InsyaALlah, I shall be back in MasjidilHaram with family.. Ya ALlah.. ALlahumma Yassir wala tu'assir..
Friday, January 11, 2013
Umrah
InsyaALlah, I shall be back in MasjidilHaram with family.. Ya ALlah.. ALlahumma Yassir wala tu'assir..
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Kelebihan 10 Muharram - Hari Assyura
| Dari Ibnu Abbas r.a berkata RasuluLlah S.A.W bersabda: "Barangsiapa yang berpuasa pada hari Assyura (10 Muharram) maka ALlah S.W.T akan memberi kepadanya pahala 10,000 malaikat dan sesiapa yang berpuasa pada hari Assyura (10 Muharram) maka akan diberi pahala 10,000 orang berhaji dan berumrah, dan 10,000 pahala orang mati syahid, dan barang siapa yang mengusap kepala anak-anak yatim pada hari tersebut maka ALlah S.W.T akan menaikkan dengan setiap rambut satu darjat. Dan sesiapa yang memberi makan kepada orang yang berbuka puasa pada orang mukmin pada hari Assyura, maka seolah-olah dia memberi makan pada seluruh ummat RasuluLlah S.A.W yang berbuka puasa dan mengenyangkan perut mereka". Lalu para sahabat bertanya RasuluLlah S.A.W: "Ya RasuluLlah S.A.W, adakah ALlah telah melebihkan hari Assyura daripada hari-hari lain?". Maka berkata RasuluLlah S.A.W: "Ya, memang benar, ALlah Taala menjadikan langit dan bumi pada hari Assyura, menjadikan laut pada hari Aasyura, menjadikan bukit-bukit pada hari Assyura, menjadikan Nabi Adam dan juga Hawa pada hari Assyura, lahirnya Nabi Ibrahim juga pada hari Assyura, dan ALlah S.W.T menyelamatkan Nabi Ibrahim dari api juga pada hari Assyura, ALlah S.W.T menenggelamkan Fir'aun pada hari Assyura, menyembuhkan penyakit Nabi Ayyub a.s pada hari Aasyura, ALlah S.W.T menerima taubat Nabi Adam pada hari Aasyura, ALlah S.W.T mengampunkan dosa Nabi Daud pada hari Assyura, ALlah S.W.T mengembalikan kerajaan Nabi Sulaiman juga pada hari Assyura, dan akan terjadi hari kiamat itu juga pada hari Assyura!".
(as excerpted from Portal of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta' - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) |
This is in addition to other similar acts on that day such as dying with Henna, shaking hands, and so on. This Hadith and other similar ones are all considered fabricated lies by consensus of those who have knowledge of Hadith Science. Yet, it was mentioned by some Hadith scholars that it is Sahih (authentic). They claim that its Isnad (chain of narration) meets the condition of Sahih. However, this is undoubtedly wrong as clarified in other positions. Furthermore, none of the Muslim Imams (initiator of a School of Jurisprudence) stated it to be Mustahab (desirable) to wash up, wear Kuhl, dye with Henna and suchlike on the Day of ‘Ashura’. It was also not mentioned by any of the reliable Muslim scholars to whom people resort to know Allah’s Commands and Prohibitions. This was neither observed by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) nor byFriday, November 19, 2010
Eidul Adha 2010
The Eid being celebrated by all Muslims marked the successful journey of Prophet Mohammad SAW to Makkah.
This year more than 2 million muslim pilgrims are in Makkah and complete the Hajj Journey as one of the 5 pillars of Islam.
The 5 pillars are:
The 'Five Pillars' of Islam are the foundation of Muslim life:
* Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad;
* Establishment of the daily prayers;
* Concern for and alms giving to the needy;
* Self-purification through fasting; and
* The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able.
The annual hajj begins in last month of the Islamic year that is Zulhijjah. Pilgrims will wear Ihram which is a special white cloths that is similar and equal with all others pilgrims as a symbol of man/woman equality before God.
Muslims travel from all over the world to reach the Holy City of Makkah for the Hajj and perform the Hajj rituals in the same manner as the Prophet Muhammad SAW 14 centuries ago.
Listed below is the steps for performing Hajj al-Tamattu' which involves performing Umrah and then Hajj, with one Ihram for each.
This form of Hajj is considered the best of three forms of Hajj. It is the one that the Prophet Muhammad SAW urged his followers to perform and is the one adopted by most pilgrims from overseas.
