Human Usury & the Divine Debt - between servitude and servanthood

Servitude or Servanthood?

Indebtedness to usurious men

Will imprison you forever 

In the chains of servitude.

Indebtedness to God and His Prophet

Will release you from your enslavement,

And bring you to the station of servanthood.

..............................

Human Usury. When I am a little (or a lot) late in paying my credit card bills, car instalments, phone bills, my daily life suddenly becomes stressful with the constant barrage of calls, emails, sms-es and legal notices, all of them making it plain that woeful consequences will befall me if I fail to regularise my account. This is the curse of the credit-driven consumer society that we live in now.

Divine Debt. God is so different though we are utterly indebted to Him for everything, He do not even ask to be repaid, for He knows very well that we cannot. All He asks is that we realise our indebtedness to Him, and that we use our heart and our mind to conjecture from there how best to live our life.

And this admission of indebtedness will make us rich beyond our imagination. 

Creation and all its contents cannot be weighed

Against the heart of a true believer

For he sees beyond his worldly needs,

Piercing the veil to see

The all-nourishing attribute

Of the Creator Almighty...

And on top of all these divine goodies, God the Giver is asking us to continue asking more and more from Him... His generosity is infinite and incomparable. 

If you are attending to matters of the Infinite,

You have to start loving infinitely.

Which brings us to our greatest debt to God... His Beloved, Nabi Muhammad (saws), the Mercy to all the Worlds and Nations. 

You don't remember asking God for the Prophet (saws)? You did, my friend, you certainly did - a long, long time ago, before your soul was ever dressed in your mortal coil, before any mountain grew from the earth, before any bird flew in the sky. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

-Notrumi Embun, 4th August 2014

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

5 PROSE TO MUHAMMAD, SAYYIDINA SA'DULLAH (S.A.W.S), THE JOY OF ALLAH! - The Ramadan Story, Part 20

1. Despair

Tell despair that I shan't drink the wine from its cellar,

For I am happy with what God has bestowed,

............

Because we only despair when we are dissatisfied. So be happy!

2. Doubt

Tell the troll of doubt that it shan't grab me from under its bridge,

For my God has given me wings to fly high in the sky,

............

Because you need a pair of them, the wing of ilm (knowledge) and the wing of adab (good manners) to fly. And as a bonus, an ancient friend just shared with me that a lot of salawat (greetings of peace and invocations of praise for Muhammad s.a.w.s.) will bring a nice breeze to help you in your flight to Hu knows where! Rejoice!

3. Hubris 

Tell the minions of hubris that they will not confound me again,

For I have seen the errors of my ways, in the past, 

In the present

And in the future,

............'

Because hubris comes from certainty. And awareness of our mistakes reminds us that certainty is only with God, not us. Be a mureed (follower/student) always!

4. Usury

Tell the warlocks of usury in their towers of greed

That I see through their deceit,

For my God has forbidden to us usury,

............

Because one of the worse apparent blackmagic is the sorcery of usury. And God Almighty and His Prophet (s.a.w.s.) has declared war on usury. Join the winning team!

5. Deceit

Tell the spin-witches of public relations that I will not be distracted,

For there is no brand, no name, no glamour I desire more

Than the presence of God and His pleasure! 

............

Because Allah (s.w.t.) is utterly wonderful beyond words, and His Pleasure is none other than the Prophet Muhammad, Sayyidina Sa'dullah (The Joy of Allah). So be joyful with the most joyful of all mankind! The most joyful of all Creation!

May you have a wonderful (and divinely joyous) last day of Ramadan the Blessed, sunshine.

This read, is a Joyful Book.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

ON THIS DAY WHEN THE SUN IS RED - farming, the haze and our greed and consumerism

Nothing seem to us more natural than farming. After all, our ancestors have been doing it since the first time they noticed how the sapling shoot out of the ground. With attention and care, they manage to replicate what mother nature does, but on a bigger scale.

Management of a Disturbed Eco-system. But truth be told, farming is anything but natural. As a professor cousin of mine once said, "Farming is the management of a disturbed eco-system". For you see, nature (naturally) doesn't want to create a mono-crop valley or meadow. Nature wants all sorts of crop and plants to grow, wherever and however it wants to. Nature doesn't need to answer to an annual general meeting of its shareholders, and explain why its profit has not increased this year. 

