DebateImpact of cultural & sociological parameters on business efficiency and on the choice of foreign markets & partnersModerator: Mr. P.J. RiedoExpert: Mr Sami Aldeebwww.sami-aldeeb.comIntroduction Please notice the following things:1)

2) An intellectual or researcher must be as a sentinel and see farer than others. Otherwise he is useless.

3) He must surprise and irritate his audience; otherwise he is just repeating what others already said.

4) He must say the truth

In vino veritas is a Latin phrase that means "in wine, truth", suggesting a person under the influence of alcohol is more likely to speak their hidden thoughts and desires.The Roman historian Tacitus (c. AD 56 – c. AD 120) described how the Germanic peoples kept council at feasts, where they believed that drunkenness prevented the participants from dissembling.Capital is cowardCapital is a coward. It flees from corruption and bad policies, conflict and unpredictability. It shuns ignorance, disease and illiteracy. Capital goes where it is welcomed and where investors can be confident of a return on the resources they have put at risk. It goes to countries where women can work, children can read, and entrepreneurs can dream (As quoted by Ambassador Cameron R. Hume in a speech on U.S. Government Initiatives in South Africa at the American Chamber of Commerce, Johannesburg, South Africa,18 September 2002).Why Switzerland is prosperous?First of all peace. Internal peace and external peaceThe Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate (Mark Reust) and population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Seven cantons remained Roman Catholic, though, which led to inter-cantonal wars known as the Wars of Kappel 1529 and 1532.

KulturkampfBy the mid-nineteenth century, liberal policies had also come to dominate Germany and the separation of church and state became a prominent issue.The Kulturkampf in Germany is usually framed by the years 1871 and 1878 with the Catholic Church officially announcing its end in 1880 but the struggle in Germany had been an ongoing matter without definite beginning and the years 1871 to 1878 only mark its culmination in Prussia and Germany. In the wake of other European countries, most German states had taken first steps of secularisation well before unification. The Catholic dogmas and doctrines announced in 1854, 1864 and 1870 were perceived in Germany as direct attacks on the modern nation state.[45] Thus, Bismarck, the Liberals and the Conservatives representing orthodox Protestants found the Centre Party’s support of the pope highly provocative. Many Catholics shared these sentiments, especially against the pope’s declared infallibility and the majority of Catholic German bishops deemed the definition of the dogma as "'unpropitious' in light of the situation in Germany". According to the Bavarian head of government, Hohenlohe, the dogma of infallibility compromised the Catholic's loyalty to the state.[46] While most Catholics eventually reconciled themselves to the doctrine, some founded the small breakaway Old Catholic Church.the Federal Council broke off diplomatic relations with the Vatican on 12 December 1873In 1874, Switzerland enacted the second federal constitution which was accepted in a plebiscite. Except for the following restrictions, for the first time, this constitution allowed complete freedom of religion.Article 2 [Goals]The aim of the Confederation is to preserve the outward independence of the fatherland, to maintain internal peace and order, to protect the freedom and the rights of the confederates and to promote their common prosperity.Article 4 [Equality](1) All Swiss citizens are equal before the law. In Switzerland there shall be no subjects, nor privileges of place, birth, person or family.(2) Men and women have equal rights. The law shall provide for their equal treatment, especially as regards family, education and work. Men and women are entitled to equal pay for equal work.Article 49 [Freedom of Religion and Belief](1) Freedom of creed and conscience is inviolable.(2) No one may be forced to participate in a religious association, to attend religious teaching or to perform a religious act, nor be subjected to penalties of any sort because of his religious beliefs.

(3) The holder of the paternal or tutelary authority shall determine the religious education of children in conformity with the foregoing principles until they have completed their 16th year.(4) The exercise of civil or political rights may not be restricted by any prescription or condition of an ecclesiastical or religious nature.(5) Religious beliefs do not exempt anyone from carrying out civic duties.(6) No one shall be bound to pay taxes the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated to cover the cost of worship within a religious community to which he does not belong. The detailed implementation of this principle shall be a matter for federal legislation. Article 50 [Right to Worship](1) The free exercise of acts of worship is guaranteed within the limits set by public order and morality.(2) The Cantons and the Confederation may take appropriate measures for the preservation of public order and of peace among the members of the different religious communities, as well as against encroachment by religious authorities on the rights of citizens and the state.(3) Disputes of public or private law which may arise out of the creation of new religious communities or out of the splitting up of existing communities may be brought before the competent federal authorities by lodging a complaint.(4) The establishment of bishoprics on Swiss territoy is subject to the authorization of the Confederation.Article 53 [Registration, Burial](1) The determination and registration of civil status rests with the civil authorities. Federal legislation shall lay down further provisions on this subject.(2) The disposal of burial grounds is a concern of the civil authorities. They shall make sure that every deceased person can have a decent burial. Article 54 [Right to Marry](1) The right to marry is placed under the protection of the Confederation.(2) This right may not be limited for religious or economic reasons nor on account of previous conduct or of other police considerations.(3) A marriage which has been celebrated in a Canton or abroad according to the local legislation shall be recognized as valid within the whole territory of the Confederation.(5) Children born before marriage shall be legitimized by the subsequent marriage of their parents.

(6) No bride-admission fee or any other similar tax may be levied.Article 64 [Federal Civil Legislation](1) The Confederation is entitled to legislate- on civil capacity,- on all legal matters relating to commerce and movable property transactions (law of contracts and tort including commercial law and law of bills of exchange),- on copyrights in literature and arts,- on protection of inventions suitable for industrial use, including designs and models,- on suits for debts and bankruptcy.(2) The Confederation is also entitled to legislate in the other fields of civil law.(3) The organization of the courts, procedure, and jurisdiction shall remain a matter for the Cantons as before. Article 64bis [Federal Criminal Legislation](1) The Confederation is entitled to legislate in the field of criminal law.(2) The organization of the courts, procedure, and jurisdiction shall remain a matter for the Cantons as before.(3) The Confederation is entitled to grant subsidies to the Cantons for the construction of penitentiaries, workhouses and reformatories and for penal reforms. It is also entitled to assist institutions for the protection of neglected children.Article 65 [Capital Punishment](1) No death sentence may be passed for political crimes.(2) Corporal punishments are prohibited.Geopolitical importance of IslamMuslims represent 20% of World population. They live mainly in 57 States which constitute the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation. This number plays an important role in the votes inside the United Nations Organization that counts 192 member States.

There are also growing Muslim minorities living in other non-Muslim States:

SwitzerlandYear Muslims Total Population1970 16'353 6'269'7831980 56'625 6'365'9601990 152'217 6'873'6872000 310'807 7'204'055Langue en SuisseThe main languages of Swiss residents 2013, in percentages, were as follows:

Year German French Italia

n Romansh other

2013 63.9 22.5 8.1 0.5 21.7

Minority or majority has no importance as long as there is equality in rights and duties.France

Second religion after Catholicism, before Protestantism and Judaism. Exact number is not known in reason of prohibition to carry out censuses based on religious membership. Estimation: between three and seven millions out of approximately sixty million inhabitantsImportance of religion in the Muslim countriesWe must divide the Muslim world in two categories: Arab countries and non-Arab countries:There are 22 Arab countries which constitute the League of the Arab States.

Lebanon excepted, the constitutions of the Arab countries indicate that Islam is the religion of state and/or Islamic law, the main source of law. I give you few examples:Egypt 2014Article 2 - Islam is the religion of the state, and the Arabic language is its official language. The principles of Islamic law are the chief source of legislation.Morocco 2011: Article 3 - Islam is the religion of the State, which guarantees to all free practice of the cults.YemenArticle 2 - Islam is the religion of the state, and Arabic is its official language.Article 3 - Islamic Shari'ah is the source of all legislation.Tunisia 2014Article 1 - Tunisia is a free, independent, sovereign state; its religion is Islam, its language Arabic, and its system is republican.This article might not be amended.

Article 6 - The state is the guardian of religion. It guarantees freedom of conscience and belief, the free exercise of religious practices and the neutrality of mosques and places of worship from all partisan instrumentalisation.The state undertakes to disseminate the values of moderation and tolerance and the protection of the sacred, and the prohibition of all violations thereof. It undertakes equally to prohibit and fight against calls for Takfir and the incitement of violence and hatred.

Article 74 - Every male and female voter who holds Tunisian nationality since birth, whose religion is Islam shall have the right to stand for election to the position of President of the Republic.

Besides the Arab countries, there are 35 non-Arab countriesAfghanistan Albania* Azerbaijan*Bangladesh Benin* Brunei Burkina Faso* Cameroon* Ivory Coast*Gabon* Gambia* Guinea*Guinea Bissau* Guyana* IndonesiaIran Kazakhstan* Kirghizstan*Malaysia Maldives Mali*Mozambique* Niger* Nigeria*Uganda* Uzbekistan* PakistanSenegal Sierra Leone SurinameTajikistan* Chad* Togo*Turkmenistan* Turkey*Among the 35 non-Arab countries, 24 countries (with *) mention secularism of the state in their constitution in one form or another.The Arab world, although numerically a minority, constitutes the center of Islam for historical, linguistic and cultural reasons.Concept of the LawMuslims and the West have different concepts of the law. After explaining these two concepts and their impact on human rights, I will show the remedies proposed by liberal Muslims and those proposed in the West.When a British driver goes to France, he drives on the right side without complaining, even when the driver is the Queen of England:.

When Malian family goes to France, it practices female circumcision although forbidden.

In France, burqa is forbidden, nevertheless, some Muslim women continue wearing it.

Why the English driver has no problem respecting French law, while some Muslims do not respect it? The answer is very easy: they have a different concept of law. In fact, we can say that there are three concepts of law: dictatorial, democratic and revealed.1.1. Three concepts of lawThe democratic lawAccording to this concept, people decide its law and change it, according to their interests and tastes… as they do with the cheese.

The dictatorial lawIn this system, law is done by a dictator. Either you obey or he cuts off your head.

