I often ask myself if there is anything, dear cyber-comrades, that cannot be done on the Internet these days.

We can buy, sell, marry, divorce, work, love and even… sue. Case in point: the Kuwait-based Lebanese blogger being sued for $18,000 by the owner of the Benihana Japanese-style restaurant in Kuwait for posting a negative review of his dinner.

Benihana chef hard at work

Now That’s What I Call Feedback

Mark Makhoul, a Lebanese living in Kuwait who runs the popular blog www.248am.com told The National that restaurant is suing him “They’re asking for financial compensation, and asking for my blog to be shut down,” he said.

Our digital diner visited the restaurant in Kuwait’s Avenues Mall in December and proceeded to post a review that gave the service and friendly staff the thumbs up. Mark’s appraisal of his meal, was less complementary and he ended his blog by putting his two dinars’ worth in a less than appetizing nutshell: “Would I go back to Benihana? No, I wouldn’t.”

“There are two other Japanese restaurants at the Avenues: Wasabi and Maki, and I would prefer either one of those to Benihana.” The bold blogger also uploaded a pair of videos of the chef juggling utensils, while he cooks – something of  a Benihana trademark.

Dinar for One

Seems Behihana’s GM, Mike Servo found the review hard to swallow, and posted a comment to it claiming that the restaurant’s name has been “destroyed and abused” by the blog. Mr Servo added that the blog’s suggestion that customers go elsewhere is something he believes to be against the law of Kuwait”.

Kuwait’s criminal investigation department has been informed of the case and a copy of the court order that was downloaded from Mr Makhoul’s blog states that said the blogger, who works for an advertising agency, had “hidden intents”.

“They think it’s a conspiracy. It’s a very far-fetched argument. I don’t think they have a case,” Mr Makhoul told The National.

More than a Mouthful

Benihana owner Abdul Rahman al Mutairi is playing his cards close to his chest on the issue. He stated that Kuwaiti law requires both parties to refrain from speaking about the case until a verdict is reached.

Hundreds of Internauts from across Kuwait and the Arab region have sent messages of support and friendship to Mr Makhoul on Twitter and Facebook.

The blogger’s trial began on March 8 and the brave blogger sees his case as a precedent, stating: “If they want to go ahead, I’m not going to chicken out. It doesn’t just affect me; that’s why I want everyone to get involved. If I lose this case it could affect all the bloggers in Kuwait.”

He hopes the pressure from friends near and far from across the cyberverse will force the Benihana Corporation to demand the Kuwaiti franchise owners to clean their plates of the case.

Multimedia, Multidimensional Theatre with a Message

They say there is nothing more fulfilling than doing what everyone tells you cannot be done.

Poliglot Theater, it seems, was built on this raison d’etre. Its first production, Neither Heaven Nor Earth, is a brilliant, moving piece of multimedia documentary theatre that breaks down walls, prejudice and the notion that it’s impossible to present a balanced depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I saw Neither Heaven Nor Earth during its June 2010 run at New York’s New School of Drama. It is one of the most resonant pieces of art I have ever seen.

Powerful interwoven vignettes of Palestinian and Israeli lives are laced with music and dance, set against a walled backdrop representing the Separation Barrier, the physical scar that separates Israel and Palestine. Two sides, multiple opinions and no imminent solution, all convincingly portrayed through courageous and sensitive writing, direction and performance.

Beyond the Wall of Silence

Neither Heaven Nor Earth was born in 2008 from a discussion between John Hansen-Brevetti and Gabriella Pinto about walls: the US-Mexico Wall; Baghdad’s proposed Sunni-Shi’a Wall, and the infamous Separation Barrier that Israel has built along its border with the West Bank, known to many as the Apartheid Wall.

John and Gabriella originally intended to create a smaller-scale dance theatre piece that explored the phenomenon of governments attempting to “wall off” problems and people. The more the directors researched the Separation Barrier, the more they felt compelled to explore it from every angle. They decided to witness it for themselves and create a documentary theatre piece that let those on both sides of the barrier speak to American audiences in their own words.

In autumn 2008, Gabriella and John set offfor the West Bank and Israel for three months to conduct interviews and further research. In the West Bank city of Nablus, they volunteered as teachers of English and drama in local refugee camps with Project HOPE, a Canadian-Palestinian NGO. For three months they conducted interviews throughout the surrounding region with locals, activists, politicians, and soldiers.