The Haze. One day perhaps, we shall look into the intensive farming industry and how it is generally affecting our world. But for today my focus is on The Haze. No, nature did not intend this for it is wholly man-made. The Haze has become an annual event here in south east asia, but most affected countries are Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. I have to focus on it because the acrid smell is everywhere. And if you can smell the smoke even in your washroom, you know that it must be very bad outdoors.

The Haze appears to be coming from the slash and burn clearing of forests in Indonesia, commonly in Sumatera and Kalimantan. And while we understand the Indonesians placing some of the blame on Malaysian and Singaporean multinational oil palm companies operating in the republic, ultimately the issue resides in the sovereign country of Indonesia and involves legal enforcement of its local laws. 

Indonesia. At the end of the day, Indonesia often considers itself the big brother of the south east asian region. Largest and most populated country here. But there is little point being touchy or sensitive about The Haze, when there is little doubt where The Haze originates from. Malaysian and Singaporean firms operate in Indonesia because Indonesia has a lot of land and labour, and I guess is relatively cost-effective to develop compared to other countries. If there are environmental laws that govern the problem of slash and burn clearing of forests or plantations, there is no other authority that can enforce the law but the Indonesian government.

A Symptom. The Indonesians are correct in that there must be some blaming finger pointing at the multinational mega-corporations. But the truth is that under the fiat (paper) money system and the overwhelming usurious global banking and credit system, megacorporations are animals bred to maximise profit, at whatever the cost to the environment. And the government of Indonesia, just like the governments of Malaysia and Singapore, are willing participants in this credit-consumer driven casino.

The Haze is a reflection of the human spirit, and in this context should we be surprised that we are reaping the firestorm of our greed and ostentatious consumerism? 

Something to think about, sunshine... on this day when the sun is red.

May Allah (s.w.t.) not leave humanity to our caprice. We seek guidance and support always from the Prophet of the Middle Path, Muhammad Habibullah (s.a.w.s.),

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

God Willing and Chinese Gold - a little Malay habit and investing in gold to hedge against inflation

Malay Boy

GodWilling

I have a plan to write this,

But God knows if I will finish this,

I have a plan to return to the office,

But God knows if I will get back,

I plan to have a nap now,

But God knows if I ever will,

Each breath I take,

Each glance I give,

Each smile that is drawn,

Each whimsical thought

That crosses the plain of my mind,

Albeit even for the briefest moment,

Is just my plan, and nothing more

Not when everything that happens,

And everything that does not happen,

Happens or doesn't happen

As God's Wills it.

.................................

InsyaAllah (Godwilling) is a commonly used phrase by the Malays. We use it sincerely and also less sincerely when the occasion requires. Like when an excitable friend wants you to join their multi-level marketing scheme. So you will hear politely and reply, "Of course, I will come over to your weekly meeting this Saturday, Godwilling!" He he he. You see, us Malays sometimes find it very hard to say no. 

And unfortunately, our mind is not quick enough to scramble around for an excuse to avoid the dreaded appointment. So we say, InsyaAllah! What the excitable friend doesn't hear is our secret prayer to God - "InsyaAllah, over my dead body...".

Golden Ponzi Schemes. I guess there is a purpose in an economy for genuine multi-level marketing schemes. But there are also other less-than-kosher 'business' such as the Ponzi schemes. Presently the flavour going around locally is based upon gold investments. Investing in gold is perfectly fine (indeed I would encourage it as a hedge against the volatility and inflationary nature of fiat paper money), but if you do not get your gold almost immediately, then something smells fishy. Personally I do not encourage the purchase of gold certificates which entitles you to a certain weight of gold. If you want to buy gold, then get physical possession of it. 

Where is the Chinese Gold? An interesting story is making its round among the goldbugs in the social media and newsites. Although China (as in the People's Republic) is one of the largest producer of gold, gold officials of the HSBC (the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) as one of the global conduits of the gold trade have not seen a single gold bullion marking it as originating from China. Conclusion - the Chinese are keeping their gold to themselves as a hedge against the possible collapse of the trillion dollars of U.S. government bonds that the Chinese have purchased.

The Chinese have a long memory, you know.

Something to think about this Sabbath, sunshine. God bless you always. 