The revealed lawAccording to this concept, law is an emanation of the divinity, transmitted either directly through the revelation to a prophet, or indirectly through the religious authorities representing the divinity on earth. Jews and Muslims, to quote only these two groups, follow the concept of the law as emanation of the divinity. It is almost non-existent among Christians.Let us now compare between the Jewish, the Christian and the Islamic concept of lawJewish concept of lawAt Jews, the law is in the Bible, notably in the first five books assigned to Moses: Torah

Moses was a Head of State.The Bible is completed mainly by - The Mishnah (written between 166 and 216) and its comment, - The Talmud (that of Jerusalem, written in Tabaria and finished towards the end

of the 4th century; and that of Babylon, written in Babylon towards the 5th century).

Mishnah and Talmud are considered as the oral Bible; they comprise the teaching of the Jewish religious authorities.We read in the Bible:

Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it (Deuteronomy 13:1).The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 29:28).This shall be a perpetual statute for you and your descendants wherever you dwell (Leviticus 23:14).

Quoting these verses, Maimonides (d. 1204) writes: "It is clearly stated in the Torah that it contains the Law which stands for ever, that may not be changed, and nothing may be taken from it or added to it". According to Maimonides, if one pretends the opposite, "he shall die by hanging".

Christian concept of law

Jesus was not a jurist; he has never practiced a political function. He was a hippy: "Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky  have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20).Adultery caseThe scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses (Lv 20:10; Dt 22:22-24) commanded us to stone such women; what then do you say?" he said to them: "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her". When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court: Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said: "No one, Lord". And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." (Jn 8:4-11). Inheritance caseIn another case, Someone in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me". Jesus answered him: "said to him, "Man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he added for the crowd which heard him: "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions" (Lk 12:13-15). Law of retaliation

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well (Mt 5:38-39)

Famous sentence "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's" (Mt 22:21).

Because of the absence of legal norms in a sufficient number in the Gospels and the writings of the apostles, the Roman Empire after its Christianization kept following the Roman law. The jurist Gaius (d. v. 180) defines the law as being "what the

people prescribes and establishes" (Lex est quod populus iubet atque constituit) (Gaius: Institutes, I.3). The modern democratic system is based on this concept of the law.Islamic concept of lawMuslims have the same concept of law as the Jews. Islam means submission to God's will as expressed in the Koran and the Sunnah of Mohammed, the two principal sources of Islamic law:

Those who do not rule in accordance with God's revelations are the disbelievers, […] the unjust, [...] of the wicked (5:44, 45, 47).No believing man or believing woman, if God and His messenger issue any command, has any choice regarding that command. Anyone who disobeys God and His messenger has gone far astray (33:36).

In a case of adultery among Jews, Mohammed stoned the faulty persons as prescribed by the Bible, saying: "Those who do not judge by that which God descended, they are the perverse".Ibn-Khaldun (d. 1406) accepts the possibility of the existence of a secular power, held up by laws established by wise men. Ibn-Khaldun makes however an exception for the Arabs,

"Arabs can obtain royal authority only by making use of some religious colouring, such as prophecy, or sainthood, or some great religious event in general. The reason for this is that because of their savagery, the Arabs are the least willing of nations to subordinate themselves to each other, as they are rude, proud, ambitious, and eager to be the leader. Their individual aspirations rarely coincide. However, when there is religion (among them) through prophecy or sainthood, then they have some restraining influence in themselves. The qualities of haughtiness and jealousy leave them".

The Egyptian Muhammad Mitwalli Al-Sha'rawi (d. 1998) said:If I were the person responsible for this country or the person in charge of applying God’s law, I would give a delay of one year to anyone who rejected Islam, granting him the right to say that he is no longer a Muslim. Then I would apply Islamic law to him by condemning him to death as an apostate.

The obligation of implementing Islamic law, with the risk of fatal consequences in case of refusal, can cover an unlimited amount of material which can even be very controversial. To give an extreme example, Jad al-Haq, the Shaykh of Al-Azhar (d. 1996) had declared in a fatwa issued in 1994:

If a region, out of a common accord, ceased to practice male and female circumcision, the Head of State should declare war against it because circumcision is part of the rituals of Islam and its specifities. This means that male and female circumcision is obligatory.

He would like to wage war just to impose male and female circumcision! You may imagine to what extend such an ideology can be devastating.For Muslim authors:- If the question to regulate has been the subject of an authentic and clear text of

the Koran or of the Sunnah, the nation has to obey to it; it could not establish a contrary rule.

- If the meaning can have various interpretations, the nation can try to deduce a solution starting from the comprehension of the text, by preferring an interpretation to another.

- In the absence of text, the nation is free to establish the norm which is appropriate to it, if this norm respects the spirit of Islamic law and its general rules and that it is not contrary to another Islamic norm.

This concept of law originates from the fact that Muslims do not have trust in human reasoning, and therefore they refer to God. The problem is that God is not accessible with our human means.1.2. Where do Muslims find God's will?The Koran, God's word according to Muslims, says:

O you who believed! Obey God, and obey the messenger and those charged with authority among you (4:59).

The Islamic law has two principal sources: the Koran and the Sunnah (tradition) of Muhammad.

The SunnahMuslims grant a particular attention to six collections.

- Collection of Al-Bukhari (d. 870). The most important work after the Koran, it has more than 300 exegeses. It contains 9'082 narrations.

- Collection of Muslim (d. 874). It contains 7'563 narrations.- Collection of Abu-Da'ud (d. 888). It contains 5'274 narrations.- Collection of Al-Tirmidhi (d. 892). It contains 3'956 narrations.- Collection of Al-Nasa'i (d. 915). It contains 5'761 narrations.- Collection of Ibn-Majah (d. 886). It contains 4'341 narrations.1.3. System of personality of lawConcerning non-Muslim monotheists living in Muslim countries, except Arabia, the Koran foresees the maintenance of their laws in certain fields, but with restrictions, particularly in the field of marriage and succession. Unfortunate are the apostates and the polytheists! Non-Muslims in Arabia have no right to stay there or to practice their religion. 1.4. Application of Islamic law in the time and the spaceA Muslim is obliged, in virtue of his faith, to apply Islamic law anywhere he lives. That is the ideal, which is in contrast to reality. This is why we have conflicts between fundamentalists and Muslim regimes. In fact, the juridical system of Muslim Countries is composed:

- mainly from laws inspired by Western law;- from Muslim norms in the field of the personal statute and, for certain, of the

penal law (as it is the case in Saudi Arabia);- from the laws and sometimes the courts of the religious communities in the

field of personal statute.But Islamic law influences numerous fields:

- sexual ethics- clothing- alimentary prohibitions- restrictions in the field of art and liberty of expression, economics (interests on

debts and banking activity, bets and games), insurances, religious tax, etc.- job of the woman and her participation in political life- physical integrity (male and female circumcision), etc.

Part 2. What are the problems?2.1. Problems inside the Arab and Islamic countriesIf we take the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we notice that it is proclaimed by the General Assembly. No mention of God in it. He was intentionally excluded.There are several declarations issued in the Arab and Muslim countries. We would like here to mention one of them, the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights

promulgated in 1981. This declaration affirmed repeatedly that human rights are founded on divine will. The first passage of the preamble states, “For fourteen centuries, Islam defined, by divine law, human rights, in their entirety as well as in their implications”. The preamble adds:

- Strong of our faith in the fact that God is the sovereign master of all things in this immediate life as in the ultimate life...

- Strong of our conviction that human intelligence is incapable to elaborate a better way in view to assure service of life without God’s guidance and revelation:We, Muslims, ... we proclaim this Declaration of Human Rights made in the name of Islam, as one can understand them of the very noble Quran and the very pure prophetic Tradition (Sunnah).

This declaration has been published in Arabic, English and French versions, but the last two versions were different from the Arabic original. In this declaration, human rights are accepted only as long as they are not in contradiction with Islamic law, and interpretation of these rights should be done in the light of Islamic law. We find the same problem with the other Arab and Islamic declaration of human rights which do not contradict existing laws in these countries. While signing the UN documents on human rights, these Arab and Islamic countries mentioned that they do not accept norms which violate Islamic norms.This concept of human rights generates norms which are contrary to the international standards as accepted in the United Nations:- Inequality between man and woman in the field of marriage: polygamy,

repudiation, and in dress norms. These two cartoons explain the fear of some Muslims

Ambulatory prisons as invented by religious scholars

Veil is considered by Muslims as an obligation. If a woman refuses to put the veil she can be beaten: Verse 4 :34 says:Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.Remember here that beauty is an important incentive for acceptance, integration and success in society. Companies pay to decorate their reception with flowers and beautiful illustration. Flowers and illustration do not make the job, but they add a positive ambiance. If you see such persons in your office, I am not sure that you we would like to work in from of such persons

Best way to recognize your wife.- Inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslim countries don’t accept the principle of equality of the citizen. Islam divides the word between Muslims, non-Muslim monotheists, and non monotheists. non-Muslim monotheists have the choice between Islam, paying the tribute (jizya) or be killed an enslaved. Non monotheists have only two choices: convert to islam or be killed and enslaved. This division was rehabilitated with the Islamic State, which applies in fact Islam integrally, such as taught in all Arab and Islamic universities. For this reason Yazidi women were enslavec and sold as animals in slave markets in Iraq and Syria. In India, there have been 80 million hindus who have been exterminated between the 11 and 15 centuries… as they are not considered as monotheists and refused to convert to islam.

9:5 - So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.9:29: Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.In all Arab and Islamic countires, non-Muslim monotheists must submit to discriminatory laws. For example, a Muslim man can marry a monotheist woman, but a monotheist man cannot marry a Muslim woman; prohibition of marriage between Muslims and non-monotheists… unless they convert to Islam. Remember here that marriage is the most important way for social cohesion. If a non-Muslim get married with a Muslim woman without conversion, he may be killed, and his wife kidnapped.- Inequality in the field of succession and testimony: the woman generally receives

half of what the man receives, and the testimony of two women is equivalent to the testimony of one man.

- Inequality in the field of religious liberty: it is permitted to convert to Islam, but a Muslim who leaves Islam is punished with the death penalty and/or deprived of his civil rights (interdiction to get married or to inherit, etc.). A man married to a Muslim or non-Muslim woman cannot choose the religion of his children who must obligatorily be Muslims. In Saudi Arabia it is prohibited to practice any other religion than Islam or to build churches, although this country builds many mosques in the West. In other countries as Egypt, the situation of non-Muslims is getting worse and worse. If you like to repair even a WC of a church you need the permission of the President of the Republic. Many churches have been attacked by Muslims. Last week the Moroccan press published a fatwa of the supreme religious council presided by the king saying that every Muslim who leaves Islam should be killed. This fatwa provoked a huge reaction and two days ago a sheikh said in a mosque in front of the king that Islam guarantees religious freedom. But one should know that according to Islamic law there are two sanctions: civil sanctions (an apostate cannot get married; he is deprived of this children and inheritance) and penal sanctions. To what extend Morocco will guarantee religious freedom in both fields? Nobody knows.

