In one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest cities, a bank has opened a branch only for women, hoping to tap a potentially large market and meet pent-up demand from Muslim women for financial services that meet their needs.

The manager of the Najaf branch of the private Babel bank is, however, a man. He must make an appointment before making a visit and enter the premises through a back door.

“Through this bank they (women customers) can unveil and exercise complete freedom in dealing with the employees,” said Mazen Abdul-Razzaq, Babel’s deputy director.

A study by The Boston Consulting Group, which included Iraq, found that women worldwide were particularly dissatisfied when it came to financial services.

Iraqi women interviewed at the women-only bank in Najaf say they felt uncomfortable dealing with male bank clerks in regular banks and felt much more relaxed in the new branch.

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The French government announced on Wednesday that within the next two weeks it will be pushing through new tax legislation to make it easier for French firms to attract Islamic financing as the country battles the global credit crunch.

Another tax reform, currently under review by the constitutional council, could allow Islamic “sukuk” bonds to be issued in France and the opening of Islamic retail banking services to French Muslims in 2010.

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France’s quest to create a new European hub for Islamic finance could soon yield results for wholesale banking and Islamic bonds, but concerns over the image of Islam may put the brakes on retail banking.

Since launching a drive to develop Sharia-compliant financing and draw Middle Eastern capital to France around two years ago, Paris has made large strides on the legal and fiscal front, with much of the framework already set.

(Via FaithWorld.)

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My first reaction was: poor, deluded, idealistic fools. Their argument: Capitalism does not equal America. Capitalism is a failing system which needs a backup. Islam is a proven system which can replace capitalism. Then America will be Islamic.

Uh…logic errors aside, can you go ahead an show me a list of current Islamic countries that are on top of their game? Show how that government will work within the context of the West. You have Indonesia, maybe, and…. Turkey? Maybe? A little weak.

My second reaction was to reconsider a broader argument for Islamic Finance, not to replace, but as an alternative, another choice to the chaotic system we have now which is so vulnerable to schemes and manipulation. How is it OK that Enron and Worldcom and Madoff have “made off” with all our money? Who was supposed to be watching that?

Ethics and oversight are major concerns. Here, I actually see a place for religion and banking. Even though we all know that no one grabs money like a greedy mullah, still, I can see a bank which is regulated by ethics and standards which stem from Islam and I would gladly put my money there, if given the choice and shown how it works to my advantage. A little research showed some promise.

Here is a passage from an article today entitled, Islamic Finance Offers Good Governance To Conventional Banking:

He said Islamic finance could also help the global finance industry to be more aware of following the rules and curtailing excess as well as create an infrastructure of honesty, fairness and integrity.

“But, I also believe Islamic finance can offer much more than this,” Raja Nazrin, who is also the financial ambassador for the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre, said.

“At its heart, Islamic finance is an ispiration towards good finance.As we have seen, good finance is about trust, and trust is a cornerstone of stability.

“Therefore, I believe that Islamic finance can help break the vicious cycle of boom and bust that has come to characterise global finance,” he said.

Islamic finance is now a truly global market, participating across borders with a vast range of investment alternatives including sukuk, mutual funds, commodity funds, equity traded funds, real estate investment trusts, shariah compliant derivatives and hedge funds.

People, western or not, want their life’s saving to be safe and they want it to grow and be stable and sufficient to support them in their old age and to pass on as a legacy to their children. If Islamic banking can do this, under sharia, fine. I will put my money there. It would be like a green movement. Do something ethical with your money rather than give it to The Exploiters.

My final reaction was to note that, while Hizb ut Tahrir are not the finatical kooks I thought they might be, it it obvious that they have no serious grasp of diverse social structure or protecting pluralism in any serious way.

In their utopia, the US Constitution, for instance, would be submitted completely to Sharia and non-Muslims would be socially vulnerable.

Hizb ut Tahrir world suffers, like most Muslim shangri-las, from a backwards looking idealism. Civilizations that don’t evolve and progress die. If Muslim organizations cannot accept this and learn to bring Islam forward to this century, they will continue to be irrelevant and out-of-place in the West.

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“It’s the end of the road for Dubai’s economic autonomy…”

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On a related matter, FaithWorld has more on the need for Muslim scholars who actually understand Islamic finance.

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