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way 

Malaysia Merdeka Thoughts 2012 - fear, democratic tyranny, education, neo-colonialism and NGOs

We should always remember. We should respect history and our elders.
And we should learn how old problems can return in a new form.

It is not only... (Merdeka Poem III for 2012)

It is not only independence

That can make a country great,

But the stock of men and women

And their firm sense of rightness,

It is not only liberty

That can make a country good,

But the choice through which

The people enjoy such liberty,

It is not only material wealth

That can make a country rich,

But the respect people hold

To their own tradition and history,

It is not mere tolerance

That can make a country

Of multi-ethnicity live in peace,

But the magnanimity

That people show towards one another

On a day to day basis.

………………………..

Fear in Malaysia 2012. There is a lot of fear out there. In the newspapers, in the blogs and on TV, the mongers of fear repeat the speeches of politicians and preachers and perpetuate a climate of fear. The problem with fear is that if that is the primary thing that motivates your political agenda, it is an easy step to hate, then bigotry and hubris. This is not essentially a Malaysian problem. We are merely symptoms of a greater chronic disease suffered by the international mainstream and alternative news media. A pandemic of fear.

They wore uniforms (they are Germans, after all), but
a lot of common voting folk also thought them swell.

Democratic Tyranny. I am not a fan of either the incumbent government nor opposition parties here. I find both their posturing and vote-chasing distasteful, but then again I do not believe in democracy. I simply see too many people blinded by their own agenda, for that is what democracy is about – fighting for your rights. If it gels with other people’s interest that’s fine, but if it doesn’t, well… tough luck. People often forget that Hitler’s Nazi party came to power in Germany on the backs of a democratic election. Of course they were not actually vanilla in their electoral campaigns, but they won because they were simply more brutal and single-minded than their socialist and communist opponents. And people also forget that when the French King's Bastille was broken into, that so-called symbol of royal oppression, Parisian revolutionaries found only a couple of petty criminals. But the Great Terror that followed the French revolution helped to fill Bastille up with those fortunate few who were lucky enough to escape the bloody Guillotine. Yeah. Democracy. Great.

Education. But what sort? And although I often said before that it is education that firms an enlightened world view, even that is not enough, for education in the modern democratic context often focuses too much on worldly knowledge and material gain. Good education must be based on progressive and scientific ideas but built upon foundations of family, history and Adab (courtly manners and courtesies). In this respect, I believe that the federal government will soon be unveiling its review of the National Education Policy (or has it? I have been missing the news lately). Well, I suspect the single biggest issue which I wish addressed will not be there – the prohibition of any government ministers to send their children to private / international schools. You see, they do not even have the good manners to regard us as people with intelligence. Give the ministers's children 2 weeks in a public national school, and I assure you, sunshine, that the standards and facilities and funding for public education would improve almost immediately. All other options are secondary to this.

World Bank. Their mission is
to eradicate world poverty.
Yeah. Right.

Neo-Colonialism and the NGOs. Non-Governmental Organizations are a necessary check and balance to the executive powers of government. But when we do not have a transparent record of their funding, and when the NGOs patently parrot the Western ideas of human rights, progress and democracy, we have to be a little more concerned. For the progress of the West from colonial overseers to a bastion of equality and freedom is a false story. The West may tolerate a couple of brown, yellow or black leaders as its pin-up poster boy (or girl) for their tolerance and equality ads, but the overwhelming tide of events under the globalization of the economy, corporatist (read none-existent) ethics and the oppressive system of currency and international banking will continue to stoke East and West divide. This is naturally so, because a large segment of people believe that the West is superior to the East. And in a way, they are not wrong, so I don’t blame them for taking measures to protect their overwhelming material and military dominance of the world. But to have our own local NGOs leading the vanguard of this neo-colonialism is unfortunate. The NGOs may think themselves a world away from the corporatist powers of the Halliburtons, Shells and ExxonMobiles, the Morgan Stanleys and the Citibanks, the IMFs and the World Banks, but things are not so black and white in reality. There is a lot of money in CSR (corporate social responsibility), you see. CSR makes behemoth non-human profit-making monsters appear as cuddly as teddy bears, and NGOs needs money, after all. It’s a question of supply and demand, and the graph never lies. And before any politician claims otherwise, they are probably even worse - just see the amount of financial industry and corporatist money pouring into the present American presidential campaign.