* Ihram
* Performing the Welcome Tawaf and Sa'y
* Ihram for Hajj al-Tamattu'
* Going to Mina from Makkah
* Going to Arafat from Mina
* Going to Muzdalifah from Arafat
* Proceeding to Mina from Muzdalifah
* Tawaf al-Ifadha in the Holy City of Makkah
* Returning to Mina from Makkah
* Farewell Tawaf in the Holy City of Makkah
* Departing for home
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Halal Slaughter for Qurban 1428
We supply goats for qurban, aqiqah and other functions that require goat meats.
Do contact us at 017-8876484 (Haji Wahab) for further enquiries.
Our TERKAM Farm is located at Batu 14 1/2, Hulu Langat, Cheras, MALAYSIA.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Halal: The most humane slaughter
By By Syed Ashraf Ali, The New Nation, Dhaka
Dec 18, 2007, 12:33
The great festival of Eid-ul Adha, popularly known in this subcontinent as Bakrid, is celebrated by the Muslims all over the world on the tenth of Dhul-Hijja every year through sacrifices and prayers in memory of the glorious sacrifice of the prophets Ibrahim Khalilullah and Ismail Zabihullah (peace be upon them).
Millions of cattle are slaughtered on this auspicious day with a view to receiving the Divine Mercy through benevolence, Samaritanism, patience and constancy. This noble effort is, however, condemned by many an ignorant non-Muslims, shrouded by total ignorance about the significance and sublime essence of Qurbani, as an act of wanton cruelty. What is more, the Islamic practice of slaughter or sacrifice by slitting the throat with a sharp knife has come under attack by some animal rights activists as being an inhuman form of cruelty to animals.
It is claimed that the slaughtering of an animal with a knife is the most painful and tortuous method of killing. Nothing can be farther from the truth. It has been established beyond any shadow of doubt, through impartial scientific experiments conducted in non-Muslim countries, that the Islamic method of slaughtering with a knife is the least painful and thus the most humane method of killing an animal.
In most of the Western countries, it is required by law to stun the animals with a shot in the head before the slaughter. It is done with a view to rendering the animal unconscious and thereby preventing it from reviving before it is killed so as not to slow down the movement of the processing line. It is also used from a humanitarian point of view. It is presumed that this stunning prevents the animal from feeling pain before it dies. But research conducted in a non-Muslim country like Germany has come out with very surprising findings which nail to the counter the allegations against the Islamic method of slaughtering with a knife.
The intensive research conducted at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Hanover University in Germany was headed by Professor Wilhelm Schulze. He was assisted by Dr. Hazim. The study was named: "Attempts to objectify pain and consciousness in conventional (captive bolt pistol stunning) and ritual (Islamic method of cutting with knife) methods of slaughtering sheep and calves."
The results were most unexpected to the non-Muslim Westerners. The claim that the CBPS (Capital Bolt Pistol Stunning) method was least painful and most humane dashed to the ground. The findings testified to the fact that the slaughter of an animal with a sharp knife is the least painful and most humane of all methods of killing.
In the study several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points of the skulls of all animals under experiment, touching the surface of the brain. The animals were allowed to recover for several weeks.
Some animals were then slaughtered, according to the Islamic method, by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck cutting the jugular vein and the carotid arteries as well as the trachea and esophagus. Other animals were stunned with the aid of a 'Captive Bolt Pistol' (CBP).
During the experiment an electroencephalograph (EEG) and an electrocardiogram (ECG) recorded the condition of the brains and the hearts of all the animals during the course of slaughter and stunning.
The results were as follows:
Slaughtering with a knife (The Islamic Method)1. The first 3 seconds from the time of the slaughter (in the Islamic Method) as recorded on the EEG did not show any change from the graph before slaughter, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any recognisable pain during or after the incision.
2. During the following 3 second, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep-unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood gushing out of the body. The sudden and profuse bleeding from the incision on the neck causes a shock resulting in a state of unconsciousness due to severe shortage of blood supply to the vital centers located in the brain.
3. After the above-mentioned 6 seconds, the EEG recorded zero level, showing no feeling of pain at all.
4. As the brain message (EEG) dropped to zero level, the heart was still pounding and the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action of the spinal cord) driving out a maximum amount of blood from the body, thus resulting in hygienic meat for the consumers.
Captive Bolt Pistol (CBP) Stunning Method
1. The animals were apparently unconscious soon after stunning.2. But EEG showed severe pain immediately after stunning.3. The hearts of animals stunned by CBP stopped beating earlier as compared to those of the animals slaughtered according to the Islamic method, resulting in the retention of more blood in the meat. This in turn is unhygienic for the consumer.
CBP Method and mad cow disease (MCD)The Western method of stunning animals with a shot in the head is not only severely painful, as shown by the above experiment, but it is also alarmingly unhygienic. There is rising concern (based on the findings of some researches) that the method may be a factor in the spread of Mad Cow disease (MCD) from cattle to human beings.
