Upcoming events discuss how Muslims can coexist in modern multicultural times

Source: Muis Facebook page.

Two upcoming events focused on how Muslims can co-exist in a contemporary, multicultural world have been organised.

Through the Adult Islamic Learning (ADIL) programme, the Office of The Mufti is organising a half-day closed-door knowledge retreat session, Muslims in Contemporary World, on September 10. Admission is free.

The ADIL Knowledge Retreat will discuss how Muslims in Singapore can stay faithful to religious values while fulfilling the demands of the modern society, including handling new challenges that come along the way, including radicalism and terrorism propagated by a minority. Questions discussed include:

• What does it mean to be a Muslim in the contemporary world?
• How do we reconcile our religious values and fulfilling the needs of the modern society?
• How do we examine the roots as well as the manifestations of the extremist thoughts?
• How can we co-exist confidently in the existing economic and political system?
• How can we project the faith of Islam as a positive force for humanity?

There are two speakers for the event. Ustaz Dr Nazirudin Mohd Nasir is Director, Religious and Policy Development, Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS). He recntly completed his Dr of Philosophy degree  at St Cross College, Oxford, in the comparative study of the Abrahamic religions.

Ustaz Dr Mohamed Bin Ali is Assistant Professor at Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His areas of research include Islamic jurisprudence, Islamist ideology, religious extremism, inter-religious relations and rehabilitation of Muslim extremists. Dr Mohamed obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Jurisprudence from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt in 2002, Masters of Science in International Relations at RSIS, NTU in 2007 and Dr of Philosophy in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter, UK in 2013.

Register
Date: September 10, 2016
Time: 9am to 1pm
Venue: Al Ansar Mosque, 155 Bedok North Avenue 1 

Source: Muis Facebook page.

This year's Abdul Aleem Siddique Memorial Lecture is happening on Friday, 16 September 2016. Ustaz Dr Nazirudin will discuss Revisiting Interfaith Relations in a Postsecular Age, specifically whether religion coexisting with secular cultures change the dynamics of interreligious relations. This could mean that differences between faiths become accentuated, and pose a challenge to interfaith leaders and especially youths who want to ensure interfaith relations remain healthy.

Using examples from the interaction between religion and science as well as religious ethics on socio-political issues, Ustaz Dr Nazirudin will address these questions as part of reflecting on the next phase of interfaith relations in Singapore.

Register or visit the organiser, the Harmony Centre, to find out more. The Centre represents one of the key initiatives of MUIS to bring about a greater understanding of Islam and Muslims amongst the multiracial and multireligious society of Singapore. 

Date: September 16, 2016
Time: 6pm to 9.30pm
Venue: Singapore Islamic Hub - Annex Building level 4, 273 Braddell Road

Hashtag: #OfficeofMuftiSG

BGC promoting murabaha mechanism with Dubai Multi Commodity Centre

BGC Partners, a global brokerage company servicing the wholesale financial and real estate markets, has partnered with the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre (DMCC) to promote a shari'ah-compliant commodity murabaha mechanism. 

The March agreement is the first between DMCC and an interdealer broker to jointly market commodity murabaha on the DMCC Tradeflow Platform. The partnership offers the trading community a faster, more efficient method of trading this niche financial product, and promotes Dubai as the global centre of Islamic finance at the same time. 
  
Said Charlie Sleightholme, Head of Commodity Murabaha Business at BGC in Dubai: "While trading of this product has been in existence for some time, our joint offering brings a modernisation to the process, offering speed, convenience and innovation to the execution of this popular product."

"We are thrilled to offer an exciting, world class mechanism for the trading of commodity murabaha which we believe will garner significant interest from the trading community both domestically and internationally," commented Paul Boots, Director, Tradeflow at DMCC. 

"With BGC's premier global reputation, its relationships with top-tier institutions across the world and its leading electronic trading capabilities, we believe that commodity murabaha customers will see significant benefits in terms of efficiency and transparency. This, in turn, will continue to promote and assert Dubai's reputation as a preeminent global capital of Islamic finance."

Established in 2002 by Royal Decree, the DMCC is a strategic government initiative of the Government of Dubai designed to enhance trade flows through the UAE by providing infrastructure and an optimal environment allowing clients to fully benefit from both a regulated framework and convenient location. 

The DMCC has helped to bridge the gap in the region between the commodity industry and trade finance by providing a mechanism for the issue of electronic warehouse receipts on behalf of the owners of stored commodities since 2004. In 2012, the DMCC Tradeflow platform unified these services, providing members with a holistic approach to the process of certifying commodities for the purposes of trade finance, as well as for the trade of locally stored commodities between Islamic banking institutions and their counterparties through the commodity murabaha mechanism.

*Murabaha is not an interest-bearing loan, which is considered riba (or excess) and forbidden under shari'ah (Islamic religious law), and is rather an acceptable form of credit sale. Murabaha is an Islamic financing structure in which an intermediary buys an asset with free and clear title to it. The intermediary and prospective buyer then agree upon a sale price (including an agreed-upon profit for the intermediary) that can be made through a series of installments, or as a lump sum payment. 

Similar in structure to a rent-to-own arrangement, the intermediary retains ownership of the property until the loan is paid in full. It is important to note that to prevent riba, the intermediary cannot be compensated in addition to the agreed-upon terms of the contract. For this reason, if the buyer is late on their payments, the intermediary cannot charge any late penalties.