From: RCIRIT%DENVER@VAXF.Colorado.EDU (REMZI CIRIT)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Islamic World News (11th)
Date: 12 Dec 1992 16:39:58 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

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I     IN THIS ISSUE:                                                    I
I                   *NEWS UPDATE                                        I
I                   *iSLAMIC BANKING (part I)                           I
I                   *ANNOUNCEMENTS                                      I
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NEWS DECEMBER 11, 1992

INDIA
The killing of Muslims continues in India five days after
Hindu fanatics destroyed the historic Babri Mosque in Ayodhya,
India.
The Indian government has imposed a news blackout as well as
curfew in many cities of India but reports from different 
parts indicate that hundreds, perhaps thousands of Muslims
have been killed by Hindu fanatics.
The worst affected areas are Bombay, cities in Gujrat, Bhopal,
Calcutta and of course many cities and towns in Uttar Pradesh
state where the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was located.
In several cities in Gujrat such as Surat, Hindu mobs set fire to
Muslim businesses burning at least 47 people to death.
The predominantly Hindu police and paramilitary forces have
also been busy killing the Muslims.
It is incredible to note that while the Hindu fascists destroyed
the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya in contravention of an order
of the Indian Supreme Court, it is the Muslims that are getting
slaughtered.
The Indian government on December 10 banned five parties and
organizations -- three Hindu and two Muslim. The Hindu groups
banned are: the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP); the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and the Hindu Shiv Sena. All three Hindu
organizations have been involved in the destruction of the Babri
Mosque and are well-known for their terrorist activities. 
The Muslim organizations banned are the Jama'at-e Islami India, and
the Islamic Shiv Sena. Neither of the two was involved in any activities
related to the Babri Mosque controversy; nor have they been involved in
any violence.
Observers believe that the Indian government is trying to appear
neutral and does not want to antagonise the Hindus who have already
gone on a rampage throughout India after two of their leaders,
L K Advani and Murli Mohan Joshi, both of the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), were placed under house arrest on December 7.
The curfew will remain in force until December 12 and may be
extended further if the Hindu mobs are not brought under control
by then.
Prime ministe P V Narasimha Rao has announced that the government
will rebuild the Babri Mosque. Muslims want to know where the
Mosque will be rebuilt. The Hindu fanatics, 300,000 of whom had
converged on Ayodhya just prior to destroying the Mosque, have
already erected a crude platform on the site of the Mosque.
Is the Indian government going to destroy the temple platform to 
The manner in which the Indian prime minister has conducted himself
so far indicates that it is highly unlikely. In fact, there is
mounting evidence to suggest that Narasimha Rao deliberately let
the Hindu zealots destroy the Mosque so that the Hindu population
would be satisfied who had vowed to do so.
Now when he builds the Mosque, even away from the original site,
he will try to hoodwink the Muslims into believing that he has
fulfilled his promise and that they can have a Mosque.
This is a cynical game which the Hindus are quite good at playing.
Meanwhile Muslims throughout the world have been appalled at
the destruction of the 16th century Mosque in India.
There have been demonstrations in many parts of the world against
this act of desecration and destruction.
In San Francisco, the Council of Muslim Organizations held a rally
on December 8 outside the Indian consulate. Another one is planned
for Toronto on Saturday December 12 outside the Indian consulate
at Yonge and Bloor Streets at 1:30 pm.
The destruction of the Babri Mosque should never have been allowed
to occur. 
By so doing the Hindu fanatics have declared open war on Islam and
the Muslims in India. With so many other fault lines, India now
appears set on the road to self-destruction.

TAJIKISTAN
Guerrillas loyal to the communists in Tajikistan appear to have
occupied a number of buildings in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital,
on December 11.
For the past week there were clashes in the capital between
forces loyal to the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) and those of
the communist rebels who had been driven from the capital last
September after Rakhman Nabiyev was ousted from the
presidency.
On November 26 and 27, the Tajik parliament, dominated by former
communists and Nabiyev supporters, held their meeting in the
northern industrial city of Khozjend. It is also the base of
Nabiyev supporters.
There, the communist renegades dismissed the interim government
that had replaced Nabiyev and announced the formation of a 
new government.
The problem was that the capital Dushanbe was still controlled
by forces loyal to the IRP, hence the attack on the capital
a week ago.
The communists may have got a foothold in Dushanbe but it is
unlikely that they will be able to hold it. The IRP has considerable
support in the area and in all probability, will be able to
retake the capital.
Tajikistan is divided along ethnic and tribal lines and the
communists are masters at keeping the people divided.
The fighting in Tajikistan has led to a flood of refugees fleeing
into Afghanistan.

AFGHANISTAN
Fighting between the militia loyal to general Abdul Rashid Dostam
and forces loyal to Ahmed Shah Masoud, of the Jamiat-e Islami and
defence minister in the interim government, broke out around
Kabul on December 9.
Two planes flown by pilots loyal to Dostam also bombed the presidential 
palace.
The latest outbreak of violence comes at a time when a council of
Hal-o-Aqd was to convene to choose the next president for 18
months leading to elections in the country.
The council should have met on December 10 and in any case, the
next president must be selected by December 15.
In October the tenure of Ustad Rabbani was extended for 45 days
when the various groups could not agree on a successor to him but it
was also pointed out that after December 15, there will be no further
extension for Rabbani as president.
A number of mujahideen groups led by Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, have
demanded the withdrawal of Dostam's militia from the capital.
Dostam is a former communist who switched sides at the last minute
and joined forces with Ahmed Shah Masoud to grab power from
Najibullah.
Dostam's militia have wreaked havoc in Kabul. They are an unruly
mob who specialize in terrorising innocent people.
The militia was created by the former regime specifically to
fight the mujahideen and to keep their forces pinned down in 
the north.
A number of meetings have been held between the various mujahideen
leaders, especially Hikmatyar and Masoud and Hikmatyar and Rabbani in
which Hikmatyar has consistently demanded the removal of Dostam's
militia from the capital.
Although the others have agreed to this demand but so far it has
not been implemented.
Dostam's forces are heavily armed and are capable of causing a
great deal of havoc as they have demonstrated so far.
Their removal from Kabul will pave the way for normalcy returning to
the capital and the holding of elections in the near future.