Two independent researches carried out recently at the Texas A & M University and by Canada's Food Inspection Agency discovered that a method called Pneumatic Stunning (in which a metal bolt is fired into the cow's brain and followed by a pulverising burst of 150 pounds of air pressure) delivered a force so explosive that it scattered brain tissue throughout the animal's body. The findings are really disturbing since brain tissue and spinal cord are the most infectious parts of an animal with Mad Cow Disease which causes Swiss cheese like holes in the brain of the infected animal. It is all the more alarming because 30 to 40 per cent of the American cattle are stunned by pneumatic guns before the slaughter.
As for the most modern method of electric stunning being practiced in many developed countries, the Meat Inspection Branch of the United States Department of Agriculture came to the following conclusion in 1953: "The use of electric stunning methods by plants which operate under federal meat inspection has not been permitted as a result of experiments which were conducted several years ago at the University of Chicago. These experiments indicated that electric stunning in hogs resulted in certain changes in the tissues which could not be differentiated by gross examination from similar changes produced by disease."
In 1955 the Danish Ministry of Justice issued a circular, which said, "Stunning with electricity causes extravasation in meat, sanguinary intestines and fracture in the spinal column, pelvis and the shoulder blades through shock. The blood in the meat makes it more susceptible to putrefaction and has a detrimental effect upon its taste. The properties of the meat which would co-operate with the salt in extracting the blood traces are interfered within the animal undergoing shock convulsions prior to slaughter."In 1954 British regulations were amended and electric stunning was prohibited, "the reason being that stunning seriously affected the quality of British bacon."
It was also observed: "Electric stunning hastens the onset of putrefaction in meat. The explanation of the phenomenon lies in the high lactic acid level following electric shocks prior to bleeding. High lactic acid alters the bacterial resistance of meat."
If the head of the animal is severed by one sharp blow through guillotining or Bali at the sacrificial post, there will be sudden contraction of voluntary muscles, which will expel important nutrient fluids and, as in electric shock, some lactic acid will also form. What is more, since the heart will stop suddenly, there will not be sufficient bleeding which is needed for better and healthier meat.
It is evident from the above-mentioned studies that the Islamic slaughter of animals is a blessing to both the animal and the person who consumes it. It may, however, be mentioned in this connection that the Islamic method insists on several measures to make the slaughter lawful.
This is done to ensure maximum benefit to both the animal and the consumer.
The holy Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) emphatic declaration in this regard should be mentioned first. The holy Prophet (pbuh) said: "Allah calls for mercy in everything, so be merciful when you kill and when you slaughter: sharpen your blade to relieve its pain."According to a tradition transmitted by Muslim, the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) ordered a horned ram with black legs, a black belly and black round the eyes, and it was brought to him to be sacrificed. He told Bibi Ayesha Siddiqua (RA) to get the knife, and then told her to sharpen it with a stone. When she had done so he took it, then taking the ram he placed it on the ground and cut its throat.
The Islamic method indeed demands that the knife to be used for slaughtering animals must be sharp and used swiftly. The swift cut of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerves in the brain responsible for pain. Thus the slaughtered animal feels no pain.
It may be mentioned in this connection that the movements and withering of the different limbs of the animal after the incision is made are not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient in blood. The convulsions are due to the contraction of the muscles in response to the lack of oxygen in the brain cells.
The muscles, by these contractions, squeeze out blood from the blood vessels in the tissues to pour it into the central circulation system to be sent to the brain, but this is lost on the way (due to cutting of big vessels in the neck) and the brain cells consequently keep on sending messages to the muscles to wring out blood, until the animal dies.
Convulsions thus occur when the animal becomes unconscious. And because the slaughtered animal becomes unconscious for massive hemorrhage, it does not feel pain while bleeding.
The holy Prophet's (pbuh) kindness to the animals extended to such an extent that he also instructed the Muslims neither to sharpen the blade of the knife in front of the animals nor to slaughter an animal in front of others of its own kind. It is unfortunate that very few Muslims today abide by this noble and unparalleled instruction of the last and greatest Prophet.
While offering Qurbani on Eid-ul-Azha most of the Muslims unfortunately, ignore the above-mentioned humane instruction of the Apostle of God (phub) and recklessly slaughter camels and cows and lambs right in front of other animals. We not only fight shy of the holy Prophet's unique instruction but also very easily forget that the animals feel and suffer in the same way as the humans do.
