Sharif el-Gamal, the developer, of the planned Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero envisions raising $140 million project by utilizing instruments developed to allow many Muslim investors to comply with religious prohibitions on interest. Most of the financing, Mr. Gamal said on Wednesday, would come through religiously sanctioned bondlike investments known as sukuk,…
The Spanish Ministry of Justice considers a reform of the Islamic representation in Spain to be necessary for the application of the future Law of Religious Freedom. Currently there are 28 Islamic federations officially registered, but only two are part of the CIE (The Spanish Islamic Commission). The government is threatening to cancel the CIE…
After several years of success in the UK and first attempts in continental Europe, Islamic banking is now about to enter the Austrian market. Islamic financing is said to be highly profitable: growth rates of 30 percent are predicted. So far, the roughly 400, 000 Austrian Muslims have no opportunity to invest their money in…
In Spain, some mosques have been funded with capital from Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia and Morocco. The great mosques of Madrid, Marbella and Malaga were all funded with Saudi capital. Meanwhile, the Moroccan government has been linked with various Muslim organizations in Ceuta, including the FEERI, or Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities….
A Malmo court acquitted the head of the al-Aqsa Foundation in Sweden on charges that Khaled al-Yousef used funds from the charity to support Hamas. “This is good. Now the work of sending money to children can continue,” said al-Yousef’s defense attorney Laue Traberg. Al-Yousef was charged with violating terror financing laws, with an alternative…