- Severity of the penal norms: death penalty, stoning, amputation of a limb, whipping.

Hate ideology: hate is distructive. 17 times daily Muslims pray:In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most MercifulAll praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universethe Beneficent, the Merciful;

Lord of the Day of Judgement.You alone we worship, and to You alone we turn for help.Guide us to the straight path:the path of those You have blessed; not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray.Catholic Good Friday liturgy introduced in the seventh century said: Oremus et pro perfidis Judaeis, which would mean, in the beginning, "Let us also pray for the unfaithful Jews" or "Let us also pray for the non-believer Jews" in the sense that these latter did not adhere to the Christian faith. However, with the evolution of the liturgy and translations into the common languages, including English (Let us pray also for the perfidious Jews: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts, so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord), the expression quickly changed its meaning. It became, in a context of anti-judaism, a synonym for "disloyalty" and "deceit", a serious offense charged with anti-Semitism.This terminology was controversial from the beginning of the nineteenth century, both outside and inside the Catholic Church. The official discussions within the Catholic hierarchy to abolish or reform began in the 1920s In 1959, Pope John XXIII removed the disputed terms (perfidis and perfidiam, which appeared in the prayer). During the liturgical reform that followed Vatican II, these terms do not reappear, and allusions to the conversion of the Jews present in prayer are deleted. Since the Missal of Paul VI, promulgated in 1970, the formulation became "Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant.”We have here to add this verse:3:28 - Let the believers not take for friends or helpers unbelievers rather than believers: If any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: Except by way of precaution, that you may guard yourself from them. But Allah cautions you Himself; Because the final goal is to Allah.Hate extends after deathSeparation in the cemeteries.Military oppositionThe Arab revolution did not offer any amelioration in the region. Muslim and Western countries sustained military revolt againt the Syrian Regime. Certainly, this one is not democratic, but no country whatsoever would accept a military opposition. This opposition of Muslim countries can be explained by the fact that the Alawite minority governs a Sunnite majority, and this one would like to establish an Islamic regime. If military opposition wins, it means the extermination of two million alawites who have nowhere to escape. It will also mean the end of the presence of the Christians in Syria. Assad himself nourished this opposition by establishing religious institutes, which teach memorizing the Koran, the first source of terrorism in the Muslim countries and in the world.

The legend of the hyena

A Palestinian legend says that the hyena bewitches his victim by his voice. The victim then thinks that he is dealing with his father, and he follows the hyena, crying, "Wait for me, papa, I'm coming." The hyena then leads the victim into her cave where it devours him. If the victim hits his head against the cave and his blood flows, or if someone throws a stone on his head and sheds his blood, the victim finds his brain and escapes. Now thousands of Muslims, in the face of the bloody tragedy, abandon Islam and become atheists ... The Azhar is asking the Egyptian state to cut off their heads. Intellectuals are leaving or using a double language, avoiding any criticism of Islam… Any society without criticism cannot develop.A North African professor told me that as long as Muslims believe that the Koran is God's word, no social progress is possible. And when I asked him where he wrote this idea, he said, "Are you crazy? No one before fifty will dare to say that".I am contacted every day by Muslims who leave Islam. Muslims are not less intelligent than other people, but they have to possibility to express themselves. They speak with me because they know that I am Christian and outside the Arab world. For some of them, this the only way to ask questions and to be informed.Arab league not different from DaeshArab League has issued daft laws which should be regarded as models for the laws of the Arab countries. We find in them the same violations of human rights which exist in the laws of the Arab and Islamic countries. Even worse. For example, the criminal code proposed by the Arab league foresees stoning for adultery, cutting the hand of the thief and killing the apostate, norms which are not mentioned in many Arab laws.

Article 162 – The apostate is the Muslim, male or female, who abandons Islam by explicit speech or an act whose meaning is indisputable, insults God, his apostles or the Islamic religion, or knowingly falsifies the Quran.Article 163 – The apostate is punished by the death penalty if he is proven to have apostatized and maintains it voluntarily after being invited to repent within three days.

Article 164 – The repentance of the apostate is achieved by renouncing what constituted his disbelief; his repentance is unacceptable if he apostatizes more than twice.Article 165 – All the acts of the apostate after his apostasy are considered as null and void, and all property acquired by such acts return to the state fund

After the recent events in some Arab countries, fundamentalist Muslims expressed clearly their will to apply Islamic law. Even before these events, the fundamentalists used many methods to force the application of Islamic law:

- Proposals of law drafts- Contestation of the constitutionality of the existing laws- Call for civil disobedience by the judges- Trial and physical threat against the opponents- Military revolt, as what happened in Algeria with thousands of murders.

This situation creates a climate of fear:- among the local regimes- among Muslim liberal intellectuals- among women- among non-Muslim minorities whose situation becomes worse with attacks

against churches and kidnapping Christian girls.This fear is justified by

- the implicit or explicit intentions of the Islamic movements, through the models of Constitution and laws already prepared;

- the experiences in fundamentalist Countries (as Saudi Arabia), or those who became fundamentalist (as Afghanistan, Iran, etc.).

The question is to what extend Muslim fundamentalists will apply Islamic Law? Let us take some fields:

ArtThere is a risk that what happened in Afghanistan with the destruction of Buddha's statutes will be repeated in Egypt. Al-Qaradawi, the main ideologist of the Muslim brothers, wrote many years ago that statutes are forbidden in Islam, and his book is available on his website in English and in Arabic. And now some Muslim leaders in Egypt would like to put into application this prohibition.

Buddha before and after 2001

Abu-al-Alaa Al-Ma’arri decapitated in Syria

Taha Hussain decapitated in EgyptCircumcisionOne of the Egyptian clerics went to Tunisia where he promoted female genital mutilation, although Tunisia does not have such a practice which prevails in Egypt (95% of Egyptian women are excised). Death penalty and stoningThe abolition of death penalty in these countries is extremely difficult to obtain as the Koran itself prescribes this penalty. The reason behind these attitudes is that Islamic norms are of divine origin, and human being has no right to establish a law which abolishes them. When Hani Ramadan was asked on the Swiss television whether he condemns the stoning for adultery, he said that he cannot do that because God dictated this punishment as did the Bible.

Slavery

Al-Mawdudi (d. 1979), the greatest Pakistani religious scholar, does not forbid slavery. Retorting to an author who denies slavery in Islam, he says: “Is the honourable author able to indicate only one Koranic norm which suppresses slavery in an absolute manner? The answer is no".

Sheikh and parliamentary Salah Abu-Isma'il (died 1990) defends the return of slavery for the captured women of the enemies. An Egyptian professor, Ph.D. in law from La Sorbonne, proposes an Islamic law that should replace the Conventions of Geneva, allowing slavery. There are videos on youtube where Muslims consider slavery in conformity with Islam, and do not object returning to slavery. In fact, slavery is an integral part of Islamic law; it was abolished by Islamic countries because Western countries obliged them to do so.Palestinian problem as eternal pretextEven if Jews leave Palestine, according to the Islamic doctrine, war will never stop until the last day. Muhammad said:

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.

The jihad is an obligation until Muslims dominate all the world and submit non-muslims to the Shari’a.Muslims, according to Muhammad, will one day conquer Rome. When the Pope invited Jews, Christians and Muslims to visit him in Vatican to pray for peace on June 8, 2014, an Imam called for prayer in the Vatican, although it was not in the programme. He chanted:

Burden us not, O Lord, with a burden as You did those before us. Impose not upon us a burden, O Lord, we cannot carry. Overlook our trespasses and forgive us, and have mercy upon us; You are our Lord and Master, help us against the clan of unbelievers (2:286).

2.2. Problems inside Western countriesWhat happens in the Muslim countries has influence on Muslim minorities in the West. Islamic law divides the world mainly in two parts: Dar al-islam (land of Islam) and Dar al-harb (land of war). Muslims should conquer the entire world to impose Islamic rules. There can be a period of peace which should not be more than ten years, and only in case of superiority of the enemy. This is the classical concept of Islamic law.

Every Muslim, living in Country of unbelief, must leave his Country to reach the Muslim community. This is why Sicily and Andalusia have been emptied from their Muslim inhabitants on request of the Muslim jurists.- During the Western colonization, Muslim jurists discussed the question whether

to leave or to remain?- Post-colonial period: many Muslims immigrated to the colonizing Countries, but

Muslim jurists continue saying that it is forbidden to stay in these countries, except in case of necessity (but then a Muslim must live according to the Islamic law and to convert non-Muslims). Some even say that Muslims should not opt for non-Muslim nationality.

Muslims’ claims in the West are growing- Wearing veil in school.- Halal butcheries.- Separate cemeteries.- Separation between men and women on the level of the hospital services.- Creation of courts for Muslims.

- Etc….There is now fear of the repetition of the case of Kosovo in France, in Belgium, in Germany, in England and elsewhere, putting in danger their territorial integrity, in conformity with the Islamic principle according to which Muslims must submit only to Muslim authority, to Islamic law and to Muslim judge. Islamic extremists have launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Shariah law enforcement zones have been set up. They ask autonomy for three regions:

Part 3. What are the remedies?We are moving ineluctably towards a generalized conflict between the Western secularized concept and the Judeo-Islamic concept of law. How can we solve this situation? Both Muslim and Western countries are urged to answer this question if they are not willing to find themselves confronted to a situation similar to Algeria (internal religious war) and ex-Yugoslavia (disintegration of the country on the basis of religion).

When a tree is sick, it is not sufficient to treat the leaves; it is necessary to take care of the roots. When a house threatens collapsing, it is not sufficient putting some nails; it is necessary to see the foundations. Similarly, it is not sufficient criticizing the violations of human rights; it is necessary to understand the cause of these violations. Therefore the bases of the Islamic law must be treated, and not only its effects. Here are some methods proposed by liberal Muslims.