Lastly, the Islamic method also insists that the cut should involve the windpipe (trachea), gullet (esophagus), and the two jugular veins without cutting the spinal cord. This method results in rapid gush of blood draining most of it from the animal's body. If the spinal cord is cut, the nerve fibres to the heart might be damaged leading to cardiac arrest, thus resulting in stagnation of blood in the blood vessels. The blood must be drained completely before the head is removed from the body. As most of the blood, which acts as medium of microorganisms, is removed the meat becomes purified and also remains fresh for a longer period as compared to the meat obtained through other methods of slaughtering like gullotining or decapitation, CBPS and electric stunning.
The Islamic method of slaughter is, therefore, not only the most humane and least painful but also the most hygienic of all the methods of killing animals.
Dec 18, 2007, 12:33
The great festival of Eid-ul Adha, popularly known in this subcontinent as Bakrid, is celebrated by the Muslims all over the world on the tenth of Dhul-Hijja every year through sacrifices and prayers in memory of the glorious sacrifice of the prophets Ibrahim Khalilullah and Ismail Zabihullah (peace be upon them).
Millions of cattle are slaughtered on this auspicious day with a view to receiving the Divine Mercy through benevolence, Samaritanism, patience and constancy. This noble effort is, however, condemned by many an ignorant non-Muslims, shrouded by total ignorance about the significance and sublime essence of Qurbani, as an act of wanton cruelty. What is more, the Islamic practice of slaughter or sacrifice by slitting the throat with a sharp knife has come under attack by some animal rights activists as being an inhuman form of cruelty to animals.
It is claimed that the slaughtering of an animal with a knife is the most painful and tortuous method of killing. Nothing can be farther from the truth. It has been established beyond any shadow of doubt, through impartial scientific experiments conducted in non-Muslim countries, that the Islamic method of slaughtering with a knife is the least painful and thus the most humane method of killing an animal.
In most of the Western countries, it is required by law to stun the animals with a shot in the head before the slaughter. It is done with a view to rendering the animal unconscious and thereby preventing it from reviving before it is killed so as not to slow down the movement of the processing line. It is also used from a humanitarian point of view. It is presumed that this stunning prevents the animal from feeling pain before it dies. But research conducted in a non-Muslim country like Germany has come out with very surprising findings which nail to the counter the allegations against the Islamic method of slaughtering with a knife.
The intensive research conducted at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Hanover University in Germany was headed by Professor Wilhelm Schulze. He was assisted by Dr. Hazim. The study was named: "Attempts to objectify pain and consciousness in conventional (captive bolt pistol stunning) and ritual (Islamic method of cutting with knife) methods of slaughtering sheep and calves."
The results were most unexpected to the non-Muslim Westerners. The claim that the CBPS (Capital Bolt Pistol Stunning) method was least painful and most humane dashed to the ground. The findings testified to the fact that the slaughter of an animal with a sharp knife is the least painful and most humane of all methods of killing.
In the study several electrodes were surgically implanted at various points of the skulls of all animals under experiment, touching the surface of the brain. The animals were allowed to recover for several weeks.
Some animals were then slaughtered, according to the Islamic method, by making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck cutting the jugular vein and the carotid arteries as well as the trachea and esophagus. Other animals were stunned with the aid of a 'Captive Bolt Pistol' (CBP).
During the experiment an electroencephalograph (EEG) and an electrocardiogram (ECG) recorded the condition of the brains and the hearts of all the animals during the course of slaughter and stunning.
The results were as follows:
Slaughtering with a knife (The Islamic Method)1. The first 3 seconds from the time of the slaughter (in the Islamic Method) as recorded on the EEG did not show any change from the graph before slaughter, thus indicating that the animal did not feel any recognisable pain during or after the incision.
2. During the following 3 second, the EEG recorded a condition of deep sleep-unconsciousness. This is due to the large quantity of blood gushing out of the body. The sudden and profuse bleeding from the incision on the neck causes a shock resulting in a state of unconsciousness due to severe shortage of blood supply to the vital centers located in the brain.
3. After the above-mentioned 6 seconds, the EEG recorded zero level, showing no feeling of pain at all.
4. As the brain message (EEG) dropped to zero level, the heart was still pounding and the body convulsing vigorously (a reflex action of the spinal cord) driving out a maximum amount of blood from the body, thus resulting in hygienic meat for the consumers.
Captive Bolt Pistol (CBP) Stunning Method
1. The animals were apparently unconscious soon after stunning.2. But EEG showed severe pain immediately after stunning.3. The hearts of animals stunned by CBP stopped beating earlier as compared to those of the animals slaughtered according to the Islamic method, resulting in the retention of more blood in the meat. This in turn is unhygienic for the consumer.
