The Olive & The Fig

i’m soooo fuuulllll… had so much to eat…. department lunch… good food….

alhamdulillah.

this is in response to zeri’s concern on the stock exchange environment where stocks are traded freely whether or not they are halal.

just a background non-halal stocks would include the shares of companies whose nature of businesses involves alcohol, tobacco (sorry guys, i agree with smoking being haram), gaming, weapons, entertainment services, pork-related products, unslaughtered meat products, conventional financial services. i hope i have not missed anything out.

as you can see, most stock traded on the exchange will therefore be halal (compliant with Islamic principles). i chose to list out those that were haram because this is in line with the religion’s principle that "everything is halal, except those that are announced as haram. where would you find these announcements? this would be in the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Sunnah (traditions).

so getting to the point in question, is trading on the stock exchange haram because stocks may intermingle and stocks that are available for sale and purchase may or may not be halal. well, i’m far from a scholar in any religion let mine alone but there is nothing to say that a non-halal stock will contaminate a halal stock. stock are mutually exclusive and their profits respective profits do not intermingle (we are reliant on their disclosure of their business model).

a scenario likewise, canned soda are not pronounced haram and are not contaminated by the liquor that are kept on shelves around the corner. same way the holy Qur’an, books on science, car magazines, art books, interior decor brochures sitting in MPH are not haram-ised by the soft-porn Mills & Boon churn out. that sort of stuff are not for reading. sorry Mills & Boon fans.

the rules that apply to Muslim investors who are interested in securities investments are that the securities that they invest in are not interest bearing securities, i.e. corporate bonds, AND are not securities of companies that engage in the above-mentioned business models.

just a word of caution, there are a few misconceptions of the above principles where Muslim investors choose to follow one criteria and overlook the other. for example, there may be some who buy securities of less haram-prominent products such as banks (that do not provide 100% Islamic banking). their argument is that the shares they buy generate dividend and not interest. if we understand the concept of dividend correctly, it is actually the pay-out ratio per share pro-rated from the profit that the company earns. where is profit derived from in the conventional banking sector? INTEREST! you are actually earning dividends of interest.

some people still disagree with this. so i tell them, imagine dividends of a company that sells pork-related products or alcohol. would that not be haram? their answer is always, but pork / alcohol are outrightly (is there such a word?) haram.

well, i say, so is interest.

however, if you’re looking into mutual funds zeri, then yes, you have to wash out your investment portfolio and ensure that no non-halal stock has sneaked its way into the basket of eggs. if there are non-halal stock, yes, the investment is contaminated, as you put it.

on the wider picture still, since you’ve brought up the issue of the existence of stock on the exchange, i would have to ask why are they there in the first place? in a Islamic country, such stock should not exist on the exchange and neither should companies involved in such businesses exist.

therefore, it is not haram for us to buy a canned soda in a supermarket but it is not halal for the supermarket to be selling alcohol. it is not haram to buy stock of F&N, but it is not halal for the stock exchange to list the shares of guiness.

there are a few other concerns. for example, the most stable investment for malays, who are mostly Muslim, is ASB. the most reliable unit trust. are all shares in ASB compliant with Islamic principles?

furthermore, only about a year ago Malaysia amended(?) / upgraded (?) its Islamic (Shari’a) index to meet international Islamic standards. thus the RHB Islamic Index was launched. it was set at par with the Dow Jones Islamic Index. so all this while our Shari’a index was inaccurate?

i agree with zeri that we have to question quite a bit on the overall make-up of the economy. after all, main consumer spending and government revenue is from alcohol? cigarettes? sureheboh late night concerts?

i guess we have alot to learn and it’s not all too fair to pinpoint fault with the authorities all the time (i do it all the time). i mean, Islam is very new religion, much to the surprise of many. and we all have our own learning curves of Islam’s tenets.

as long as there are sincere efforts to improve and develop the economy to adhere to an Islamic environment, i guess we are on the right track. in the mean time, Muslim investors will have to bear with the available options of investments.

like i said, consciously investing in halal stock, non-interest bearing securities, Islamic mutual funds, insurance, education plans, Islamic loans are the way of investments for Muslim. if you think about it, there is a vast array of options for the ardent Islamic investor.

if you’re unsure of anything, one of the best people to consult is Dr Monzer Kahf. he’s an Islamic scholar on Islamic Finance, Banking and Economics. I know he has answered alot of my concerns!

ok then, the lunch has subsided with all that vigorous typing. salaam all, take care. hope this helps.