These are some of my thoughts about Malaysia today, on it’s 55th birthday (well, for West Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak joined in 16 September 1963 – we really should consider combining both celebrations. It makes sense). There are a lot of challenges out there.

Am I worried? Not really, because my mum and dad taught us not to despair and to always persevere. In the cosmic scale, no human (or djinn) conspiracy can overcome the Plan of God and His Beloved Prophet. So Happy Merdeka Day and do not be discouraged! Have faith!

If you have a little faith (and a good camera) like Shamel, even you can defy gravity.
Happy Merdeka Day!

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Merdeka Poem 2012 Part Deux - Democracy and the Opium Den of Fantasy Money and Usury

Democracy and The Opium Den of Fantasy Money & Usury

Leaders, don’t give me paper money

To buy my votes,

Don’t build bridges and roads

On money created in fantasy,

For you are robbing the future

From me and my family,

Leaders, don’t tell me that

You can cure all the problems of humanity

By printing more and more money,

For each scribbled paper that you print

Steals the value of my savings,

Each QE that you sanction

Is a sanction against me,

Yet, again and again you climb

On your soapbox and assure me,

"Trust in me, believe in the economy,

“Vote me in, for change you can believe in!”

Leaders, don’t promise me

That things will change for the better

When you topple the incumbent,

With quotes from the Quran

About morality, when in your policy

You say nothing about the

Immorality of paper money,

Leaders, don’t speak to me of God

For who are you trying to kid?

Who will explain to God and His Prophet

For the usury and interest that

Is in the very water that we drink

And food that we eat?

Leaders, stop dressing your thirst for power

With the cloak of charity for others

And the pious dress of a religious teacher,

For you are taking the road to hypocrisy,

Wanting to be electable by the majority

And leaving behind the Adab of the Nabi,

And the morality of Unity of humanity

In the Oneness and sublime Uniqueness of God,

The One True guarantor of Love, Truth, Mercy and Beauty!

If you are playing

The Game of Democracy,

Do not waste your time with me,

Sell your fantasies and dreams

To those still drunk and dazed

In the Opium Den

Of Fantasy Money

And Usury.

………………………………………

A GROWING AWARENESS. There is a growing awareness in the West, especially amongst the more thoughtful, about the scourge of Wall Street greed and fraud in the City (of London), the two biggest centres of finance and credit in the world. Also becoming a focus of progressive research centres, NGOs and financial reform activists is the role played by the Federal Reserve of U.S. in first permitting, than openly perpetuating and encouraging the financial regulatory system (or lack that of, actually) and Wall Street executive compensation structure that profits the irresponsible and the fraudulent bankers of the big banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. The new word coined by the activist about these crooks in pin-striped suits is 'the banksters', a wordplay of bank and gangster. And they are not far from wrong.

NOT HIPPIES. I take seriously the view of these activists, social commentators and pundits because they are not hippies travelling in a Volkswagen van and typing their blogs while smoking a joint. They are often former Wall Street suits themselves, financial whizkids, respected writers, lawyers, auditors, former securities and finance industry regulators, professors of economics and attorney generals. But things are just so bad, that fraud, cheating, open abuse of power and insider information are so toxic that these guys (and gals) simply had to voice out their conscience.

NO PROSECUTION. Since the 2008 credit catastrophe have you heard of a successful conviction of a single Wall Street boss? No, because more often the regulators are former Wall Street veterans themselves. And when their tenure ends they will return to the welcoming arms of the companies that they were regulating. On top of that, the banksters' friends in the government and regulators (read politicians, including, alas, President Obama himself) have declared certain banks (who coincidentally are the biggest contributors to political funds) to be 'too-big-to-fail'.

MOM & POP BUSINESS. By that logic, if you are a family hardware store in suburbia, you deserve to fail if the economy tanks, demand falls and you are over your head with debt. You didn't do anything morally wrong, you just made a couple of bad judgment calls... something which is normal and acceptable in a capitalist economy. But the Government won't come and rescue you. Too bad.