CBP Method and mad cow disease (MCD)The Western method of stunning animals with a shot in the head is not only severely painful, as shown by the above experiment, but it is also alarmingly unhygienic. There is rising concern (based on the findings of some researches) that the method may be a factor in the spread of Mad Cow disease (MCD) from cattle to human beings.
Two independent researches carried out recently at the Texas A & M University and by Canada's Food Inspection Agency discovered that a method called Pneumatic Stunning (in which a metal bolt is fired into the cow's brain and followed by a pulverising burst of 150 pounds of air pressure) delivered a force so explosive that it scattered brain tissue throughout the animal's body. The findings are really disturbing since brain tissue and spinal cord are the most infectious parts of an animal with Mad Cow Disease which causes Swiss cheese like holes in the brain of the infected animal. It is all the more alarming because 30 to 40 per cent of the American cattle are stunned by pneumatic guns before the slaughter.
As for the most modern method of electric stunning being practiced in many developed countries, the Meat Inspection Branch of the United States Department of Agriculture came to the following conclusion in 1953: "The use of electric stunning methods by plants which operate under federal meat inspection has not been permitted as a result of experiments which were conducted several years ago at the University of Chicago. These experiments indicated that electric stunning in hogs resulted in certain changes in the tissues which could not be differentiated by gross examination from similar changes produced by disease."
In 1955 the Danish Ministry of Justice issued a circular, which said, "Stunning with electricity causes extravasation in meat, sanguinary intestines and fracture in the spinal column, pelvis and the shoulder blades through shock. The blood in the meat makes it more susceptible to putrefaction and has a detrimental effect upon its taste. The properties of the meat which would co-operate with the salt in extracting the blood traces are interfered within the animal undergoing shock convulsions prior to slaughter."In 1954 British regulations were amended and electric stunning was prohibited, "the reason being that stunning seriously affected the quality of British bacon."
It was also observed: "Electric stunning hastens the onset of putrefaction in meat. The explanation of the phenomenon lies in the high lactic acid level following electric shocks prior to bleeding. High lactic acid alters the bacterial resistance of meat."
If the head of the animal is severed by one sharp blow through guillotining or Bali at the sacrificial post, there will be sudden contraction of voluntary muscles, which will expel important nutrient fluids and, as in electric shock, some lactic acid will also form. What is more, since the heart will stop suddenly, there will not be sufficient bleeding which is needed for better and healthier meat.
It is evident from the above-mentioned studies that the Islamic slaughter of animals is a blessing to both the animal and the person who consumes it. It may, however, be mentioned in this connection that the Islamic method insists on several measures to make the slaughter lawful.
This is done to ensure maximum benefit to both the animal and the consumer.
The holy Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) emphatic declaration in this regard should be mentioned first. The holy Prophet (pbuh) said: "Allah calls for mercy in everything, so be merciful when you kill and when you slaughter: sharpen your blade to relieve its pain."According to a tradition transmitted by Muslim, the Apostle of Allah (pbuh) ordered a horned ram with black legs, a black belly and black round the eyes, and it was brought to him to be sacrificed. He told Bibi Ayesha Siddiqua (RA) to get the knife, and then told her to sharpen it with a stone. When she had done so he took it, then taking the ram he placed it on the ground and cut its throat.
The Islamic method indeed demands that the knife to be used for slaughtering animals must be sharp and used swiftly. The swift cut of vessels of the neck disconnects the flow of blood to the nerves in the brain responsible for pain. Thus the slaughtered animal feels no pain.
It may be mentioned in this connection that the movements and withering of the different limbs of the animal after the incision is made are not due to pain, but due to the contraction and relaxation of the muscles deficient in blood. The convulsions are due to the contraction of the muscles in response to the lack of oxygen in the brain cells.
The muscles, by these contractions, squeeze out blood from the blood vessels in the tissues to pour it into the central circulation system to be sent to the brain, but this is lost on the way (due to cutting of big vessels in the neck) and the brain cells consequently keep on sending messages to the muscles to wring out blood, until the animal dies.
Convulsions thus occur when the animal becomes unconscious. And because the slaughtered animal becomes unconscious for massive hemorrhage, it does not feel pain while bleeding.
The holy Prophet's (pbuh) kindness to the animals extended to such an extent that he also instructed the Muslims neither to sharpen the blade of the knife in front of the animals nor to slaughter an animal in front of others of its own kind. It is unfortunate that very few Muslims today abide by this noble and unparalleled instruction of the last and greatest Prophet.
While offering Qurbani on Eid-ul-Azha most of the Muslims unfortunately, ignore the above-mentioned humane instruction of the Apostle of God (phub) and recklessly slaughter camels and cows and lambs right in front of other animals. We not only fight shy of the holy Prophet's unique instruction but also very easily forget that the animals feel and suffer in the same way as the humans do.