Allah knows best.

for the past few days i thought i’d keep away from the blog and watch the world swirl around me day-by-day. wondered what would happen to events that passed me by if i had not taken note of them in writing or taken note of them at all.

many events did pass me by. so many that you feel weird that the world keeps changing and you’re not part of it. what was your role in that particular event? how did you contribute to so-and-so? did you provde sufficient feedback to improve so-and-so?

well think about it. but here are the events that my blog missed:

(1) An engagement

(2) A promotion

(3) A double increment

(4) Two weddings this year

(5) A newborn due anytime soon being carried by a former family member

(6) A newborn due much later

(7) The commencement of operations of Malaysia’s first biotech processing plant in Nilai.

(8) Two teethbuds (woohoo!) - this nearly made it onto my blog but i was too sleepy to type

(9) A cabinet reshuffle (too many links so I’m linking them all)

(10) New collector’s "songket" coins issued by the central bank

(11) Continuous British aggression against Iraqi civilians

(12) A halt to the continuous speculation of changing interest rates

(13) Inflation in kuih prices from the stalls behind my office

(14) An office celebration for being awarded Bank of the Year by IFR with the best musicians ever, compliments from Concorde hotel

(15) A department lunch by the clericals who fall under their bank union

(16) SBB describing BCHB proposed takeover as hostile

(17) An essential question and a revealing answer

(18) New Islamic fund being launched

and many more.

something that did spark my interest to re-activate my (short-term dormant) blog were the comments provided by rose and zeri (what’s your new URL?) on my previous entry.

i’ll blog re the comments later this evening. <:-)) insha’Allah

I had always wondered how a bond could be Islamic as the main feature of income generated from a bond is in the form of interest / riba. So the other day when I sent out Much Ado About Bonds, I was still slightly baffled about the concept, but knowing that more information was on the way, it sparked a little more investigating interest.

Today the Star Newspaper released news on the issuance of the Ijarah papers. Apparently these bonds are based on the Al-Ijarah concept where sale and leaseback is practised.

A little background on bonds first. Bonds fall under fixed income securities or debt securities as opposed to equities (which are traded on

Bursa

). Of course, some listed bonds, normally Corporate Bonds, issued by corporations are listed on the exchange. Unlisted fixed income / debt securities are safekept at our central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

As opposed to equities, which earn dividend, an investor in bonds or debt, earns interest. When we buy a share (equity), the dividend that is paid to us is based on the company’s performance. The higher the profit, the higher the payout on dividends. You are therefore, a shareholder of the company, anticipating risk as any company would do. To redeem shares, shareholders sell them in the market, and depending on the price (as compared to the price they purchase initially, either make a profit or a loss. If you do not sell, you remain a shareholder of the company and earn dividend at a pre-determined frequency, until the company, if ever, winds up.

If we purchase bonds, we will purchase at a given coupon price, and will be paid interest (percentage of the coupon value) on a regular basis, depending on the make-up of the bond. The bond also has a maturity date, where we are paid the back the face value of the bond. The interest rate is pre-determined. whether or not the company does well, we are still recipients of interest. When the bonds mature, we earn the face value of the bond and interest payments cease. We are known as a creditor, as if we lend money to the company.

The general rule is, the more debt a company issues, the higher the risk of bankruptcy, as you can see, interest payments are fixed, no matter how well the company performs. This is basically the same as the bonds issued by our central bank. We earn interest on conventional bonds.

The Al-Ijarah bonds issued by BNM, will have investors earning rental. How does this work?

(1)   BNM issues the Sukuk Ijarah for investors to purchase.

(2)   Investors purchase Sukuk Ijarah at the offer price

(3)   Proceeds of the sale will be used to purchase assets for the central bank, which in turn generate income.

(4)   Rental of these purchases will be paid to investors, who in fact, had lent to BNM to make these purchases.

(5)   At maturity, investors sell their bonds back to BNM, at a pre-determined rate.

The purchase is there, the creditors and lending concepts exist, the maturity date is inherent: an exact replica of the conventional bond, all except, riba has been eliminated. Pure an utter genius!

The Ijarah bonds are being issued next Thursday. This may be an interesting investment for those with extra cash. L don’t think I’m one of them.

In Prophet Muhammad’s farewell sermon, he highlighted and reinforced what the Qur’an says on interest / riba, and warned his followers to stay away from the concept at all costs. Even one who assists in a contract that is riba-based has wronged this important concept of Islam. This has given me something to think about, working in an International Bank.

Salaam all, hope you think about the above and make the right investment decisions.

tamarind man, tamarind man, play a song for me…

ha ha just kidding. here’s part of it -

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.

Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.
- Bob Dylan -

that sounds better.

it’s just that i felt like i swallowed a golf ball and got stuck mid-way down my oesophagus. it was awful. two huge helpings a tamarind juice has relieved the lump. that’s my drug for me at the moment.

i’m really refusing to fall sick because of tasneem and i hate going to the doctors. if you read a previous blog, you would know.

the paperload on my desk has not helped at all. it looks like a burnt down a whole rainforest by myself. not having a good time at the moment. in fact, i don’t have that much time in general when the work’s peak season pays me a visit. i guess this is true for all who are working. boohoo!

well i finally clinched a slight success with one of my resolutions - meeting up with friends. yea! Stef invited me over to her office, which by the way - is so freakingly close to mine!! - for secret recipe. why? why? why hadn’t we known earlier.

well, stef was telling me about a radio show she was listening to in a cab one day. it was on the Muslim perspective on life on earth and the hereafter. It highlighted the importance of our actions on earth and the certainty of the grave. Here’s a brief overview on akhirah (the afterlife) and I also found an interesting fatwa relating to it.

next round japanese ok! we can go to klcc since today’s plan was aborted due to a programming hangover. i’m not the only one working hard eh? ehhem..

(notice i just learned how to use the link function?) technologically-challenged on the mend! :p

oh yes, i received a really sweet testimonial from Marina. thanks bebe. you’ve always been a fan of my writing.

have to tell you, because i firmly believe that the brain is the organ of growth. it reflects our overall wellbeing. once in a while the brain has to be serviced due to clogs that accumulate over the years. the best way to service it for me is to write everything down on paper to make room for new trains of thought. i don’t know why i think so much. i should just sit idle once in a while. but it’s always churning and churning. i hope i don’t burden anyone with my splatter. it just happens.

ok then. salaam all. take care and take care of your friends. people say they come and go, but it’s not that fun to let them go. Stef and Marina - they’re my tamarind women.

had my appraisal yesterday. alhamdulillah - more than what i deserve!

so why do i feel that i have been auctioned off to the bank?

it was Saturday morning, the weather was hot,  and i was ploughing away through the pile of clean laundry in the hall. nizam was teaching so i was flicking through astro avoiding ALL the sports channels for a change.

as usual there was nothing really too enticing to watch on astro so i settled for "three men and a baby". you know, the 80s movie - criminal come funny-stupid, a little light headed and supposedly stress-free. i’m sure anyone around my age would have watched it sometime in the past and recaps of it are stored somewhere in your memory banks.

well, if you haven’t, magnum p.i. (or richard from friends), mahony (from police academy) and becker (from becker) are housemates and they get dumped with a baby who turns out to be becker’s daughter. (i had the volume down because tasneem was napping so i didn’t catch their character names). at the same time there’s this drug circle that has intertwined with their lives. i think that’s how the story goes - like i said, i had the volume turned down.

well, the main reason i was watching the movie was because of this rumour that has always been going around that in one of the scenes, the camera catches a glimpse of the supernatural-being.

they said (meaning friends who have watched it) that in the scene where magnum p.i. comes home to their ran-sacked apartment (by the druggies), he goes into a frenzy because he thinks Mary the baby is kidnapped. he runs around the apartment following for the frazzled cries of the baby. and as he rips open curtains to one of the windows, there is this image of a person standing there. apparently you can only see half of it because of the falling curtains.

so anyway, i was sitting there at that scene, eyes potato-peeled to the max, heart thumping (i’m a real scardy-cat), and watched every move of magnum p.i.. and guess what? there were no curtain-flipping in the whole scene. no supernatural being. sheeeeeeeshshshshs… stupid rumours.

actually, i was quite relieved. i started folding my kaftans and went to get a glass of water to replace the sweat that was evaporating from me due to the nerves.

i continued to watch the movie because it was then i realised becker was in it. magnum p.i. and mahony were confronting becker and telling him that Mary the baby was actually his. it was funny, coz i like becker from becker and never imagined him as the jock character.

ten minutes later becker calls his mum to ask her to come over with the intention of passing Mary the baby to her for her safekeeping. so his mum comes over and she’s all excited she’s a grand ma.

she’s carrying Mary the baby around the house and talking to becker. i don’t know what they were saying because (the volume was turned down) AND the camera was in long-shot scaling the breadth of the apartment. and that was when i saw THE SUPERNATURAL BEING.

it was standing in the background looking at the camera. i’m not sure if it was a boy or girl but it had jet black hair and stood out from the white artsy background like and elephant on a see-saw.

at this point in time, i really was not prepared for that. i think i froze for a while after that ridiculous encounter.

i read the three Qul’s a few times over to calm down and next thing i know i was waking tasneem up from her cot. luckily she didn’t cry. hey, i’m not a bad parent, just needed someone to hug and it was time for her apple puree anyway.

i continued to watch the movie reminding myself it was a comedy and not horror movie. tasneem, of course, decided to poo after her lunch so i was busy tending to her and not the movie after that.

i told nizam about it on our way to a wedding later that day but he didn’t seem half as spooked as i was.