DAYLIGHT ROBBERY ON A TITANIC SCALE. But if you run your investment bank / insurance company / fund management into the ground by overselling stocks and lying to your customers (see recent Facebook and the old dotcom IPO fiascos), or by encouraging predatory lending to the poor and disadvantaged (sub prime mortgage), or by disconnecting profit from risk (by dumping the toxic debt out of your books to another bank or fund manager), or by spreading the contagion of easy(read worthless) credit worldwide to the point of bringing the 8 billion souls on Earth to the precipice of global financial armageddon... well that is okay. You are too-big-too-fail. The government will simply print more money (QE or quantitative easing they call it) to 'lend' to these banks. Each dollar that the government circulates into the industry(not the real industry and commerce, by the way, but the finance industry) devalues your savings. Pundits have said that this present generation of well-dressed thieves have successfully engineered the biggest theft in history of real wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich few. The bastards.

A GLOCAL PROBLEM. This problem is not a U.S.A. problem. This problem is not a European problem or even a Chinese or Japanese problem. It is a global epidemic that can affect you, me and a Bedouin camel herder in the middle of the Saharan desert. Because are you aware that these financial powerhouses have started their speculative trading into food and commodities futures and derivatives? The curs. 

TOO BIG OR TOO CORRUPT TO FAIL? Too-big-too-fail is an intentionally deceptive adjective for these financial giants. The more accurate term should be too-corrupt-too-fail companies. Because the hard truth is that our current global fiat money system and usurious interest-bearing financial system is riddled with SYSTEMIC corruption and fraud.

These writers are heavy hitters
in the world of finance, securities,
currency systems and interestingly
enough, regime change. Very
informative, very scary.

LOOKING FOR DEEP THROAT. Malaysia will be celebrating its Independence Day this coming 31st August. Less celebratory is the upcoming national General Election. Some say end of this year, although those who should be in the know tells me that it would be early 2013. The election issues are the same infantile stew of religion, racism, money and provincialism. As far as I know no single political party is addressing the singular riddle knocking on the borders of our country, which is how to stay connected to the global economy while trying to immunize the country from the pandemic of banking fraud, speculative plays in the commodities and food market and the crumbling edifice of the world's reserve currency - the American Dollar. People tell me Malaysia is 'relatively' safe because our central bank has been conservative in their policies on lending and proprietary trading by the banks. But is it really? I spoke to Moses and I think we deserve to have our own local pundits and activists to keep an eye on the banking sector. But who will write? And most importantly, where can we find our Deep Throat?

Hmm.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Slaying the Beast of Debt - the Crusade-Jihad against Banks, Usury and Fiat Money of all Religion

14. The Pyramid

There is no get-rich-quick schemes,

No multi-level marketing pyramids

More heinous and globally prevalent

Than the interest-banking

And fiat currency systems of the world.

And lo! Its illusion is guarded by watchdogs

Zealous in their affairs.

................

Which Christians will now complete the mission of Jesus to rid the world of the money-changers and the contagion of usury? Which Muslims will now rise to expel the new Islamic banking hegemony from the halls of power and influence?

Bankers in Jerusalem had to migrate their business due to
a regulatory change in the Temple. But they are back.
With a vengeance.

The rich nations become richer and the poor becomes poorer, and not by the natural state of human talent and endeavour. Oh no. Because if you are in the class of those who set the rules of the game, you can do anything, because you can change the rules to suit your fraud.

For every dollar of 'aid' sent by the rich north to the poor south, many times more are repaid by these southern nations back to the Western banks to service the interest payments for such loans often pushed upon the weaker countries who knew not to trust the bankers, the IMF and the World Bank.

Those who make it their vocation to study and chronicle the fluctuating fortunes of the world, cannot but be amazed at how forgetful Mankind is. Just how many times do we need to pay the price for overweening greed of the ruling rich, the banks and corporations? Only five years ago the world was shaken by the 2008 debt crisis. Worldwide, millions upon millions lost their jobs as demand dried up, and millions more will lose their homes by the connivance of banks and mortgage companies who fleece the uninformed and poor class who did not read the fine print in their mortgage contracts. Because of the sub-prime fiasco, credit dried up as financial institutions refused to lend each other, global trade froze and mighty banks and insurance companies that once ruled Wall Street fell like dominoes. And yet, it was the tax payers that paid to save the too-big-to-fail banks. Yes, I know that it is the (future) US taxpayers who is bearing the direct cost. But trust me, at the end, everyone man, woman and child on Earth will be footing the bill. Trillions upon trillions upon trillions... 

