Al Rayan Bank, previously called Islamic Bank of Britain, is the UK's only retail Islamic bank. Its original strategy relied upon having physical branches. However a few years ago it closed all of its branches, except one for high net worth customers. The subsequent results show that the strategy change was successful.
Last year Rishi Sunak led the Conservative Party to its worst defeat for over a century. One aspect of his failure was not dealing with anti-Muslim bigotry in his party. This allowed bigots to set the agenda, alienating liberal minded voters, while also producing splits amongst the right. My February 2024 column for Hyphen explained his failings.
A reader of my website emailed asking whether Muslims were permitted to trade stock index futures. He was concerned that the margin rules and the way futures are priced introduced an element of interest. I explained to him why I considered stock index futures were religiously permitted.
Rishi Sunak will always be celebrated for being Britain's first prime minister of Indian heritage. Sadly, his time in office was not successful. In my view, his fundamental problem was that he could not decide what he stood for. I explained this in my article for the website Hyphen.
I looked at some of the many Shariah compliant equity investment vehicles available in the USA. The key issues of concentration risk and cash drag in mutual funds are as relevant with Shariah compliant investing as they are with conventional investing.
There is a terrible history of politicians dividing people for political gain. Sadly this has infected Britain's Conservative Party. My column published in October 2023 by Hyphen explained how Suella Braverman was doing this. Unfortunately it is still relevant as she retained her seat in the July 2024 general election.
A website reader asked me if perpetual futures contracts were permissible in Islam. The way I addressed his question illustrates how I think we should approach religious questions more generally.
This podcast works through the US Constitution, article by article and amendment by amendment. Each episode brings the story to life, so you learn how the text came about, as well as what it says. You cannot understand American politics without understanding the Constitution. This podcast is entertaining, as well as educational.
I have previously explained how unfair tax charges can arise on refinancing real estate in a Shariah compliant way. In January 2024 HM Treasury consulted on changing the law. I responded, and this page shares my response document. The response's structure and formatting have several important features.
Randomly seeing a YouTube video taught me that I had been tying my shoelaces wrong all my life. Tying them correctly saves me time almost every day. Openness to change is a key reason why some people succeed, while others don't.
Along with other professionals, for many years I have been asking the UK Government to eliminate the capital gains tax charge when appreciated real estate (apart from an individual's main residence) is refinanced in a Shariah compliant way. The tax charge is unfair, because no such charge arises on a conventional refinancing. After many years of ignoring the issue, the Government is consulting on eliminating this tax trap. In the October 2024 Budget it announced that it would be proceeding with changing the law.
I spoke on a panel at the Battle of Ideas Festival 2024. Can you criticise Islamism or criticise Islam without being accused of prejudice against Muslims? Islam is a religion. Depending on how you think about religions, it deserves as much, or as little, respect as other religions. Islamism a political ideology. It dates back only to the early 20th century. There have been multiple attempts to define the word Islamophobia since 1997. The word should be abandoned.
Jonathan Schneer's book "The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict" has a fascinating section explaining how divided British Jews were about Zionism. Many of the anti-Zionist comments made by British Jews might be regarded as antisemitic today. I explored the subject in a talk for the Jewish Historical Society of England which I recorded.
Most people, irrespective of their religious views, would benefit from putting their long-term savings into equity investments. However there are some basics which need to be understood before starting out.
The Henry Jackson Society commissioned a poll of British Muslims. The poll had many disturbing findings. In my view, the poll was designed to maximise differences between Muslims and Britons generally. I appeared on the GB News "Farage" show to discuss the findings.
Fractional reserve banking enables banks to create money out of nowhere, as if by magic. That applies for both conventional banks and Islamic banks. It has long been attacked from both the far left and the far right of the political spectrum. However fractional reserve banking helps the economy to grow, which is why almost all countries practice it.
“Manchester Speaks” is a group of Manchester University students. They organised a panel event on “Structural Racism” with Charlotte Nichols MP and me as the speakers. As preparation, I took a close look at the definitions of “racism,” “institutional racism,” and “structural racism.” I concluded that Britain is not structurally racist.
I created the original page on 5 June 2022. At that time, the video recording was unavailable. It is now on YouTube and embedded on my website page. It hasn't aged!
Kestrl is part of London's fintech sector. I had never heard of it until July 2023 when I found myself sitting opposite the CEO Areeb Siddiqui at an Islamic finance dinner. I decided to take a look at its iPhone app.
British Muslims and Jews have many common interests. However, their views about Israel and Palestine generally differ. It is essential to not let Israel / Palestine divide them. 18 years of experience with the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester has produced positive developments in that regard.
Top 20 pages
The pages I most recommend listed in alphabetical order.
For many years non-Muslims have asked my wife and me for a simple and short introduction to Islam. Unable to find anything quite suitable, I decided to write a 10-page guide myself.
