Of the three major middle-eastern slave religions, Islam sucks the most.  There were already two major slave religions which originated in the middle east; what was the necessity for a third?  Each later one is stupider than the previous.  As far as I'm concerned there is almost nothing to recommend Islam.  However, there are at least two Islamic tenets and practices worthy of consideration.

One important tenet is the prohibition of "interest" (usury).  [See Note 1, below.]

One intriguing practice is the age-old way of moving money called hawala in the Arab world, or hundi in Pakistan.

Hawala  is a credit system for transferring funds over long distances.  It is centuries older than Western banking.  It derives from a time when traders were more confident of their bookkeeping skills than of safely avoiding robbers on the caravan trail.

Today, it has become a convenient way to "launder" money, avoid taxes and, unfortunately, to move millions around the world to fund holy wars.

Hawala  is now illegal even in Pakistan, so it relies on that honesty and integrity mentioned above; it relies on a person's word.  There is no need to smuggle large amounts of cash (or gold) from one country to another.  There is no need to fill out intrusive bank forms that can draw unwanted attention.  There is no need for detailed bank records, if at all.

A person just hands over cash to a hawala  banker at one end; the recipient picks up his cash from a hawala  banker at the other end.  There is virtually no paper trail.

The hawala  banker who takes the cash at the originating end writes down the phone number or address of the payer's representative in the receiving country.  Then he instructs his associate (partner, money trader, or group of traders) in that country to pay out the required amount to the payer's representative in the receiving country.  Contact is simply made by telephone or e-mail.  Code words or a recognized voice is all that is needed to complete the transaction.

No cash needs to move through the "legal" banking system.  The hawala  banker and his associate at the other end simply keep straight between themselves who owes what to whom.  Periodically, when convenient or necessary, they settle up in cash, gold, or other commodities.

When multimillion-dollar sums are needed, the transaction may be split amongst a group of traders.  In some cases, they may need to turn to friendly offshore banks to issue cashier's checks.

The hawala  groups in Pakistan keep on hand only as much cash as they foresee needing.  Any excess cash is transported by air to countries such as Singapore or the United Arab Emirates and deposited in joint accounts.  Only the traders themselves know who owns what in those pooled accounts.

Most hawala  transactions are just in the hundreds of dollars range, but the only limit is the physical limit of how much one can haul up to the counter.

Even though illegal even in Pakistan now, hawala  persists because it serves important functions:  privacy, and protection from the tax-man.  It plays a huge part in the black market which, even in Pakistan, reputedly could total billions of dollars.

Note 1:  "Interest" (usury) is prohibited, at least amongst themselves (Muslims), as I understand it.  "Allah" does give permission to screw the infidels (all those NOT Muslim), however.  And, I guess they can pay interest to the infidels when it is necessary in their dealings with them.

I know, I know -- "interest" is a holy tenet of capitalism, worshipped especially by conservatives and libertarians alike.  "Interest is merely 'rent' on money."  "Interest makes our way of living possible."  Blah, blah ...  (To give the devil his due, some Christian "patriots" also recognize the evils of interest.)

The bottom line regarding interest is that it requires continual "creation" of money (nowadays mostly credit) which is inflationary and thus destroys capital and savings.

IF I receive sufficient support, I will expand on the destructiveness of interest (usury).

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