Obama has done nothing, because he is a creature of the very same establishment which caused the crisis.

So who among the Christians and Muslims are going to take the quest to slay the Beast of Debt? I promise it shan't be easy, but I can almost guarantee you that it will never be boring.

Have a lovely interest-free day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Divine Usury vs The Temple of Money & The Palace of Debt

Purrrr...

The Myth of Money, The Great Deception
We are asleep in an opium dream of debt;
Credit cards and housing loans,
Mortgages and hyperinflations
Recessions and sub-prime moonshine,
Monetarism and cronyism,
As we continue to be kept asleep,
Drugged in the jester’s dream
With intravenous drips
Of debt and fiat based money.

It is not blood that is coursing
Through the body of our society
But The Great Deception.

God is Scarce. Gold is a scares commodity and it will always be valuable. And so is silver. But it is not because of these precious metals that we are criticizing the economy of debt and fiat based currency. Our faith is founded on the single most scarce resource of all Creation - God. For God is Only One, and you cannot be more scarce than that.

The Copying of a Divine Attribute. In God’s absolute oneness He does appear to have an infinite ocean of divine attributes. He has however unbended enough to share with us a few of His fascinating attributes. For this topic, the most important divine power is His ability to make something out of nothing.

The entire premise of money as opposed to barter trade is to utilize a mode of currency that would enable A to sell barley to B in exchange for a recognizable and standard value unit - money. For this to work well you ought to utilize a resource (often metal) that is scarce and universally recognizable. For centuries mankind have been contented using metals, shells and even pieces of wood to signify a monetary value, but most popular are of course gold, silver, copper and their assorted mix.

But modern man has become too smart. To cover their deficits, the governments of the world have decided that they have an implicit right to make money. This is what is called fiat (by-right) currency. It is similar to usury because just like the normal banking right to leverage on its capital (say by 10 x capital), this 'created' money can be used to buy products and services. This money came from nowhere but by virtue of magical accounting and government legislation copied globally - The Central Bank Act. The Money Act and other assorted financial institution statutes. It is a complex structure intended to show off a veneer of 'creation' of value. But the truth is only God can create something out of nothing. Only God can create an intrinsic value out of a vacuum. Thus, begins the deception that is the source of all our present credit and fiscal problems…

132. Mortal Usury
Oh My enterprising servants!
I have vested upon this earth
Wealth of certain certainty
For people of certainty,
Dabble not in the arts of usury,
And attempt not to copy My Unique Ability
To make something from nothing.

The Weakness of Man. The thing with mankind when they decide to do something is that we always begin with the best of intentions. The best of hope and aspirations. After all, no one goes out of their way to bankrupt their own company or country. That would simply be suicidal. But...  

The Temple of Money. The Palace of Debt. Have you ever wondered why are bank buildings often imposing like temples of religions and palaces of the kings, where the priests of money walk about in reverent silence upon marbled floor and gilded walls? The answer is simple. It is because they need to impress you lest you decide to peek behind the shiny edifice of the current debt and fiat-money system and see the weakness of the system - Man himself. Because, however high bankers build their global headquarters, debt and usury are essentially based on human promises, and we know how easily humans are corrupted by greed and desire…

188. Paper Promises
Paper money makes poor substitute
For gold and silver,
A mode of transaction
On human promises.
And oh, how well
We know of man
And his paper promises!

Ostentatious Consumerism. One unfortunate consequence of the flooding of the economy with debt is the flourishing consumerism. To consume something is not wrong. After all, if we don’t consume food and water we will all die. But consumerism goes beyond what is necessary for survival. In fact it goes beyond even what is necessary for a comfortable and decent quality of life. Everything is built to decay or become redundant. So we can buy more fridges, more cars and more washing machines, zipping our credit cards to fiscal exhaustion.

Divine Leverage. There is in fact a place in this world for usury, but it is for God to give us, not for us take it for ourselves. This is the divine leverage that God has promised us - It is goodness and prosperity in this life and in the hereafter, where a single act of patience, kindness or courage can bring you an ocean of joy in the Divine Presence. He is offering this free for us with no hidden charges...