3.1. Remedies proposed by liberal MuslimsTo cut the Koran in twoSome Muslim liberals think that the true Islam is represented in the chapters of Mecca while the chapters of Medina represent a political conjunctural Islam. They consider therefore that the first chapters of the Koran abrogate the seconds. So they empty the Koran of its juridical subsistence. The human beings find again so the freedom to legislate according to their temporal affairs without submitting to the norms of the Koran. The Sudanese thinker Mahmud Muhammad Taha has been hung January 18, 1985 because of this theory.

To keep the Koran and to throw out the SunnahThe Sunnah (Mohammed's tradition) is the second source of Islamic law. It serves to interpret, to complete, and to abrogate some norms of the Koran. Some liberals think that they have only obligations toward the Koran, word of God, and they refuse the Sunnah, judged as human manufacture and unreliable, having been compiled long time after the death of Mohammed.This group, often called Koranists, tries by so doing to limit the effects of Islamic law. For example, the death penalty against the apostate and the stoning for adultery are not indicated in the Koran, but in the Sunnah. The followers of this group are defined as apostates by the Muslim religious authorities. One of them, Rashad Khalifa, has been murdered, in the United States in 1990, because of this theory. Among their leaders we mention Ahmed Subhi Mansour, now living in the United States, and Gamal Al-Banna, the youngest brother of Hassan Al-Banna.

To distinguish between the Shari'ah and the Fiqh

The two Arabic terms Shari'ah and Fiqh are indiscriminately used for designating Islamic law. But according to the Egyptian judge Muhammad Sa'id Al-'Ashmawi, the Shari'ah does not mean the "law" but "the way to be followed", as revealed by God in the Koran. The Fiqh covers all the writings of the jurists, based on the Koranic text: comments, opinions of the doctrine, fatwa, etc. These writings have been considered wrongly as forming the Shari'ah. The Koran warns not to follow any religious authority (9:31; 2:165; 3:64) or to grant the holiness to a norm which does not derive from the revealed text. Today Al-'Ashmawi lives isolated in his house, fearing to be murdered by the fundamentalist.To consider Mohammed as the last prophetFor the Tunisian jurist Muhammad Charfi (d. June 2008), the Koranic norms concern only the period in which they have been established. They cannot be applied in every period and everywhere.Muhammad Ahmad Khalaf-Allah goes further: according to him, by declaring that Mohammed is the last of the prophets (33:40), the Koran grants the liberty and the independence to the human reason to decide for the matters of this life, in conformity to the general interest. Muhammad is to be considered as the last baby bottle; after him, humanity does not need prophets or holy books.

To cut the umbilical cordThe Egyptian philosopher Zaki Najib Mahmud (died 1993), an adept of scientific positivism, believes that one should take from the Arab past or the Western present only what is useful to the Arab society. To judge what is useful and what is not. This attitude supposes the dismissal of all holiness from the past.

What if God were in Rimini to tan?Husayn Fawzi (d. 1988) is a free Egyptian thinker, scientist, author of numerous works. He has occupied numerous academic and cultural functions. He introduced

classical music to the Radio of Cairo. For him, "God created the world in six days and took a rest the 7th day, and he is still resting. Therefore, God could not send the prophets who came after the 6th day".

What if we call God?During the International congress on the Egyptian civil Code, organized from 14 to 16 April 1998: the Ministry of justice says that it cannot abolish the laws of personal statute (which discriminate women and non-Muslims), because they are revealed laws. Only another revelation can repeal a preceding revelation.

What do fundamentalists think about liberal Muslims?

Liberal Muslims would like to change the religious norms which violate human rights. This means that they would like to create new norms. Their position is condemned by Al-Qaradawi, qualified as moderate. He says:

A secular [Muslim] who rejects the principle of applying Islamic law has from Islam only the name. He is undoubtedly an apostate. He must be invited to repent, exposing him, with evidences, the points on which he doubts. If he doesn't repent, he is considered as apostate, deprived from his membership in Islam - or so to say from his "Muslim nationality", he is separated from his wife and children, and one applies to him the norms concerning recalcitrant apostates, in this life and after his death [which means that he should be buried like a dog in a hole].

3.2. Remedies proposed by the WestInterreligious dialogueIt serves only to travel and to eat.

To prepare experts and imams and create polyvalent hallsEurope is too late. Few universities teach Islamic law. Muslims generally are normal persons who look for work and a peaceful life. The problem is their religious authorities. If the Western countries take imams from Saudi Arabia, they will risk transforming their countries according to the Saudi model. Therefore, it is important to educate imams in the West in conformity with the Western norms and principles.Mosques are now nest of terrorists. I propose to ban mosques and to create polyvalent halls which can be used by all the religions, once a week, with free access, to control what is said inside them.To redefine the revelation and impose a Koran in chronological orderFor Hebrews, Muslims and Christians, God has gone to menopause. He has produced prophets for a determined period, and then nothing more.

We should absolve God from this serious hindrance. As first footstep, I suggest that the West starts to teach in its Faculties of Theology and in its schools: - that "revelation", understood as definitive and valid text forever is a wrong

and dangerous concept for humanity;- that "revelation" is not the word of God to man but the word of man on God,

made of human imperfection;- that everyone has a mission to fulfil on this Earth, that the divine spirit has not

stopped blowing, and that God has not gone to menopause, incapable to give life to other prophets.

Mount Sinai (2285 meters) place of the revelation to the prophet Moses

Mount Hira (642 meters) place of the revelation to the prophet Mahomet

Mount Rosa in Switzerland (4633 meters) where no revelation descended. Does the cold weather prevent the revelation?According to Benny Shannon, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments. Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times. Mixed marriagesMixed marriages are one of the major problems. Muslim men get married with non-Muslim women and impose their religion to their children, but they do not allow non-Muslim men to marry a Muslim woman. This is a violation of the constitution. Western countries must find a solution to this problem. One of the conditions of nationality, immigration and political asylum should be the acceptance of the respect of the constitutional principle in this field. Religious liberty: the right to change religionMuslims invite people to become Muslims, but do not allow the conversion of Muslims to other religions. This is also a violation of the constitution. We know the case of Magdi Allam which provoked a great debate. Here again, West countries should not give nationality, immigration or political asylum to those who do not accept the freedom of religion.

"I am not afraid of the death; I am convinced that we must go ahead. All of us must continue on the road of the truth, of the liberty and of the affirmation of the life.

In Italy, there are thousands of converts to Islam that serenely live their new faith. However, there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity forced to hide their new faith for fear of being murdered by Islamic extremists that nest among us. If we won't be able, here in Italy, in the crib of the Catholicism, in our home, to guarantee to everybody the full religious liberty, how could we be credible when we report the violation of such liberty in the world elsewhere?"

Integration or disintegration… up to the deathSeparate cemeteries are the sign of racism manifested even after the death. Western countries should refuse such cemeteries if they like all groups to live in harmony during their life, whatever is their religion.

Naturalization and immigration in the respect of the lawsThe Convention relating to the Status of Refugees July 28, 1951 says:

Art. 2 - Every refugee has duties to the country in which he finds himself, which require in particular that he conform to its laws and regulations as well as to measures taken for the maintenance of public order.

Western countries should refuse nationality, immigration or political asylum to any person who does not accept their principles.Now we have the immigration problem. No western country knows how to deal with this problem.I propose to take half of the territory of Saudi Arabia and half of their gas resources to create an international protectorate to solve the problem of Muslim refugees.I presented this proposal at a conference behind closed doors in a sunny place I will not specify, neither will I mention the organisers and the participants. The answer from Western and non-Western participants to this conference was that it is an ideal solution, as refugees are mostly Muslims, and Muslim countries are not providing them a safe place to escape. Furthermore, it is not fair that the only Western countries hold on their own the burden of these refugees who threaten their security. There is indeed strong evidence to fear that terrorist organisations use these refugees as a fifth column to destabilise Western countries and destroy them from within. And this is neither for Western countries’ benefit, nor for refugees’ benefit.

The only objection made against this proposal is about its feasibility. Will Saudi Arabia accept to give half of its territory, even for Muslims? My answer was: of course, it will not. Therefore, this solution must be imposed on it, if needed by military action and occupation.It is clear that each terrorist attack occurring in Western countries by Muslim extremists will provide more hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslim communities and Muslim refugees will pay the price of anger due to these increasing terrorist attacks. Whatever are the attempts of Muslims in Western countries trying to exempt Islam from terrorist acts, Westerners are not that stupid they would believe these statements. Islam is deep rooted in violent teachings, visible for 14 centuries, which are notorious to anyone.These Islamic teachings need an in-depth reformation, in order to separate the Medina violent Quran from the more peaceful Mecca Quran, as proposed by late Mahmoud Muhammad Taha, hung in 1985, by judgement influenced by Al-Azhar. The reformation is imperative if Muslims want to live in peace between themselves and coexist with non-Muslims. But this reformation relates to the very Quran. Therefore, it cannot take place as quickly as could be wished, because Arab and Muslim countries cannot dare touching the Quran. Therefore, Muslim intellectuals are trying to find an acceptable way for Muslims without touching the Quran. But this way is absurd. And as the Arabic proverb says: “What nature wasted cannot be repaired by fragrance makers”. For this reason, Arab and Muslim countries will face unprecedented catastrophes and will be confronted with two choices: extinction from the planet, or the elimination of Islam teachings as accepted today and as taught by Al-Azhar and all Arab and Muslim universities, not forgetting schools, mosques, and media.Furthermore, Western countries cannot impose reformation of Islam teachings to Muslim communities on their territory. And it is clear that the number of refugees from Muslim countries is going to increase. Arab and Muslim countries will become a very hard to live hell. For this reason, Muslims will try to escape … bringing along the teachings of the religion which devastated their country … just like a patient affected with Ebola carries the virus of the disease. Neither the Muslim immigrants, nor the countries where they go to, will be able to protect themselves from such a virus. This plague could then contaminate the whole of humanity.Nobody rejoices with the idea of having to undergo a surgical procedure of brain, not even a simple appendectomy, unless doctors can convince the patient that the choice is merely surgery or death. And if the patient is a child, the family can give authorisation. In the absence of the parents, doctors will proceed to surgery without needing parental authorisation. When someone comes from an affected area with Ebola virus, authorities would put him or her in quarantine, even if the patient is opposed to it. In this case, the patient’s freedom is sacrificed for the security of the community.The intellectual must precede his or her society in the diagnosis of the disease and in identifying an effective treatment. He will often be mocked at by the community.