If you want to understand the Quran and are not an expert in Classical Arabic, you need a translation. Where do you start? I recommend some translations, as well as commenting on some other translations.
This conflict has endured for over 60 years. It matters because of the status of Jerusalem and because many see the conflict as a religious one. Achieving peace requires difficult concessions from both parties but a two state agreement is the only realistically acceptable solution. It is essential for Israel to avoid policies that would make a two state solution impossible.
Blasphemy features prominently in the news from time to time. Many believe that blasphemy should be a criminal offence everywhere, as it already is in some countries. In the UK the blasphemy law only ever applied to Christianity, and has been abolished. I believe it should remain abolished. In my view Islam does not prescribe any penalty in this world for blasphemy.
Being overweight has health risks and also makes career success harder. After receiving unwelcome news in my annual medical, over the year to July 2014 I reduced my weight simply by counting calories. It was much easier than I expected. You can read how to do it, or watch my 28 minute PowerPoint presentation with audio.
My 51 minute lecture with slides given at Finchley Progressive Synagogue. It covers both the common interests of British Jews and Muslims and the causes of tension and division. I explain in detail how the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester was designed to sidestep the problems, and why it has succeeded over the last 11 years.
In April 2016 I gave the second Annual Religious Freedom Lecture of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society UK and Ireland Chapter. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 18 sets the global standard for freedom of thought, conscience and religion and it has my full support. I used the lecture to explain how the Declaration is consistent with the Quran. My approach was to first explain the basic sources of Islam before going on to show how some key principles of Islam, which are clearly stated in the Quran, support religious freedom. 40 min audio recording with self-advancing PowerPoint slides.
Having a successful marriage requires taking it seriously, and making the right decisions, both before and after the wedding. While my wife and I have been happily married for many years, I have also observed many other people in unhappy marriages. Hence I have written 10 specific pieces of advice aimed at Muslim women. 8 of those are also relevant to Muslim men.
In this 22 minute acceptance speech I explained why I regard my life as so blessed, and why I do what I do in retirement. I also gave the students five pieces of advice, and encouraged them to give to the College.
I have been investing for over 45 years and my personal finances now depend on our family's investments. Since I began investing, I have read dozens of books about the subject. One of my children recently asked me to suggest a reading list. To focus properly, I limited myself to five items, to be read in the order specified.
Marrying your first cousin increases the risk of your children having a serious genetic disorder. As well as discussing the risks, I link a number of scientific papers, so that readers are not left in any doubt regarding the facts.
I am the principal author of this report published by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and the International Tax and Investment Center. It looks at the taxation of four common Islamic finance structures: commodity murabaha, sukuk, salaam and istisna in eight MENA region countries: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and also in the Qatar Financial Centre. The report recommends how these countries should adapt their tax systems to facilitate Islamic finance.
The author has been an expert witness on Islamic theology in over 20 terrorism trials. He is also an expert on critical realism, and the founder of Islamic critical realism. The book addresses a question that is vital for both politics and security. It provides the clearest thinking about these distinctions that I have seen anywhere.
Imprecise use of words always leads to sloppy thinking. Historically, English has used the words sex and gender as if they were interchangeable. However, precision is particularly important when discussing controversial subjects such as gender change. I explain the distinction between sex and gender and recommend always being precise with our vocabulary. Sex is immutably fixed by our DNA. Gender is a behaviour and can change.
An explanation of my view that the euro was created to increase the cross-border integration of european business and an analysis of what has gone wrong and what needs to be done. I forecast that all current members, even Greece, will remain within the eurozone.
Many Muslims want a single word to cover a range of anti-Muslim behaviours. In 1997, Runnymede promoted a definition of Islamophobia that was severely flawed, because it conflated certain attitudes to Islam and anti-Muslim behaviour. There have been many attempts since then to produce an improved definition of Islamophobia. Quite apart from their individual problems, no revised definition can erase the presence in the public square of Runnymede's awful 1997 definition. Accordingly, the word Islamophobia cannot be rescued, and should be abandoned. Attempts to salvage it harm Muslims by distracting attention from real anti-Muslim behaviours.
Most people see only their own CV. I have seen many, most of them written in ways that would get them rejected by a recruiter. I have illustrated the failings with a real life "before" and "after" example.
How do you measure the relative closeness of Judaism, Christianity and Islam? You have to decide what matters most in religious belief and compare what each religion has to say.
I have resigned from the Conservative Party after 36 years of continuous membership. This has nothing to do with policies. The Party has chosen as its new Leader Boris Johnson who I regard him as morally unfit to be Party Leader or Prime Minister because in my view he does not care about the distinction between truth and falsehood. I also consider he does not care about the harm he causes others, as long as his personal ambitions are advanced. Accordingly I could never campaign for the Conservative Party while he is its Leader.
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What you do matters
We cannot change others except by persuasion. However, each of us can change ourselves, lead by example and take personal action. That changes the world.
MohammedAmin.com