133. Divine Usury
Oh Divine Usury!
Oh Divine Mercy!
Thy place is in the Hereafter
When we place our deeds on the Mizan, pleading
“Usury for Umati Muhammadi!
For our deeds weigh for nothing, O’ Lord,
In the Light of Thy Infinite Mercy!”

Well, something to think about, sunshine.

Pax Taufiqa

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

Price Discovery and Price Propaganda - Sinners' Dictionary

Financial and Economic Analysis is...

Price Propaganda disguised

As Price Discovery.

I touched on this point in the last posting and I think this interesting topic deserves further elaboration. Why? Because it is the holidays, most of my clients are away sunning themselves on a beach or prepping their resumes for the annual job migration that comes after the announcement of bonuses - I have the time.

Price Discovery. In the days of old, when dinasours ruled the planet and Taufiq was studying 'A' Levels economics we had this thing called price discovery. The simple theory is that price of an item or service is discovered where the supply of such things meets demand in the x/y graph.

This theory, in theory, is effective where there is perfect disclosure of information and no barriers of trade, which can be in the way of import duties as well as technical barriers of entry - for instance, a rule that the bananas to be imported and sold must be straight and not curvy whatsoever, or that a car must meet a particular exhaust emission standards.

Disenchantment #1. The first reality-check I have come across is, sadly, that human communication is not perfect that way. Never was. Not just about financial or economic information. Things get lost or distorted in the transmission of any type information, "Yes, yes... don't worry. Her cousin is very pretty!". 

Disenchantment #2.The second reality-check is that people are wise to this distortion and have found ways not to just inform the market, but actually manipulate the market. And of course, people will do so in the manner that best suits their interest in the troika of the equity, debt and currencies market. Things were never perfect to begin with but the growth of derivatives have multiplied the profit and risk exponentially. For instance, do you know that the oil derivative futures market is actually bigger than actual trading in the global oil market? So the tail is now wagging the dog. And the tail is BIGGER than the dog.

Price Propaganda. Whether it is central banks, brokerage firms, rating agencies, investment banks, university economic faculties, 'thinktanks', monetary authorities or international financial organisations, at the end of the day, press statements, research reports and analyses are created according to their individual agendas, each party generating its own disinformation that best advances its respective goals - Price propaganda.

Chaos. In the traditional world of supply and demand, it is difficult to make obscene amounts of money without actually manufacturing / building / growing something that people wants to buy. So to liven things up and to allow banks to make tonnes of money shuffling paper, the financial industry has essentially engineered magical financial products, so complicated and so leveraged that even professionals find it hard to find out the degree of liability involved or where the liabilities are in fact parked or hidden. I may be wrong, but I don't think that such complexities were accidentally generated. It is only in the dark realms of financial chaos and anarchy that dynastic fortunes are made. Someone somewhere is benefiting from this man-made confusion. It began in Wall Street and the City of London, and the contagion is spreading... 

The Temple of Greed

Once upon a time, 

Jesus chased the moneylenders out of the temple. 

Now the entire world is their temple

The Good News. I hate ending on a depressing note, so this is the good news - You. Because there is someone out there as kind, sensible, generous, fair-minded and obviously as good-looking as you. We can make a change, we can make amends. We can still choose prudence over consumerism, community over individual self-interest, charity over selfishness, love over hubris and certainty over doubt. For even if the selfish ones have spread the religion of greed, it is based on falsehood, and falsehood never lasts. I rest the future of the world on the conscience of your present and in the lessons of your past. I know you will choose well.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way

footnote: The eye-candy in this posting is my aunt, Mak Ndak, pictures taken by her granddaughter, Balqies Arafia Zaid.

Alchemy, Fiat Money and the Zealous Watchdogs

Oh Lord! Sorry! I should have been studying Your Secrets instead!

8. Philosopher’s Stone II

Deceived and tricked,

They rest their hopes

In transmutation,

Drowning in complexities,

Drifting into conjecture.

Not knowing that

Alchemy is the quest

For gold

But without the ‘L’.

Prophets have said it. Saints have said it. Evangelicals, mystics and decent people have all said it. It is written in the holy scriptures and in the lessons of spirituality through the ages. Why look for gold when there is God to look for? Why be satisfied with the kingdom when you can have the King Himself? But we mortals are like that. We make mistakes, we err than we go, "Err... ooops. Sorry, God."