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EVENT SCAN ############################################################### 
                      ISLAMIC BANKING

By: Mohsin Khan & Abbas Mirakhor

Islamic banks are prohibited from charging or paying
interest, and thus can operate only on the basis of profit
sharing arrangements. This paper provides a brief survey of
the theory and practice of Islamic banking since the mid-
1970's, how such banks operate, and the analytical
underpinnings of a financial system based on Islamic
principles. (The paper was first published by the
International Monetary Fund -IMF)

     In Islam there is an absolute prohibition against the
payment and receipt of interest (The Arabic term for which
is `riba'). It is this prohibition that makes Islamic
banking differ in a very basic and important way from a
conventional banking system. As the use of the interest rate
in financial transactions is precluded, Islamic banks can 
operate only on the basis of profit sharing arrangements or
other modes of financing permissible under Islamic law (the
shari'a).

     Technically, riba refers to the addition in the amount
of principal of a loan based on the time for which it is
loaned and on the amount of the loan. From a legal
standpoint, it signifies the additional money charged in
money-to-money transactions or the extra commodity in
commodity-to-commodity operations. While earlier there was a
debate as to whether riba referred to interest or to usury,
it appears there is now a consensus of opinion among Islamic
scholars that the term extends to all forms of interest, and
without distinction being made between real and nominal
rates. The fundamental sources of Islam; namely the Quran
and the Sunnah, do not provide a detailed explanation for
the prohibition against interest beyond asserting,
axiomatically, that charging interest is an act of injustice
and thus forbidden. Contemporary Muslim economists have, 
however, provided various rationales for this restriction by
appealing to the supposedly adverse consequences of the
existence of interest in modern societies, or by asserting
that the interest is exploitative, or by arguing that modern
economic theory has not provided a justification for the
existence or the need for interest, and furthermore, that
the interest is inconsistent with the Islamic notion and
concept of property rights (Chapra 1982; Siddiqi 1983; Ahmad
1984; Khan & mirakhor 1989). A universal view on this issue
is yet unavailable.

1. Development of Islamic Banks

     Although the restriction against the use of interest
would seem to be a binding constraint, Islamic banks and
financial institutions have in fact grown rapidly,
particularly since the mid-1970's.  At present there are
about 45 countries, encompassing most of the Muslim world,
that have some type of Islamic financial institution. This 
development in Islamic banking has basically taken two
forms. The first has been an attempt to establish Islamic
financial institution side by side with traditional banks.
In such attempts, the type of institutions that have evolved
are Islamic banks established mostly in Muslim countries,
and Islamic investment and holding companies operating in
some Muslim countries, but mostly in non-Muslim countries.
In both cases, generally, the banking operations that apply
to all banks. Example of Islamic banks in Muslim countries
include the Faysal Islamic Bank of Bahrain, the Faysal
Islamic Bank in Egypt and Sudan, the Dubai Islamic Bank, the
Qatar Islamic Bank, and the Jordan Islamic Bank. Examples of
investment companies having either a national or an
international mandate include the Dar Al Mal Al Islami
(Geneva) Albarakah International Ltd. (London), The Islamic
investment Company (Bahamas), and the Al Rajhi Company for
Islamic Investment Ltd. (London). These international
institutions, which are generally private owned, compete
with conventional banks for deposits - but without paying 
interest - and invest these funds wherever they find
profitable investment opportunities.

     The second form that the development of Islamic banking
has taken involves the restriction of the whole financial
system in accord with Islamic concepts. The countries where
this transformation of the system has occurred are Iran and
Pakistan. In Iran all banks operate under Islamic law, while
in Pakistan only foreign banks are exempt from the
restriction against interest-based transactions (Khan &
Mirakhor 1990).

. . .  Operations of Islamic Banks (next)


ANNOUNCEMENTS: *********************************************

The Islamic Committee For Palestine Fifth Annual Conference
will be held Dec. 25 - 28 1992. in McCormick Center Hotel 
Chicago, Illinois. For more info. call:
(813) 980-2572.
Speakers from North America and the midle east had been
invited to participate in this event.

==========================================================
The MSA (PSG) will be holding its 22nd Annual convention in
Dallas, Texas from 24-27, 1992. Local and International
scholars will be participating in the convention including
Br Zafar Bangash, Imam Mohammed H. Asi, Br A. A. Musa, Ahmed
Hubert (Swetzland), Sartaj (Pakistan) and many others. For
more info. call: (510) 644-0955.
************************************************************
##########################################################################
*------- Note to contributors and readers:
   ****Islam, as a universal Religion, forbids any sorts of racial
bigotry; country names are to be used for and understood as a mere designation
of the geographical locations. Criticisms are for that particular system
or power structure and NOT the people. 
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This program is updated twice a week. All rights revert to the Union, articles
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