Shariah’s Black Box

[51] For GCC sovereign wealth funds purchasing U.S. assets, see David Enrich, Oil-Rich Persian Gulf Countries Show Growing Financial Clout, Dow Jones Newswires, Oct. 22, 2007, available at https://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidDN20070920015851 (last visited Feb. 4, 2008).  For the push to establish SCF in the U.S., see generally Wayne Arnold, Adapting Finance to Islam, N.Y. Times, Nov. 22, 2007, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/business/worldbusiness/22islamic.html?ei=5087&em=&en=d6f0821c05a1d02f&ex=1195880400&pagewanted=all (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[52] Karen Lane, Islamic-Bond Market Becomes Global By Attracting Non-Muslim Borrowers, Wall St. J., Nov. 16, 2006, available at https://online.wsj.com/article/SB116361223362324035.html (last visited Jan. 25, 2008); see also Press Release, Dow Jones, Dow Jones Indexes and Citigroup To Launch First Islamic Bond Index (Mar. 6, 2006), available at https://www.dj.com/Pressroom/PressReleases/Other/US/2006/0306_US_DowJonesIndexes_1095.htm (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[53] See Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes, Dow Jones Indexes, available at https://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/?event=showIslamic (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[54] See Standard & Poor’s, S & P Shariah Indices, available at https://www2.standardandpoors.com/spf/pdf/index/SP_Shariah_Indices_Methodology_Web.pdf  (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[55] See Index Comparisons, Dow Jones Islamic Fund, https://www.investaaa.com/cgi-bin/client_product.cgi?member=55&product_id=527 (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[56] See Joanna Slater, Growing Interest: When Hedge Funds Meet Islamic Finance, Wall St. J., Aug. 9, 2007, available at https://online.wsj.com/article/SB118661926443492441.html?mod=todays_us_page_one (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[57] See, e.g., Islamic Finance, Devon Bank, https://www.devonbank.com/Islamic/ (last visited Jan. 25, 2008) (Chicago-based Devon Bank internet site promoting its Islamic finance products).

[58] See, e.g., Shirley Chieu, Islamic Finance in the United States: A Small But Growing Industry, Chicago Fed Letter No. 214, May 2005, available at https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/fedletter/cflmay2005_214.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2008); Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Interpretive Letter No. 806, Oct. 17, 1997, available at https://www.occ.treas.gov/interp/dec97/int806.pdf; Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Interpretive Letter No.867, June 1, 1999, available at https://www.occ.treas.gov/interp/nov99/int867.pdf; see also State of New York Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Advisory Opinion Petition No. M010821A, Jul. 26, 2002, available at https://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/advisory_opinions/real_estate/a02_4r.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2008).

[59] See generally Vogel & Hayes, supra note 18. SCF is “legal” in the sense it includes aspects of binding law, especially in Muslim countries where Shariah is considered both constitutional and statutory, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan; “normative” in the sense that Shariah is considered an all-encompassing way of life; and “communal” in the sense that communities of Muslims have in fact embraced Shariah as authoritative at some level.

[60] Bassiouni & Badr, supra note 32, at 135.