Arab tradition reports the story of a girl called Zarqa Al-Yamama who could foresee a person at the distance of three walking days. According to the legend, she warned enemies were coming hidden behind trees, but her people would not believe her. And when the enemies arrived, it was too late, and her people were exterminated.Remember from me what I am writing to you today … before it is too late. This is a warning for any reasoning person:The only solution to the problem of Muslim refugees coming from Arab and Muslim countries consists in establishing an international protectorate able to receive 100 million refugees who will flee the hell from their countries, and whom Westerners will not be able to receive because of the threat on their own security. The earlier this protectorate is created, the better. It can be realised in confiscating half of the territory of Saudi Arabia and half of its gas income. This solution is the fairest, because it is not equitable that few hundreds of corrupt princes share the wealth of Saudi Arabia, whilst millions of Muslims are confronted with poverty, hunger and injustice.According to some information, about thirty Pakistani migrants who went to Europe were sent back there. However, once in Islamabad, government put them in a plane to Europe, on the pretext they had no official documents. See this paper. Yet, thousands of refugees are hiding their identity. They cannot be sent back to their home country. And Western prisons are full of Muslims, jailed for illegal presence, or for threat to the security of the country. In France, more than 70% of prisoners are Muslim … including a high number of terrorists who cannot be deported to their home country. No one knows how to deal with these cases, as these people cannot be condemned to death. What goes for France also goes for Switzerland and for many Western countries. Creating an international protectorate would allow to transfer there these prisoners and refugees, instead of keeping them in our streets or our prisons or our detention centres, at high cost.Just for your knowledge, in Switzerland, each prisoner costs not less than 300 francs a day, which is 9000 francs a month: the equivalent of the salary of a university professor … without doing anything, at cost of taxpayers. Prisoners are kept after two third of their sentence, because no one knows where to send them, as they do not held reliable identity documents … and refuse to undertake steps to obtain them from their embassies.Interests and the banking system in Jewish, Christian and Muslim law between ethics and language abuse

Colossal economic stakesThis issue affects vast sums. The debate concerns primarily Islamic finance but we will se it in a comparative perspective to see the link between the Jewish, Christian and Muslim standards.Some indicative figures:

- Today, Islamic banks drain funds estimated to 1000 billion dollars in 2010- 40% to 50% of the savings of the Muslims will be managed by Islamic finance

within 8 to 10 years, compared to 10% to 2007.- But Islamic banks represent not more than 4% of global banking.- 20% growth per year.

Different opinions

Christine Lagarde 2008 praised Islamic finance

Lebanese Sheikh Al-Alayli (died in 1996) considers that the dispute concerning the interests is a deception on the words (Khida Pass ' al-alfaz)

Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi (deceased in 2010), Grand Egyptian Mufti and grand Imam of Azhar: gains by Muslim banks and the interest distributed by conventional banks differ only in name

Mustafa Kamal Al-Mahdawi, Libyan justice retired, calls Islamic banks of the thieves.Economic relations regulated by religious normsIn any economic system there are abuses, and the legislator tries to reduce such an abuse

A) Interests among the JewsJewish law has two main sources: the Bible and the Talmud which is a commentary on the MishnahIn the antiquity, the creditor had exorbitant power over the debtor. the second book of Kings relates a tragic episode: on the death of the debtor, the creditor seized his children and enslaved them because of the debts of their father (2 R 4:1-7).This is in order to react against this situation that biblical legislation repeatedly intervened to prohibit the imposition of interest Israelites. We give here the most important passages:

You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the LORD your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess. (Deuteronomy 23:20-21).If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest (ex. 22:24).If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident. Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you. You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit. (Leviticus 25: 35 - 37).

This prohibition applies to all loans, regardless of the rate of interestIt makes no distinction between the loan made to a wealthy and made a poor.According to the Talmud, violate the prohibition of interest the creditor who lends money against interest, the debtor who agrees to pay interest, the witness and the notary who drafted the contract. The ban covers the interest for the loan in money, but also the interest for the loan in kind, or even for a service.Ways to circumvent the banJeish law prohibits partnership in which a creditor finances a deal in which he would take part in the benefit while the debtor would assume only the loss. If however the creditor and the debtor profit and loss, such an agreement is considered validToday, to validate religiously a loan with interest between Jews, you have just to add to the contract a clause indicating that the loan is done as a partnership.

It is permitted to lend money to a non-Jew, which in turn lends the money to a Jew, or instruct an agent to borrow money, the two operations being associated with a clause fixing the rate of interest. It is permissible to lend 100 units of money to a businessman by indicating in the contract that the gain realized by the latter will be paid to the creditor against payment of a salary to the businessman for his work.The law enables a Jew to borrow money from a non Jew against interest where there is no other way to get money.No penaltyThe Bible contains none, but simply a divine blessing, as in Deuteronomy 23:21. Ezekiel classify among serious offences:

[The one] who oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself (Ezekiel 18:11-13).

Here, too, this sanction is of divine order.But rabbinical courts seem to have exercised the power to penalize the creditor by refusing to respond to his claim for his capital. They also reject the testimony and the oath of money lenders.

B) Interest among ChristiansJesus is not a lawmaker New Testament is moralistic text. It contains very little legal norms, including just a passage concerning the loan, interpreted as a prohibition of interest, without distinction between Jews and non-Jews, regardless of the rate of interest:

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:32-36).

Position of the ChurchAs we will see shortly with the social credit system, the Church encourages the free gift. - Creation of Mount of piety which lent interest-free or at a low rate (less than

5%) was going in this direction, born in 1462 originated in Italy and was developed in cities as a reform against money lending.

- Ten years later, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena was established in Siena with the same objective.

Aristotle: The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money because the offspring resembles the parent. Wherefore of any modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.Saint Ambrose died in 397: "What is lending at interest, if not killing a man?" St. John Chrysostom died in 407: "Nothing is more shameful nor cruel than usury."Saint Leon (around 450): "usurious profit is the death of the soul."Ways to circumvent the banSaint Thomas Aquinas died in 1274: "He who loans a sum of money to one sailing or going to market, since he has assumed upon himself a risk, is not to be considered a usurer who will receive something beyond his lot. He also who gives ten solidi (a monetary unit), so that at another time just as many measures of grain, wine and oil may be paid back to him, and although these are worth more at the present time, it is probably doubtful whether at the time of payment, they will be worth more or less, for this reason, should not be considered a usurer.In 1311, at the Council of Vienne, Pope Clement V considered as void any legislation in favor of usury, and 'if someone falls into this error to dare boldly saying that it is not a sin to do usury, we ordain that he shall be punished as a heretic and we order all the ordinaries and inquisitors to proceed vigorously against all those who are suspected of this heresy'.The encyclical Vix pervenit, addressed on 1 November 1745 by Pope Benedict XIV to the Bishops of Italy, is the latest doctrinal position of the Catholic Magisterium about interest. Against the Liberal opinion of a patrician of Verona, the Pope reaffirms the traditional doctrine of the Church. First, it is not allowed to receive compensatory interest under a loan agreement. Secondly, it is permissible to receive compensatory interest under extrinsic title to the loan agreement (for example damage suffered by the lender). Thirdly, it is allowed to get earnings under contracts other than the loan. This is particularly the case of the partnership agreement, which allows to make a trade or lawful business by entrusting his money to others to make a legitimate profit. The Catechism of the Catholic Church published by Jean-Paul II in 1992, mentions the prohibition of the loan at interest among the legal measures "from the Old Testament" to help to the poor (para. 2449) and denounced "abusive if not usurious financial systems" between nations (para. 2438) as well as "Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them" (by. 2269).

Position of CalvinCalvin (1509-1564) was the first theologian of the modern era to morally legitimize the practice of lending at interest. Up to the time of Reformation, it was forbidden to charge interest in Europe, not least due to the prohibition of taking interests in the Old Testament (Exodus 22, 25; Deuteronomy 23, 20f.). However, this prohibition was actually eroded by many exceptions. The renowned Reformer John Calvin of Geneva (1509-64) got to a fundamentally positive attitude as to the charging of interests. He justified his attitude by maintaining that the intention of the biblical prohibition was to protect one’s neighbor and especially the poor and weak. Hence, also in matters of charging interest servicing one’s neighbor was vital: He was led by the 8th commandment “Do not steal” (Ex. 20,15) and by the Golden Rule “Do for others what you want them to do for you!” (Mt. 7, 12). Thus, he developed the seven criteria (“exceptions” in French; “restrictions” in English – a kind of qualifying exception) as a guideline to charging interest:1) you are not allowed to charge interest from the poor and that nobody may be forced to pay interest when being in a plight or visited with misfortune.2) anybody who lends money should neither be so anxious about profit that he neglects his duties, nor should he – by safely investing his money – disrespect his poor brothers.3) one should not allow anything to interfere that would not correspond to natural understanding (what is naturally just and proper). And if the matter is checked according the rules of Christ, i.e. what you want others to do for you etc., then it should be considered as generally valid.4) whoever borrows should profit as much or even more from the borrowed money (than the creditor).5) we should neither judge according the usual and traditional customs (concerning the charging of interests) what we are allowed to do, nor measure injustices against what is right and proper; much rather should we draw our behavior from the word of God.6) we should not only consider the personal benefit of those with whom we have to deal with, but also should we take into account what may be in the public interest and serve the community as a whole. Because it is manifest that the interest paid by the merchant equals a public attainment. Therefore, great care has to be taken to make the agreement serve the public good more than it may damage it.7) one should not overstep the limits set by the local or regional laws, although this is not always enough, as they often allow what cannot be amended or restricted by law. Hence, one needs to give preference to what is just and proper under the circumstances and restrict whatever may go beyond.”

(C)) interest among MuslimsPosition of the Quran and hadithLike the Gospel, and contrary to the Old Testament, the Quran prohibits interest for debt without discrimination of groups. Muslim lawyers distinguish an evolution of its norms in this area.The first step: exhortation to give alms instead of wear

Hence, give his due to the near of kin, as well as to the needy and the wayfarer; this is best for all who seek God’s countenance: for it is they, they that shall attain to a happy state! And [remember:] whatever you may give out in usury so that it might increase through [other] people’s possessions will bring [you] no increase in the sight of God whereas all that you give out in charity, seeking God’s countenance, [will be blessed by Him:] for it is they, they [who thus seek His countenance] that shall have their recompense multiplied! (30: 38 - 39).

