kahf : Just as a follow up to my earlier question. Since investments based on speculation are not permissible such the stock market, the commodities funds, and so on-that practically rules out the entire "Funds" space. Am I correct ? If that's the case, then how come we have "Islamic Investment Funds" sprung up essentially investing in equities, gold, etc. in the UK and the US, and even in Malaysia and so on ? Dow Jones, S and P, FTSE all have Shari’ah based indices. Jazak Allah Khayr. FiAmanAllah Rauf

جواب الفتوى

أنقر هنالمشاهدة هذا المحتوى

تاريخ النشر

2009-09-25

التخصصات الرئيسية

العلوم الاقتصادية والمالية وإدارة الأعمال
الدراسات الإسلامية

عدد الصفحات

3

نوع البيانات

فتاوى

لغة النص

الإنجليزية

رقم السجل

BIM-731220

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