Sexy, sexy gold and silver bars. 

There used to be a time when people go mad for gold. They would steal for it, beg for it and marry for it. The possession of gold ruled their moods, and often ruining their lives. But then, sometime during the 20th century, fiat money was created. Fiat essentially means that this money is 'by right'. And it is devolved from a country's legislation on the central bank and the monetary laws. Right now there is no other type of money in circulation in the world. But lets not waste time on economics, for the truth is...

7. Fiat Money

... is Monopoly™ Money.

Fiat money is essentially make-believe because... err, how do I put it frankly, because IT IS. It is essentially an I-owe-you issued by the central bank or a you-owe-me issued by the commercial and investment banks. There used to be a time long ago when you can actually exchange paper money for gold. Now that those days are long gone. Fiat money is also known as paper money...

188. Paper Promises

Paper money make poor substitute

For gold and silver,

A mode of transaction

On human promises.

And oh, how well

We know of man

And his paper promises!

In the offices of the European Central Bank there live gremlins. And their entire job
is to make gremlin promises.

People nowadays are worried about the value of money. And there are a small but noisy group asking for the return to gold and silver. But their crusade is difficult. For it is in the interests of the powers-that-be to keep the system in place, even as we see the ruination of economy and capitalism by the 2008 credit crisis and the current Euro-mess in Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. This is not capitalism or free market, for there is no competition to banks. They set the rules, they break their own rules and often they change the rules to suit their profit margins. And they would fight all comers to keep the system in place... And keep YOU in your place in the ponzi-pyramid scheme that we are presently living in...

At which level of the pyramid are you?

14. The Pyramid 2

There is no get-rich-quick schemes,

No multi-level marketing pyramids

More heinous and globally prevalent

Than the interest-banking

And fiat currency systems of the world.

And lo! Its illusion is guarded by watchdogs

Zealous in their affairs.

The Federal Reserve. One of the most fiercest watchdogs around...
I am informed that they never sleep.

In the mean time, the people are blackmailed and threatened. Without fail, every minute and every day, the mainstream media is awash with news as to how bad things are going to be if the banks collapse. If the fiat currency collapses. If the pyramid crashes into society. So people are scared even to voice their concerns...

18. The Pyramid 

The fiat currency system

Is a weapon used by all governments

To blackmail its restless population;

‘Dismiss us? Do so and see the savings

That you keep in our currency take wing,

I am sure your children who will go hungry

Shall understand your crusade against us!’

The Greeks are up in arms but to no avail. People say that they were
bad money managers. But I think they got fooled by their own politicians and bankers.

The system is corrupt and biased against free market competition and capitalism. I think that many people who are protesting the banking corruption in USA and Europe are not against capitalism or free market. They are simply asking for honesty in government and transparency in the relationship between the elected representatives and the big banks. And they are asking why the few are so often advantaged to the detriment of the many.

But ultimately for many of us, we are merely reiterating the words of the wise before us. After all, did Jesus not chase out the money-lenders? He had a point, and I wish to marry that point to the concept of tawhid in Islam which speaks of the utter Uniqueness of God and His Attributes...

132. Mortal Usury

Oh My enterprising servants!

I have vested upon this earth

Wealth of certain certainty

For people of certainty,

Dabble not in the arts of usury,

And attempt not to copy My Unique Ability

To make something from nothing.

We mortals cannot make something out of nothing. Whether it is fiat money or interests on loans, people are essentially trying to do just that. I do not know if or when the fiat money and usury banking system will ever end. But I think we have seen enough examples through out the world and notice how such a system is easily corrupted by banks and insurance lobbyists and the politicians who are their paid minions. There used to be a time when paper money is at least backed by gold and banks actually do their job, which is to provide financial services to industries of manufacturing and trade. A time when regulators were actually given the laws and resources to supervise the industry. Now we know that those laws have been changed, and each budget we find the regulators scrimping to understand, much less regulate the financial alchemy engineered by rocket scientists under the hire of Wall Street and the City (London).

God made man and he did not leave mankind to our own devices. Ought we not to trust Him? Even the USA Dollar says so...

Have a fiscally prudent day, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq.

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way