The second step: warning to Muslims, pointing to the example of the Jews:So, then, for the wickedness committed by those who followed the Jewish faith did We deny unto them certain of the good things of life which [aforetime] had been allowed to them; and [We did this] for their having so often turned away from the path of God, and [for] their taking usury although it had been forbidden to them, and their wrongful devouring of other people's possessions. And for those from among them who [continue to] deny the truth We have readied grievous suffering (4: 160 - 161).

The third stage: partial ban which concerns only the anatocism, joining the interests to the capital to form a new capital bearing interest:

O You who have attained to faith! Do not gorge yourselves on usury, doubling and re-doubling it - but remain conscious of God, so that you might attain to a happy state; and beware of the fire which awaits those who deny the truth! (3:130-131).

The fourth step bans categorically everything that exceeds the capital, requesting the rebate of interest already planned, a reprieve for debtors in difficulties and an admonition to give up the debt by charity, foreseeing the war against recalcitrant:

Those who gorge themselves on usury behave but as he might behave whom Satan has confounded with his touch; for they say, "Buying and selling is but a kind of usury" - the while God has made buying and selling lawful and usury unlawful. Hence, whoever becomes aware of his Sustainer's admonition, and thereupon desists [from usury], may keep his past gains, and it will be for God to judge him; but as for those who return to it -they are destined for the fire, therein to abide. O you who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God. and give up all outstanding gains from usury, if you are [truly] believers; for if you do it not, then know that you are at war with God and His Apostle. But if you repent, then you shall be entitled to [the return of] your principal: you will do no wrong, and neither will you be wronged. If, however, [the debtor] is in

straitened circumstances, [grant him] a delay until a time of ease; and it would be for your own good -if you but knew it -to remit [the debt entirely] by way of charity. And be conscious of the Day on which you shall be brought back unto God, whereupon every human being shall be repaid in full for what he has earned, and none shall be wronged. (2:275 - 281) .

Ways to circumvent the banIn Classical Muslim law, lending at interest is prohibited. The term Arabic riba, which means increase, includes any benefit, without counterpart, stipulated by the Contracting Parties during a loan without making any distinction between the interest and usury, which today means the excessive interest.

- What is prohibited is the fixed interest in advance.- The formula for alternatives to the fixed interest rate is the participation in the

profits and sharing losses.- It is not forbidden that a debtor voluntarily pay a surplus to the creditor. A

companion had made a loan to Muhammad. The latter gave him more that he had lent him. And after the hadeeth: "the best of you is the one that best repays his debt".

- Muslim law allows to borrow at interest in case of necessity. But the state of necessity is strictly defined by Muhammad who says: "the state of necessity is when from morning to evening you not find enough to eat".

- Double sale, called bay' al-'inan: I lend you money without interest and I sell you an object at a very high price.

- Contract of salam : olivesNo penaltyUsury is classified among the great sins. Sanctions for the violation of the prohibition of usury in the Quran are the following:-The loan sharks are fought by God and his Prophet.-The loan sharks will be agitated by the daemon.-Their fortune will be annihilated.-The loan sharks will be doomed to hell.Three syaings of Muhammad indicate the punishments that will be imposed on the loan sharks:

During my night journey, I have seen people who have big bellies, in which crawl snakes who are seen from the outside. I asked Gabriel: who are these people, he answered me, these are individuals who have experienced usury.Will be cursed by God who takes usury, one who gave the loan, the clerk of the usurious contract, as well as the witnesses of this contract.

The punishmend of one dirham taken in usury will be more severe than that of 36 adultary.

Despite virulent position of the Quran and the Sunnah against usury, the sanctions remain purely religious. But lawyers have provided a sanction ta'zir, discretionary, left to the choice of the authority, which can go up to death penalty. A companion of Muhammad said: "he who transgresses the prohibition of usury and continues to do so, it is imperative to the imam to intimidate him; If he perseveres, he must condemn him to death".Legislative and doctrinal debate in Muslim countriesInterests in the Arab civil codesCurrently, most Arab countries accept interest loans and interest on arrears. This is enshrined in their laws.Article 542 of the Egyptian civil code, which has inspired several Arab codes, says: The borrower shall pay the interests stipulated upon their maturity, if no agreement on interests exists, the loan shall then be considered made without a price.Article 544: If an interest on the loan is agreed upon, the debtor, after the lapse of six months from the date of the loan may announce his wish to cancel the contract and refund the object borrowed, provided returning the object shall take place within six months from announcing his wish, in which case, the debtor shall pay the interest due on the six months which follows the said announcement.He may not in any way be obligated to pay interest or anything in exchange, because of expediting the settlement. Nor shall agreement be made on dropping the right of the borrower to refund, or to restrict that right.Article 226 When the object of an obligation is the payment of a sum of money of which the amount is known at the time when the claim is made, the debtor shall be bound, in case of delay in payment, to pay to the creditor, as damages for the delay, interest at the rate of four percent in civil matters and five percent in commercial matters. Such interest shall run from the date of the claim in court, unless the contract or commercial usage fixes another date. This Article shall apply, unless otherwise provided in law.What has just been said concerns relations between private persons. In the relations with the banks, the Central Bank determines the interests taking into account the international market, the local market and the economic policy of the State. Article 233 of the civil code says: "The legal rate of commercial interest on current accounts varies according to the local market rate applicable, and capitalization is effected on current accounts according to commercial usage".Opinion in favor of the interestsThe doctrine is divided into two camps: there are those who are in favour of maintaining the current system, and those who are against the interests. Here, we give a reflection of this debate through representative personalities.

(A) Position of the Egyptian ' Abd-al-Razzaq Al-SanhuriAl-Sanhuri (d. 1971) is the Egyptian father of the civil Code. He considers that the prohibition of interest, whatever their form, must be the rule, to prohibit people to exploit the needs of others or to speculate. But some forms are more serious than others. This is the form prescribed by the Koran which, according to him, should correspond today to the interest on interest. However, he allows simple interest for social need. He also allows the investor to receive interest for money deposited in the Bank because he is the weaker party to protect.

B) Position of the Egyptian judge Muhammad Sa'id Al-AshmawiThe most noted defender of the system of interest is the Egyptian judge Al-Ashmawi. This judge begins with a distinction between the shari'ah and the fiqh and gives his view on interest:- The Koran gives no precision the the content of the verses prohibiting interest

leaving to the people the possibility to do so and to establish penalties for abuse.- Prohibition of the interests mentioned in the Koran does not relate to the contract

of loan, but the barter contract. What says Islamic law is part of fiqh, the work of lawyers who are fallible. However, even the fiqh allows the loan which includes interest if it is not an original condition.

- Those who banned such interests sought to make an ideal society, a society of ascetics, an ideal that is not for an average man.

- The Koran forbids to eat the meat of the dead beast, but allows to do so if necessary.

- The prohibition of interest concerned the case of a needy who wanted to support herself. Having ignored the social realities, fiqh failed to establish a limit that the lender should not exceed. And this is only the Egyptian civil code which established this limit between 4 and 7%. Instead of tricks and mocking God who is supposed to see and know everything, it is better to have a system of interest with a control of abuse.

- Certainly, there are still today people who borrow to meet their immediate needs: feeding and care. These cases should be the responsibility of State social agencies such as the social Bank Nassir or the Ministry of waqf.

- Interest on the deposit of money in any form whatsoever (deposit, bonds, certificate of investment) are regarded by Islamists as unlawful. These are modern institutions. On the other hand, this kind of interest cannot lead to exploitation or slavery that the Koran wants to avoid.

The Court of appeal presided over by this same judge Al-Ashmawi Egyptian dismissed in 1986 a decision of a Court of first instance which had refused to award interest. The decision said that the judge must apply the positive law under his oath of investiture. It adds that it would be wrong to say that the interests, admitted in Egypt since 1883, are contrary to Islamic law. The judge may not invoke the constitution. It considers as the main source of law not Islamic law, but the principles of Islamic law,

without specifying the content. Due to the differences of opinion, it is the Egyptian legislature and not the judge to choose one in accordance with the requirements of the situation and the judge is obliged to apply the law of the legislator. The contrary would create fluctuating norms and undermine confidence of litigants.

C) Position of the Tunisian Professor Mohamed CharfiCiting the verse 3:130 "O YOU who have attained to faith! Do not gorge yourselves on usury, doubling and re-doubling it", Professor Mohamed Charfi said this verse refers to characterized usury rather than to reasonable interest.In interpreting the concept of interest in an overly broad way, forbidding any loan interest, the scholars have created a social and economic problem. Subsequently, to solve the problem they created tricks such as sale salam to meet economic requirements... which was provided for in articles 712 to 717 of the code of obligations and contracts: the farmer sells his crop that he will deliver after picking while he will collect the price immediately, giving him the cash he needs. But the remedy has proved to be much more harmful than the disease. Farmers who were very needy and who were afraid that their harvest rotted had to sell this crop under the contract of salam at any price, often for half of its value. What constitutes a real usury.After independence, the Tunisian legislator has repealed by Act of 28 January 1958 the section of the code of obligations and contracts on the contract of salam. This was a beneficial measure for farmers.The system of Islamic banks is an another trick to divert the banned lending at interest. These banks operate on the basis of contracts such as ta'jir, mucharaka, mudaraba, murabaha which are disguised interest loan contracts, with the particularity that interest is not clearly established in advance. The alleged association between the Islamic Bank and its client allows all the surprises. Sometimes the behavior of these bankers is real scams, as proved by the scandal of Islamic banks in Egypt in the 1980s.Opinion against the interests(A) Position of religious organizationsNot all Muslims are familiar with islam. The ignorant shall enquire of the religious scholars to adapt his behavior to Islamic norms. There are the opinions of groups and individual opinions. We start with groups.The Academy of Islamic Research of Azhar, in Cairo, took the following decision in its Congress of 1965 in which were represented scientists from 35 Muslim countries:

1) Interests on all kinds of loans is prohibited Riba. There is no difference between loans for consumption or that is described as a productive loan as the texts in the Book and Sunnah are definite in outlawing both kinds.