24 hours after my first encounter with the supernatural, tasneem was taking her morning nap again and nizam and i were bustling around the house watching "i, robot" everytime we passed by the tv. then one of flicked on the info button and it showed that the next movie was "three men and a ….".

we decided to watch it though i said i wasn’t going to watch THAT scene again. quickly i described the becker-mum scene for nizam’s "ease of reference." we even turned up the volume a bit.

ten minutes later we realised it wasn’t "three men and a baby", rather "three men and a little lady". the sequel! good grief! Mary the baby has grown into Mary a five-year old.

we watched the movie anyway, and it was quite funny. and now i know the names characters are peter, michael and jack.

oh well, salaam all. now you know, you can watch the movie. the three Qul’s come in handy!

you have to let me vent out the first discovery i came across this weekend. in fact, it’s not that new, it’s been brewing inside me for ages waiting to be discovered. it’s a piece of new vocab and the word is crazypossessive. yes, my new word.

aarrghghhghghgh!!! crazypossessive! crazypossessive! crazypossessive!!!! aaarrghghhghghghghghghgh!!!! it’s killing me… really killing meeee!!!

crazypossessive! crazypossessive! crazypossessive!!!!

ok, feel better.

now for my second discovery. the NICE  discovery.

it was something i thought i couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to do. but all of a sudden, things turned miraculously pleasant. i’m so happy now i’m smiling after that crazypossessive outburst. *sigh* … i’m even sighing.

couple of months ago i was struggling in vain. it was like pushing a piece of string uphill. it was horrible. it was upsetting, and i was so desperate to succeed.

and now, it’s really materialising. it’s not 100% what i hoped for but - it really couldn’t be better.

it feels sort of a relief, but at the same time i feel a little confused and nervous and in a strange way intimidated. and i should be intimidated by God anyway, so i don’t know why i said that.

but really, the benefits outweigh all the qualms by sacks of precious stones. i’m grateful. Alhamdulillah.

good for me, good for tasneem.

AND most importantly, it’s THE (one and only) antidote for crazy-possessive (aaarrghghhg!!).

salaam all, there is antidote for each and every poison.

The best guard against Satan is a virtuous spouse. dear reader, find yourself a pious partner, as he / she will be a  garment for you, as you are a garment for that person. - adapted from the Qur’an - take a read when free. :))

so today is nizam’s birthday. and here’s a song that we’ve always shared but have not listened to in a while - in fact, it seems like we hardly ever listen to music anymore. it’s by owsley, by the way.

Morning comes and you’re so lonely
And you feel like you’re the only one alive
Since she left you blame yourself
For all the things she never felt
How could you be untrue to yourself
When nobody is watching
Your life isn’t over the clock is still tocking

How long is the road paved with good intentions
Forever waiting divine intervention
Of love and it’s way and you will not fight it
While everyone dozes, you’re coming up roses

if you’re reading, which you will probably be doing only next week or so, happy belated. lots of love from tasneem and me. - forever waiting (?) for divine intervention - :))

"and where she stops, nobody knows, but God above…"

today’s the first day back after a long holiday. four days of doing nothing and coming up with barely anything that’s blogsworthy. it’s ridiculous the way i spend my time. well, most of the hols were at putrajaya. i think i ranted on about it in my last blog.

well, we came back to ampang on wednesday. it was nice. i love my home, although, yeah, it’s a tad tiny, the paddlepop man comes around 4 times a day, and one idiotic neighbour uses his car alarm as his alarm clock every morning. besides that, it’s the place the three of us call home and it’s the nest we share.

as for today - FRIDAY - is the first day back at work - felt like a first day at school - yeeuucchh! - too much of that! anyway, all "refreshed" from being a dormant brain for too long, i got off to a shaky start. good ting there wasn’t any news this morning to rush out to our clients. i am though, working on a the monthly newsletter. hmmm… by the looks of our releases for january, it seems like the economy may be actually shaping up.

the central bank has conjured up quite a few initiatives for financial market deepening , and RAM and other bodies like MIER, DB’s research team have all put in a few good words for the economy.

anyone still shopping around in the market for investments, there’s much hype about bonds and debt papers. as many would know, debt, as bonds, bear interest or riba. so let’s look around as the Malaysian market has innovated products to accommodate those interested in Islamic financial instruments.

The Islamic bond, Sukuk, and the debt paper called Ijarah are those you may want to pry into.

besides that, everything is well. nizam’s birthday today. didn’t know what to get him and i’m too lazy to walk to klcc or go to timesquare, but i did get him something. in case he’s reading this blog NOW, i’ll not mention it.

salaam all, make the right investments - it’ll make you happy.