Lastly, the Islamic method also insists that the cut should involve the windpipe (trachea), gullet (esophagus), and the two jugular veins without cutting the spinal cord. This method results in rapid gush of blood draining most of it from the animal's body. If the spinal cord is cut, the nerve fibres to the heart might be damaged leading to cardiac arrest, thus resulting in stagnation of blood in the blood vessels. The blood must be drained completely before the head is removed from the body. As most of the blood, which acts as medium of microorganisms, is removed the meat becomes purified and also remains fresh for a longer period as compared to the meat obtained through other methods of slaughtering like gullotining or decapitation, CBPS and electric stunning.
The Islamic method of slaughter is, therefore, not only the most humane and least painful but also the most hygienic of all the methods of killing animals.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Work Together To Boost Islamic Financing, Urges Prince Andrew
KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia and the UK should consider collaborations in Islamic financing since both countries have significant experience in the sector, the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, said today.
"Islamic finance is an area where I believe UK and Malaysia are pre-eminently well-placed to work together," he said in his address at the International Centre For Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) Global Forum which was opened by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi here, Thursday.
The prince, who is UK's special representative for trade and investment, said he was first introduced to the concept of Islamic finance while in Malaysia, during a trip to Labuan some years back.
He said the opportunities were enormous as there had been a remarkable growth in Islamic finance markets in the past few years.
"Globally, the Islamic finance market is estimated at US$500 billion (US$1=RM3.50). With the annual growth rate of 10-15 percent expected over the next few years, I think the potential is quite clear to everyone," he said.
Prince Andrew said the British government was doing its bit to strengthen London's position as a gateway for Islamic finance by introducing measures aimed at facilitating and encouraging Islamic finance including taxing sukuk on the same basis as conventional securities.
He said, however, what really drew the British public's attention to the bold emergence of the Islamic finance sector was the recent sale of Aston Martin by sukuk.
"The innovative financing of this deal was discussed at London's sukuk summit in July, where Malaysian delegates also attended," he said.
Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, received the 'Outstanding Contribution to the Development of an Islamic Capital Market' award at the summit.
Prince Andrew said he was keen to see stronger trade and investment ties between the countries.
"Malaysia is UK's second largest export market in the South-East Asia and UK Malaysia's largest market in Europe," he said.
Prince Andrew later met with Petronas chief executive officer, Tan Sri Hassan Marican at the Petronas Twin Towers before visiting BT Multimedia (Malaysia), UK's sole research development centre outside the UK.
"Islamic finance is an area where I believe UK and Malaysia are pre-eminently well-placed to work together," he said in his address at the International Centre For Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) Global Forum which was opened by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi here, Thursday.
The prince, who is UK's special representative for trade and investment, said he was first introduced to the concept of Islamic finance while in Malaysia, during a trip to Labuan some years back.
He said the opportunities were enormous as there had been a remarkable growth in Islamic finance markets in the past few years.
"Globally, the Islamic finance market is estimated at US$500 billion (US$1=RM3.50). With the annual growth rate of 10-15 percent expected over the next few years, I think the potential is quite clear to everyone," he said.
Prince Andrew said the British government was doing its bit to strengthen London's position as a gateway for Islamic finance by introducing measures aimed at facilitating and encouraging Islamic finance including taxing sukuk on the same basis as conventional securities.
He said, however, what really drew the British public's attention to the bold emergence of the Islamic finance sector was the recent sale of Aston Martin by sukuk.
"The innovative financing of this deal was discussed at London's sukuk summit in July, where Malaysian delegates also attended," he said.
Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, received the 'Outstanding Contribution to the Development of an Islamic Capital Market' award at the summit.
Prince Andrew said he was keen to see stronger trade and investment ties between the countries.
"Malaysia is UK's second largest export market in the South-East Asia and UK Malaysia's largest market in Europe," he said.
Prince Andrew later met with Petronas chief executive officer, Tan Sri Hassan Marican at the Petronas Twin Towers before visiting BT Multimedia (Malaysia), UK's sole research development centre outside the UK.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Yunus, Grameen Bank Win Nobel Prize for Loans to Poor
By Bunny Nooryani
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for advancing social and economic development by giving loans to the poor.
Yunus, 66, founded the bank, which lends to the ``poorest of the poor'' in rural Bangladesh without asking for collateral. The bank's so-called microcredit system has spread to impoverished communities around the world since its conception in 1976.
``Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty,'' said Nobel Committee director Ole Danbolt Mjoes in announcing the panel's choice of Yunus and the bank as this year's winners of the $1.4 million prize. ``Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.''