2) Large or small amounts of Riba are both unlawful as is well understood by Allah's saying: "O Believers, devour not usury, doubling its rate many times. Have fear of Allah, and you shall prosper.

3) Lending of riba is prohibited; It is not justified by any need or necessity. Usurious borrowing is also prohibited. This sin is forgiven only if committed for necessity. Every peson is given the discretion to judge this necessity, according to his belief.

4) Bank operations (current accounts, payments of cheques, letters of credit, bills which are handled internally by merchants and bankers) are legal banking operations. Any taken in return for these operations is not riba.

5) Fixed term deposits, interest are usurious operations. They are forbidden.6) Consideration of bank operations concerning external bills has been postponed

for further study.7) As the bankiing system has a clear effect on modern economic activity, and as

Islam is keen on preserving useful innovations – while avoiding their burdens and sins, the Council of islamic studies will study an Islamic alternative for the present banking system. The council calls upon Muslim Ulema, investors, and those concerned with the economy to submit their suggestions in this field.

The Council of Islamic Fiqh Academy, dependent of the Organization of the Islamic conference, which is headquartered in Jeddah, also voted against the interests in its 1985 decision:First: All increments (or interest) in return for the postponement of paying a debt on its due date even though the borrower is unable to repay it on time, and all increments (or interest) on the loan from the date it was first made, are considered legally prohibited. Second: The alternative, which guarantees financial liquidity and helps economic activity in a form that is acceptable to Islam, is to transact according to Islamic law, particularly after what has been published by concerned organizations on the various aspects of operations which are actually implemented by Islamic banks. Third: The Council has decided to call upon Islamic governments to encourage the existing Islamic banks, enabling their establishment in all Islamic countries to answer the needs of Muslims, so that a Muslim does not have to live in a state of contradiction between actual conditions and the tenets of this creed. Allah, the Almighty, knows best. A similar decision was taken in 1986 by the Council of Islamic Fiqh of the Muslim world League, which is headquartered in Mecca. What to do with the money deposited in the conventional banks?A similar decision was taken in 1986 by the Council of Islamic Fiqh of the Muslim world League, which is headquartered in Mecca.Everything that comes from usurious interest is forbidden by law. No Muslim may benefit from it for any of his needs or for those of anyone whom he supports. Such interest must be spent for the general good of all Muslims, (such as for schools, hospitals, etc.) and doing so is not charity, but, rather, is cleansing oneself from unlawfulness and impurities. Such interest must not, on any account, be left to

usurious banks, because it will strengthen them and help to spread sins elsewhere as this money is usually spent on Christian and Jewish institutions. In this way, Muslim money becomes a weapon to fight Muslims and to lead their children away from their creed. It should be known that investing any money with these usurious banks, whether interest is paid or not, is forbidden.Banks and Islamic investment companiesIslamic banks as a right and dutyThe condemnation of the system of interest is a call for the creation of Islamic banks and the boycott of the so-called banking system loan shark.Some Muslim authors do not hesitate to propose death penalty against a person who engages in transactions with interest. Sheikh Isma'il ' it Khalil says that who denies the prohibition of interest denies a prescribed prohibition clearly prescribed by the Koran and, so, he is a kaafir.Creation of Islamic banks: new wine in old barrelsThe pioneer in this area was Ahmed El-Naggar, who studied in Germany and created with the help of the German Government in July 1963 in the village of Mit Ghamr a savings bank without interest on the model of the German savings banks. This project has been developed by Egyptian students at the University of Cologne. During the four years of life, 9 sections have been opened, with one million clients. These savings were governed by Act No. 17 of 1961. They were able to distribute gains amounting to 8%. These cases were regional. But the government tried to centralize them, they failed. They were then annexed to traditional banks.The Nasser Bank was established, in 1971, as public company placed under the authority of the Minister of insurance and Social Affairs. It is both social and commercial. In social matters, it consents loans without interest for weddings, funerals, studies, the pilgrims and the poor. Its resources, in addition to its capital, are formed by its own profits, customer deposits and 2% of the net profits of public enterprises. In addition, the Bank may obtain interest-free loans from the State. It distributes the profits to investors. Then was created in 1977, the Egyptian Faisal Islamic Bank by law 48 of 1977. The Egyptian Central Bank and other traditional banks have opened branches who work according to the Muslim method.Islamic banking began with the creation of the Dubai Bank in 1975, followed in the same year by the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, grouping the OIC member countries.In Saudi Arabia there is no Islamic Bank although most capital funding Islamic banks come from this country. This country still has the system of traditional banks, but solves the problem of interest through the term revenue (dakhl) instead of interest (fa'idah). There are however Sharikat al-Rajihi al-masrifiyyah lil-istithmar, which became an Islamic Bank in February 1988, with sections in different Western and Arab countries.

The Islamic Development Bank was established in Saudi Arabia, and that country is the principal shareholder. It is an international bank created for political reasons, on October 20, 1975, in Jeddah.We should also mention Dar al-mal al-islami, created in Switzerland on February 27, 1981, which is a holding company, dealing with 22 banks and society. Then the Muslim group Al-Barka, subject to the laws of the Bahamas.The first Islamic Bank to be established in Europe is the international Islamic Bank in Denmark in 1983.In some Arab countries Islamic banks coexist with traditional banks as Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Mauritania.There are also many investment companies created by businessmen recommending Islamic practice and bringing capital on the basis of this reference. These companies perform their activities in areas as transport by taxi, raising chickens, food or plastics industry. Some of these companies have on their head members of the Muslim Brotherhood converted back into the business.Activities of Islamic banksIslamic banks offer services including most of those offered by traditional banks: opening of accounts, payments, receipts, foreign exchange transactions, granting of guarantee, etc. These operations do not involve the payment of interest, but are subject to the collection of commissions.They grant credits especially in three forms:- Mudaraba: agreement whereby Islamic banks provide financial capital, other

partners, human capital. It corresponds roughly to the partnership. Here, the Islamic Bank acts as sponsor. It finances totally an industrial or commercial project for the benefit of the customer, and brings his work and experience. The benefits resulting from the project are divided according to a previously fixed proportion. In the event of loss which is not due to bad management, the Bank supports the injury. Otherwise, the customer also assumes the loss without having to compensate the Bank of profit which has not been achieved.

- Moucharka: Islamic banks and the contractor are pooling their financial resources, to provide the capital necessary to start an activity. This contract confers on each of the partners the right to administer the Affairs of the company, as well as the right to participate in profits and contribute to losses proportionally to the input.

- Murabaha: it consists in the purchase of a property for cash and its resale to term, with its purchase price, increased to a benefit determined in advance.

- Interest-free loans: (the good loan: notion repeated verses 2:245; 5:12; 57 and 18; 64:17; 73:20). These banks have accounts that stakeholders agree to lend to this title. But some banks require commissions covering costs... not to exceed 4%.

Use of the label religious to attract customersTraditional banks have existed for centuries, and they have their customers. Despite this, Islamic banks have no difficulties to attract Muslim customers taking advantage of the Islamic label. This phenomenon occurs in the case of halal meat. It should be noted in this regard that Islamic banking activities have all Arabic names that differ from those in use in the Arab countries. Aware that such terms may be misleading and unfair competition to the normal banking transactions, the Morocco refuses to use them and prefers to call them alternative operations. And Islamic banks Bill calls "the participatory banks. Saudi Arabia denied the use of "Islamic banks". Then why call them Islamic banks in France?If Western countries impose to the Islamic banking institutions the use of terms in local languages, Islamic banks will be less attractive for Muslim customers.The Islamic label is so effective that Islamic banks have become dangerous concurrent to traditional banks. For this reason both in the Muslim world than in the Western world, traditional banks felt compelled to open bank branches to offer Islamic finance services. Then arises the problem of conformity between the slogan and the goods, both for banks than for States.Control of Islamic banksIslamic banks create problems for Governments insofar as they are beyond the control of the monetary authorities. The Muslim system escape the control of the monetary authorities (remuneration of deposits, cost of credits, bank liquidity, volume of permanent capital). Each Islamic Bank decides itself profits (or losses) sharing among stakeholders. No rule governing this sharing that differs from one bank to another and one operation to another.The operations of Islamic banks are supervised by a religious Council composed of one or more members chosen from among the scholars and specialists in comparative law believing in the idea of the Islamic Bank. Thus the Statute of the Bank Islamic Faisal of Egypt provides in article 40 a Board consisting of up to five members. The Islamic Bank of Jordan or Denmark has only a single Councillor. Its members have the same resources and the same powers as those of accounting censors. A representative of the religious Council may attend any meeting of the Board of Directors, without right to vote. Members of the religious Council can request a special meeting of the Board of Directors to explain their point of view on a religious issue.In order to unify the views of members of the religious councils of different Islamic banks, a supreme religious Council is created at the level of the federation of Islamic banks created in 1977. It is composed of the presidents of the religious councils of different Islamic banks, as well as a number of Jurists, with an in-depth knowledge of Islamic law. Fatwas taken by this Council unanimously are binding for member banks. But a bank may request a reconsideration of the decision. In some countries like the United Arab Emirates, the Act provides for the establishment of a religious superior Control Committee which depends on the Ministry if Islamic Affairs. There

are therefore three controls; control within the Bank, on the part of the supreme religious Council of the federation of Islamic banks, and control of a national Committee.In addition to advice of religious supervision of Islamic banks there are specialised bodies in the development of Islamic financing. We major in include:(1) The Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI): this organization, which is headquartered in Manama (Bahrain), is supported by institutional members (155 members of 40 countries so far) including central banks, financial institutions Islamic, and other actors banking and financial world..(2) international Islamic Financial Market (IIFM): this organization, which is headquartered in Manama (Bahrain), was founded with the collective efforts of the central banks and monetary agencies of the Bahrain, Brunei, the Indonesia, the Malaysia, the Sudan and the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia. It is mandated to take part in the establishment, development, self-regulation and promotion money market and Islamic capital.(3) General Council for Islamic Banks and financial Institutions: this organization, which is headquartered at Muharraq (Bahrain), includes banking organizations of 18 Muslim countries: Azerbaijan, Benin, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Jordan, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt and Mauritania.(4) Liquidity Management Centre (LMC): this organization, which is headquartered in Manama (Bahrain), was established to facilitate the investment of the surplus in the banks and Islamic financial institutions in accordance with the principles of Islamic law. It is owned by the following banks: Bahrain Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House and the Islamic Development Bank.(5) Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB): created in November 2002, it has its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and began its activities in 2003. It has 178 members, including 42 instances of regulation and control, in addition to the World Bank, the Bank for international settlements, and the Islamic Development Bank. This institution has the ambition to play the role of a Central Bank Islamic.(6) Islamic Development Bank: this is the first body on a transnational basis, under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), created in 1973 by 22 States, of which the number will then rise gradually to 57 in 2008.Types of Islamic banksThe growing number of Islamic banks has resulted in the specification of their activities. There are today Islamic banks specialising in social development, others in the harvesting of the deposits, the other still in the issuance of paper-value for the State, etc.Most Islamic banks have local, belonging to a State, and without external activities. Other banks have an international vocation, with branches in different countries. The

