02-18-2006, 04:55 PM
Quote:Do you suppose you could give the context in which he said it, and I'll try to explain. I watched this some time ago so I don't remember everything.
I agree. Interest is an addiction. It's easy to get too "interested" in it!
so you are a sleep talker eh? My little sister is a sleep talker. Alhamdulillah I was a heavy sleeper so wasn't bothered too much, but my grandma (may Allah bless her) has had many sleepless nights!
Yes they do. Sorry I meant to mention it in my post above but forgot. It is http://www.islamic-bank.com
From the Banks website:
Quote:Investor Relations
Our shareholders are currently made up of certain leading Islamic Banks and other institutions from the Middle East, including Qatar International Islamic Bank, as well as individual investors who share our passion to create this bank. These individuals include some of the most senior members of dedicated Islamic Banks and finance companies in the UK, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
We had £14 million in start-up capital from them, raised from Private Placement. We have increased this amount substantially through an Initial Public Offering in the UK and by another Private Placement in the Middle East, by which we raised between £40-50million – sufficient for our medium term business development objectives.
It is our intention to make our shares available to all interested individuals – we intend to create an inclusive bank that reflects a more inclusive society, and welcome applications for shares from anyone, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
The additional capital will enable us to rapidly implement our plans for the expansion of our service, which include a much wider branch network, new customer propositions and the provision of an Internet banking facility.
OY! This is the same old crap with a new wrapper.
You know what the great joke is, Mohsie? We are all Jews!
The Jews pay for their sins seven times for not obeying God, and when we fail to obey God we pay for our sins seven times over, too. Do you know how that happens?
Our children pay.
The mistakes we make last for generations, just as the mistakes our ancestors made are what we pay today.
Did you read my flyer called The Interest Mechanism? It's all about understanding the nature of a geometric progression. Like a ripple in a pond. Do the right thing, and it ripples out. Do the wrong thing, and it ripples out.
Note, I am not suggesting you not use the bank. Use it, and pressure them gently to think deeper. The video linked the idea of charity and usury. Lending without interest is not charity, because you get your principal back. Giving charity when it is based on the gains from interest is not charity either, because you are simply profiting from the poor and giving to the poor.
Currently, many banks in America have formed 501-c3 non-profit organizations. So they pretend to be charitable, and get a tax-exemption, when in fact they are causeing the problem to get worse. (I call it 501c3 hegemony.)
The reason there are rich and poor in society is because the system AUTOMATICALLY divides the wealth. That is why God banned interest and profit. A small change is all it takes for there to be peace and wealth on Earth, but people's various forms of bigotry blind them to the possibility.
I can document this, too. There is a book called The Great Wave which shows wherever there is a pricing equilibrium (no inflation) there is a renaissance, and where there is inflation, eventually there is social unrest. (class struggle in various forms of blame.) God's commandments are for real, but we really need to follow ALL of them, and not make exceptions or water them down. He traces the effect from the year 1208, but like most economists he blames the wrong things. (He thinks it is population growth and monetary policy.)
Ultimately, the rules of society reflect people's understanding of the commandments. If we poorly understand the commandments, then we poorly construct laws and personal habits. If everyone followed the commandments, we wouldn't need any laws. Or money for that matter. Money is an intellectual agreement, once it is used in a predatory way, the pebble is dropped. The New York Stock Exchange and international currency is just the other end of the wave. Osama attacked the obvious (the rich) on 9/11, but he missed the subtle: There is no difference between financial predatory behavior and physical predatory behavior.
I bring Osama up because puzzling through what he was thinking is what filled in some missing pieces in my own understanding of things. Later I discovered a letter he wrote that confirmed what I suspected he was thinking. His complaint about Interest is valid, but he doesn't grasp the importance of it in history. He blames America when he should be blaming himself. As we all should. We are all a partner with the Devil in some way, that is what "the struggle" (jihad) is really about. It has nothing to do with which religion one belongs to, we are all equal in that regard. We need to trust the Spirit.
This is such a huge problem. I think the only way to truely correct it is a Worldwide Jubilee.
peace