Trust-based, globe-spanning, money transfer systems
based on authentication codes and generations of
commercial relationships cemented in honour and blood -
are another wave of the future. The Hawala and Chinese
networks in Asia, the Black Market Peso Exchange
(BMPE) in Latin America, other evolving courier systems
in Eastern Europe (mainly in Russia, Ukraine, and
Albania) and in Western Europe (mainly in France and
Spain).
In conjunction with encrypted e-mail and web
anonymizers, these networks are virtually impenetrable.
As emigration increases, diasporas established, and
transport and telecommunications become ubiquitous,
"ethnic banking" along the tradition of the Lombards and
the Jews in medieval Europe may become the the
preferred venue of money laundering. September 11 may
have retarded world civilization in more than one way.
IV. Hawala, or The Bank that Never Was
I. OVERVIEW
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the
USA, attention was drawn to the age-old, secretive, and
globe-spanning banking system developed in Asia and
known as "Hawala" (to change, in Arabic). It is based on a
short term, discountable, negotiable, promissory note (or
bill of exchange) called "Hundi". While not limited to
Moslems, it has come to be identified with "Islamic
Banking".
Islamic Law (Sharia'a) regulates commerce and finance in
the Fiqh Al Mua'malat, (transactions amongst people).
Modern Islamic banks are overseen by the Shari'a
Supervisory Board of Islamic Banks and Institutions
("The Shari'a Committee").
The Shi'a "Islamic Laws according to the Fatawa of
Ayatullah al Uzama Syed Ali al-Husaini Seestani" has this
to say about Hawala banking:
"2298. If a debtor directs his creditor to collect his debt
from the third person, and the creditor accepts the
arrangement, the third person will, on completion of all
the conditions to be explained later, become the debtor.
Thereafter, the creditor cannot demand his debt from the
first debtor".
The prophet Muhammad (a cross border trader of goods
and commodities by profession) encouraged the free
movement of goods and the development of markets.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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