Britain and Shariah Bond

Despite Britain ‘s animosity to Islam it plans to enter the Shariah bond market


On 17/2/08 it was revealed by the British media that the Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to announce in his March 12 Budget if the Treasury will go ahead with plans for so-called "Sharia bonds (Sukuk)". The Treasury spokesman added: "We want the City of London to be one of the gateways globally for Islamic financial products and we want it to be competitive on all products you can imagine, so we should be competitive on Islamic finance as well as any other. Just because of your faith, there shouldn't be any issue about your access to financial services in the UK ."‌ Sukuk is now estimated to be worth £ 5.5billion in a £125 billion global Islamic financial market. The announcement highlights a contradiction in Britain‘s commitment to its ideological values. On the one-hand, the British establishment regularly brow beats the Muslim community to compromise its Islamic values in exchange for the adoption of British values. Whilst on the other hand, the same establishment is prepared to sacrifice its ideology in a desperate bid to enter the booming Sukuk market and secure its commercial interests.

This contradiction should provide ample reassurance to those skeptical about the longevity of the coming Khilafah state. Simply put, Western capitalist states will willingly sacrifice their ideology to co-exist with the future Islamic state, as long as their interests are secured. The history of the 20th century also bears testimony to this fact. Britain on many occasions supported the Soviet Union against the US, even though she was ideologically opposed to it. Likewise, the US supported China against the Soviet Union .

Only an aware Islamic leadership that is political astute can exploit such situations and successfully navigate the Khilafah state to dominate the international situation.