Yunus started the microcredit system when he lent $27 to a bamboo-stool maker and 41 other villagers. The bank makes most of its loans to women and serves more than 71,000 villages in Bangladesh. More than a third of Bangladeshis live on less than $1 a day, according to the World Bank. ``Grameen'' means village or rural in Bengali.
``This is fantastic news for all poor countries around the world,'' Yunus said in an interview with Norway's NRK television minutes after the award was announced in Oslo. ``I can't believe that this has really happened. I am so grateful.''
Economics Doctorate
Yunus, who was born in Chittagong, earned a doctorate in economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1969 after receiving a Fulbright scholarship. He joined Chittagong University as head of its economics department in 1972. He served on various United Nations panels on women's health and finance, and met with world leaders including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.
A famine in Bangladesh in 1974, which killed about 1.5 million Bangladeshis, proved a turning point for Yunus, who began questioning why people who worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, still didn't have enough to eat. The answer, he discovered, was a lack of capital and the burden of high interest rates charged by money lenders.
``I saw how people suffered for tiny amounts of money,'' Yunus said in a June 2005 interview with Bloomberg. ``The money lenders grabbed them and squeezed the blood out of them.''
Central Bank
Yunus's solution was to start a system of lending to the poor in which total interest charged can't exceed the amount of the loan, regardless how long it takes to be repaid, the bank said. In response to Yunus's lobbying, his microcredit system was adopted as a project under his country's central bank.
As of May this year, Grameen Bank had 6.61 million borrowers, 97 percent of them women.
Today, the bank's borrowers are formed into groups of five people providing ``mutual, morally binding group guarantees'' in place of the collateral usually demanded by banks, Grameen said. The initial two members are allowed to apply for a loan. Depending on their performance in making repayments, the next two can apply, and finally, the fifth.
The interest rate on loans is 16 percent, and 95 percent of the loans Grameen makes are repaid, the bank said.
``He has brought hope to the hopeless, giving them a cause to live,'' Zahirul Haque, a Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a phone interview after the prize was announced. ``He has made the country and its people proud.''
Poverty Declines
Some 63 million of Bangladesh's 133 million people live in deprivation, two-thirds of them in extreme poverty, the World Bank said in a report last month. Those living in poverty declined from 59 percent in 1990 to 50 percent in 2000, with rural areas accounting for almost four-fifths of this development, the World Bank said.
Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan until it seceded from the union in West Pakistan in 1971. Most of its population is Muslim.
The award may spur India to develop its rural banking system, said Pawan Kumar Bansal, India's junior finance minister in charge of banking. Half of India's 1.1 billion people have no access to finance from any source, whether it is banks or local money lenders, according to Bansal.
``It is a recognition of a banking approach that ensures inclusive growth, where everyone has access to finance,'' Bansal said. ``We welcome it.''
The Grameen name has offshoots including companies that produce knit shirts, write computer programs and offer mobile- phone services. The Grameen Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit organization of which Yunus is a board member, works in 22 countries to support microfinance programs that lend small amounts of money, usually less than $200, to the poor.
`Proved Its Value'
``Thanks to Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank, microfinance has proved its value as a way for low-income families to break the vicious circle of poverty, for productive enterprises to grow, and for communities to prosper,'' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a statement.
The peace prize, worth 10 million kronor, was created in the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel more than a century ago. Past winners include Mother Theresa, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders and the 14th Dalai Lama. The prize was first awarded in 1901.
The five-member Nobel committee keeps nominations secret. Of the 191 nominees for this year's prize, 168 were for individuals and the rest for organizations. Yunus wasn't among the favorites identified this week by researchers and bookmakers in their annual predictions of the winner.
Bookmaker's Odds
Australian bookmaker Centrebet's top choice was former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari, 69, was given an even chance of gaining the prize for brokering last year's Aceh peace accord, which ended 29 years of conflict in the Indonesian province. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 57, had 3-1 odds, and the separatist Free Aceh Movement a 9-2 chance.
In his will, Nobel said the prize should be awarded to ``the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace.''
Last year's prize went to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its Egyptian director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, 64, for their work to stop the military use of nuclear energy.
The prize will be formally awarded at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. Nobel also established prizes for achievements in physics, medicine, chemistry and literature, which are presented by the Stockholm- based Nobel Foundation. An economics award was established in memory of Nobel by Sweden's central bank in 1969.
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for advancing social and economic development by giving loans to the poor.
Yunus, 66, founded the bank, which lends to the ``poorest of the poor'' in rural Bangladesh without asking for collateral. The bank's so-called microcredit system has spread to impoverished communities around the world since its conception in 1976.
``Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty,'' said Nobel Committee director Ole Danbolt Mjoes in announcing the panel's choice of Yunus and the bank as this year's winners of the $1.4 million prize. ``Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.''
Yunus started the microcredit system when he lent $27 to a bamboo-stool maker and 41 other villagers. The bank makes most of its loans to women and serves more than 71,000 villages in Bangladesh. More than a third of Bangladeshis live on less than $1 a day, according to the World Bank. ``Grameen'' means village or rural in Bengali.
``This is fantastic news for all poor countries around the world,'' Yunus said in an interview with Norway's NRK television minutes after the award was announced in Oslo. ``I can't believe that this has really happened. I am so grateful.''
Economics Doctorate
Yunus, who was born in Chittagong, earned a doctorate in economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1969 after receiving a Fulbright scholarship. He joined Chittagong University as head of its economics department in 1972. He served on various United Nations panels on women's health and finance, and met with world leaders including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.
A famine in Bangladesh in 1974, which killed about 1.5 million Bangladeshis, proved a turning point for Yunus, who began questioning why people who worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, still didn't have enough to eat. The answer, he discovered, was a lack of capital and the burden of high interest rates charged by money lenders.
``I saw how people suffered for tiny amounts of money,'' Yunus said in a June 2005 interview with Bloomberg. ``The money lenders grabbed them and squeezed the blood out of them.''
Central Bank
Yunus's solution was to start a system of lending to the poor in which total interest charged can't exceed the amount of the loan, regardless how long it takes to be repaid, the bank said. In response to Yunus's lobbying, his microcredit system was adopted as a project under his country's central bank.
As of May this year, Grameen Bank had 6.61 million borrowers, 97 percent of them women.
Today, the bank's borrowers are formed into groups of five people providing ``mutual, morally binding group guarantees'' in place of the collateral usually demanded by banks, Grameen said. The initial two members are allowed to apply for a loan. Depending on their performance in making repayments, the next two can apply, and finally, the fifth.
The interest rate on loans is 16 percent, and 95 percent of the loans Grameen makes are repaid, the bank said.
``He has brought hope to the hopeless, giving them a cause to live,'' Zahirul Haque, a Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry spokesman, said in a phone interview after the prize was announced. ``He has made the country and its people proud.''
Poverty Declines
Some 63 million of Bangladesh's 133 million people live in deprivation, two-thirds of them in extreme poverty, the World Bank said in a report last month. Those living in poverty declined from 59 percent in 1990 to 50 percent in 2000, with rural areas accounting for almost four-fifths of this development, the World Bank said.
Bangladesh was known as East Pakistan until it seceded from the union in West Pakistan in 1971. Most of its population is Muslim.
The award may spur India to develop its rural banking system, said Pawan Kumar Bansal, India's junior finance minister in charge of banking. Half of India's 1.1 billion people have no access to finance from any source, whether it is banks or local money lenders, according to Bansal.
``It is a recognition of a banking approach that ensures inclusive growth, where everyone has access to finance,'' Bansal said. ``We welcome it.''
The Grameen name has offshoots including companies that produce knit shirts, write computer programs and offer mobile- phone services. The Grameen Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit organization of which Yunus is a board member, works in 22 countries to support microfinance programs that lend small amounts of money, usually less than $200, to the poor.
`Proved Its Value'
``Thanks to Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank, microfinance has proved its value as a way for low-income families to break the vicious circle of poverty, for productive enterprises to grow, and for communities to prosper,'' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a statement.
The peace prize, worth 10 million kronor, was created in the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel more than a century ago. Past winners include Mother Theresa, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders and the 14th Dalai Lama. The prize was first awarded in 1901.
The five-member Nobel committee keeps nominations secret. Of the 191 nominees for this year's prize, 168 were for individuals and the rest for organizations. Yunus wasn't among the favorites identified this week by researchers and bookmakers in their annual predictions of the winner.
Bookmaker's Odds
Australian bookmaker Centrebet's top choice was former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari, 69, was given an even chance of gaining the prize for brokering last year's Aceh peace accord, which ended 29 years of conflict in the Indonesian province. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 57, had 3-1 odds, and the separatist Free Aceh Movement a 9-2 chance.
In his will, Nobel said the prize should be awarded to ``the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace.''
Last year's prize went to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its Egyptian director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, 64, for their work to stop the military use of nuclear energy.
The prize will be formally awarded at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. Nobel also established prizes for achievements in physics, medicine, chemistry and literature, which are presented by the Stockholm- based Nobel Foundation. An economics award was established in memory of Nobel by Sweden's central bank in 1969.
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