Islamic Finance

  In the beginning the Muslims used gold and silver by weight and the dinar and dirhams that they used were made by the Persians. The first dated coins that can be assigned to the Muslims are copies of silver dirhams of the Sassanian Yezdigird III, struck during the Khalifate of Uthman, radiy'allahu anhu. These coins differ from the original …

  Nouriel Roubini was  was in fine form yesterday, scaring the bejeezus out of his followers on Twitter by saying that several huge financial institutions could collapse in the blink of an eye like MF Global. These houses of cards, Roubini tweeted, include: Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Jefferies Barclays The problem, as Roubini has consistently warned, is the banks' dependence on short-term financing to …

Introduction: “It is clear that we should be self-sufficient and not rely on debt. That we should live more simply, consume more wisely, think of generations to come, and wonder what desires we want to plant in children’s hearts…..Bringing decency back into debates, normalcy into pay rates (checking greed), and ancient truths into temples is going to take a fight.” …

There's no way to overstate the calamity that's unfolding across the Atlantic. The eurozone is imploding. The smart money has already fled EU banks for safe quarters in the US while political leaders frantically look for a way to prevent a seemingly-unavoidable meltdown. Here's an excerpt from a post at The Streetlight blog that explains what's going on: "…ECB data seems …

  Bank funding costs are rising, liquidity is being choked off, and interbank lending has started to stall. A full-blown crisis can still be averted, but leaders will have to knuckle down and resolve the political issues fast. Otherwise the 17-member monetary union will fracture and the euro will be kaput. Here’s a clip from the Wall Street Journal: Commercial banks …

A more severe crash than the one triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers could be on the way, according to alarm signals in the credit markets. Insurance on the debt of several major European banks has now hit historic levels, higher even than those recorded during financial crisis caused by the US financial group's implosion nearly three years ago. Credit default …