most important example is the Islamic Development Bank, which is headquartered in Jeddah.It should also be noted the microfinance which is defined as the provision of cooperative organizations, specialized banks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), of financial products or services, such as accounts, the provision of credits, the transfers of funds, etc. Objections against Islamic banks- Deception on the words: Sheikh Lebanese Al-'Alayli (died in 1996) considers that

the dispute concerning the interests is a deception on words (Khida Pass ' al-alfaz) leading to intractable difficulties. According to him, the Bank is an intermediate, a broker between two parties, one lends money and the other borrows. However, the brokerage contract is permitted under Muslim law. On the other hand, the intermediary bank is subject to loss and gain; We cannot therefore considered the term fawa'id (interests) as a synonym for the term riba (usury) that the Koran forbids. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, Grand Egyptian Mufti and grand Imam of Azhar, said that gains by Islamic banks and the interest distributed by conventional banks differ only in name. In order to solve the problem of the prohibition of interest, he proposes to establish a commission to review the terms used by banks to avoid any hint of interest. He propose to, abandon the term fa'idah (interest) and replace it with the term ribh (gain) or that of 'a'id (income, revenue). At the beginning of the 20e century, the Egyptian Government created a savings in the post so that the poor can deposit their surplus. However, 3000 of these poor refused to touch the interest on their money. Consulted, the Imam Rashid Rida then proposed to introduce these interests as a gain under a mudarabah contract.

- If the reason for the prohibition of interest is to avoid that money produces money, Muslim banking system does not realize this condition since there is always a client who lends his money to the Bank and who expects a gain from this money without doing anything. The Islamic Bank replied that it does not rate fixed gain to the client, but does participate in gain and loss. However, it would be fairer to give a fixed amount because the client has no merit in gain and cannot be imputed the loss.

- Islamic banks lend their money for participation in an economic project, obtaining sometimes exorbitant annual profits up 32% of the amount of the loan.

- The actions of Islamic banks which are in Egypt, to cite only this country, are mostly owned by non-Egyptians although 99% of the deposits are Egyptian. Most of these deposits are invested in Europe and America against interests contrary to their principles. For savers, the banks give them a small amount of earnings under different name. So, they defraud investors and drain the money instead of contributing to the development of Muslim countries.

- Islamic banks have huge money supply which are not used due to lack of projects that correspond to their principles. This prevents the economic development of a

country. To remedy this problem, Islamic banks lend their surpluses to traditional banks against interests, thus violating their own principles and misleading their customers.

- Islamic banks make unfair competition with respect to the national economy. They attract money through an effective religious technique and are supported by religious advisors highly paid to legitimise their activities. Some of these advisors are part of the Academy of Islamic Research of Azhar. They are behind the refusal of this Academy to declare lawful certificates of investment issued by the Government. In doing so, they deprive the State of liquidity it needs in the public interest. The State has to resort to a fatwa obtained on the part of the Mufti of the Republic. Furthermore Islamic banks refuse to lend money to the public authority because it refuses to participate in the profit and loss.

- These banks do not clearly publish their activities. It is unknown where they invest their money. They are satisfied to say that their activities are not interest.

- Islamic banks escape State control for the protection of consumers and the national economy. Banks distribute gains depositaries, set their commissions and provide loans without reporting to the State.

- Repeated attacks of Islamic banks against conventional banks in Arab and Muslim countries will eventually ruin them.

- The annual reports of the religious councils of different Islamic banks are repetitions year after year. These Councils have no independence since they are paid by the banks and may be expelled if they do not approve their activities. There are also reports a competition between specialists who offer their services to the most paying. Some have tried to influence the Mufti of Egypt to prevent him from issuing a fatwa in favour of investment certificates.

Scandals caused by Islamic banksIn Egypt and elsewhere scandals have tarnished the image of the Islamic banking system. Islamic investment companies were able to offer applicants to gain up to 30%, obviously carefully avoiding using the term taboo interests. These gains came from new funds obtained on the basis of the appeal of these profits, exactly as in the Madoff case. These companies, approximately 200, manage fortunes, according to estimates, between 8 and 14 billion Egyptian pounds which half would have been in the hands of Al-Rayyan. Without accounting and modern management, they were engaged primarily to speculation on the international market and the hoarding of goods to enrich themselves. They have thus caused losses to thousands of savers. Sometimes also firms amassed fortunes and then their owners disappeared from Egypt taking money from savers for ever. In Sudan, the banking provisions promulgated by president Numeiri opened the Muslim Brotherhood a new field of fruitful activities. Linked to the Saudi capital that is invested since 1979 through the Faysal islamic bank, the Muslim brothers created several new banks. While the famine extended in Sudan, they did feel not embarrassed to grab the grains on a large scale and making enormous profits after reselling the rise in prices. As to the Islamic

Bank in question is exempt from income tax, it had achieved a 100% profit in its first year of operation.Mutation of traditional banks and creation of Islamic banks in the WestIn the current financial crisis and the successful Islamic banks to attract rich Muslim customers, many traditional banks, in both Muslim and Western countries, began to turn into Islamic banks, to open branches specializing in Islamic-type activities and provide such operations.This infatuation on the part of Westerners is regarded by Muslim authors in general as proof that Islamic norms are able to manage the society at any time and in any place, and as an enrichment of the Islamic system because it puts at its disposal the secular experience and modern technology of traditional banks. But there are also those who see in this attitude a way to deceive and to attract Muslim customers.Western politicians fear that the influx of Muslim capital in Western banks influence the economic system and ideological occidental. The Muslim banking system vehicles with it not only money, but also rules in economic activities and in human relations. In terms of economic activities, Islamic banks do not accept to finance casinos, pools mixed, pig farming, winemaking, cafes, restaurants and markets selling alcohol, cinema, the Moulin rouge, the media and journals that criticise islam, couples or cohabiting without marriage, already but you have more than luck to priority if you married four women according to Islamic law, slaughterhouses, and non-halal butcher. The supervising Committee will be composed of Muslims. On the human relationships, these banks do not allow work of women in the same offices as men, impose the veil on employees and require a separate access for women to their customer services. This is the principle: "who pays command". There is also the fear that Islamic banks are used as an intermediary to finance international terrorism. Oscar Freysinger, a Swiss parliamentarian, warned: "it starts with Islamic finance and it ends with Ben Laden who organizes attacks with our money". Some years ago I attended a seminar on Islamic finance in Geneva. A portion of the costs of the Conference was paid by an Islamic Bank of Bahrain, and admission was charged. Result: lunch was without wine. In France, several conventional banks deposits have opened Islamic counters, so that french Muslims can perform operations, in the spirit of islam, with at least four institutions, including the Société Générale and BNP Paribas. The installation of Islamic financial institutions faced oppositions, due to arguments:

- The "problem of opacity of origin and destination of funds, so that practicing this type of finance might unintentionally engage in the financing of terrorist activities;

- Such establishments go against the principles of secularism as a base for the values of our country.

- To the fact that it would foster a tendency to communitarianism.

Note here that in China, the Muslim population is estimated at 20 million people and the province of Xinjiang, whose economic growth has accelerated from 2000, and which houses half of this population, approximately 10 million, has several financial institutions offering at their counters of Islamic financial products. This which proves, if need be, that "money has no smell" (Pecunia non olet), according to the reply of Vespasian.In any case, gain perspectives and new jobs in the field of Islamic finance today incite Western universities to provide education for their students. More and more Congress and meetings are organized in collaboration with universities and Muslim economic organizations. But in general, we note that experts who combine knowledge of Islamic financial law, banking techniques and the modern legal rules which govern them are few.Saudi ArabiaArticle 2 of the Saudi Commercial trademarksThe following signs, emblems, flags and others as listed below shall not be considered or registered as trademarks:

b) Any expression or sign or drawing violating religion, or which is identical or similar to a symbol of religious nature.d) Any expression, sign or drawing inconsistent with public order or public morality.e) Public emblems, flags and other signs, names or denominations pertaining to the Kingdom or pertaining to one of the countries with which it has reciprocal treatment or pertaining to one of the countries being a member of a multi-lateral international treaty in which the Kingdom is a party or pertaining to an international or governmental organization and also any imitation to these emblems, flags, symbols, names and denominations unless permitted by such owner.

Article 4 adds:If the trademark sought to be registered contains one word or more written in a foreign language, the applicant must submit a certified Arabic translation of such word / words together with the phonetic transcription thereof.

BahrainArticle 3 of the Bahraini law The following shall not be regarded as trademarks nor shall be registeredas trademarks or as elements of trademarks:

B) Any expression, drawing or sign contrary to religion, morality or public order.D) Armorial bearings, flags, public slogans, and other insignia belonging to member states of Paris Convention or any imitation of such armorial bearings,

flags, slogans or insignia, subject to the provisions of article 6ter of the Paris Convention for the protection of industrial property.E) signs which are identical to the sign of the Red Cross or the Red Crescent and other signs that are imitations thereof.F) Marks identical or similar to symbols of a purely religions nature.

EgyptLaw No. 82 of 2002 Pertaining to the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights Article 67 The following shall not be registered as trademark or an element thereof:

2- Marks that contravene public order or morals;3- General emblems, flags and other symbols of the State or other States, regional or international organizations, as well as any imitation therefor;4- Marks that are identical or similar to symbols of pure religious nature;5- Red cross or red crescent symbols or other similar symbols; as well as marks that are imitation thereto.