Upon returning to New York, Poliglot moulded an original script from these interviews, experiences, and further extensive research on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. What emerged was an urgent and unique look at the state of the region and the people in it today, viewed at the ground level. The constant state of limbo in which the people of the region find themselves, unable to move the government or the wall, inspired the play’s title: Neither Heaven Nor Earth.

I asked the directors about their experiences on both sides of the wall and the curtain.

Why did you decide to tackle such a monumental subject?

Poliglot Theatre was founded with the mission of raising awareness about humanitarian crises throughout the world via the immediacy and empathy inherent to live theatre. We felt that educating American audiences about the many facets of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine was an ideal first challenge.

One of theatre’s greatest powers over film is to convey the living, breathing humanity of an individual, and by extension a group. That connection between human beings in a room is something that movie or TV screens filter or block. In fact, largely because of images we see on television and in film, Palestinians are widely viewed as terrorists amongst Americans. There is little recognition of the common humanity we share, or knowledge of the crises Palestinians are forced to endure daily.

After spending several months in the region, we came to understand the true nature of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and looked back at how American media had taught us to see it. We didn’t want audiences to simply take our word for it, but rather to let them hear the words of real Palestinians and Israelis and come to their own conclusions.

How has the play been received?

The play was received incredibly well. We had full houses and standing ovations almost nightly, and an endless litany of post-show conversations with audience members that reassured us the piece had done well by its subject.

Many had no prior knowledge about the Occupation of Palestine and expressed shock over the true stories that played out in front of them on stage. Others who were intimately familiar with the Occupation thanked us for our accuracy. Most interestingly, many indicated scenes where both sides of the story were being argued as their favourites, despite our worries that such scenes were going to be too long or didactic for the audience. People are hungry for debate on this issue, hungry to learn more and finally hear the truth.

What is the next step for Neither Heaven Nor Earth?

To ask other regional theatres and universities to produce another run of the play. New York was a risky testing ground, given the political, religious, and idealogical loyalties that dominate there. We’re convinced that if we can make it there, we can make it anywhere. We and many audience members believe that it is hugely important for more people to see this work.
Please can you sum up the experience of staging the play?

Creating this work brought us hope for the theatre – that it can be relevant and powerful on a greater scale than personal emotional catharsis. It also taught us that we need to do more.  As much as we’d like to think this work will somehow affect the lives of those whose words we adapted, it most likely will not.

To quote Rachel Corrie, another whose words have been adapted into theatre about the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, “This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop.  I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore.”

About Poliglot

Poliglot Theatre is dedicated to the creation of artistically progressive, intellectually challenging documentary theatre. It travels to areas of conflict or crisis and conducts extensive interviews and research while engaging in hands-on humanitarian relief. The interviews and film gathered provide the raw materials for new theatrical work that advocates for social and political change.

Poliglot’s style of performance and production evolves script to script, but remains grounded in the idea that theatre can and should be a catalyst for change, a means of inspiring American audiences to respond to humanitarian crisis and need.

Further info:
http://www.PoliglotTheater.org
Email Gabriella Pinto at Gabriella@PoliglotTheater.org
Email John Hansen-Brevetti at John@PoliglotTheater.org

I’ve just landed on Spanish soil following a wonderful week in Istanbul. Now a certified apple tea, baklava and shisha addict, I’m sad to say my attempts to replicate the experience in my living room have failed miserably.

Istanbul - Cosmopolitan and modern

See, you can’t recreate Istanbul, yet if you visit this incredibly vibrant, multicultural and bustling city that bridges Europe with Asia, borders eight countries and unites three seas, I can safely say, you’ll come home inspired.

Having read (not enough) about the history of Ataturk, particularly regarding his bold move to ban the hijab, which made him as many enemies as friends, I was surprised to see a sea of colourful, fashionable headscarves fill the brimming streets around Istanbul’s markets, shopping avenues and ports.

Majority Muslim, Officially Secular

Istanbul, like the rest of Turkey, is majority Muslim but officially secular and immigration. Viewed by some as ahead of their time, Ataturk’s reforms paved the way for well-earned title as one of the most liberal and multicultural societies in the region.

Staring at a stunning chic-wrapped woman in a six-foot Armine ad poster near the spice market in Eminou, I couldn’t help but ponder the irony of the fashion statement. High-fashion headscarf and clothing brand Armine is huge in Turkey – famed for its high-impact campaigns and strategic positioning of billboards, slap-bang in the midst of Istanbul’s bar and nightclub districts.

Fashion for the Faithful

“It was hard to find anything chic for the covered women 10 years ago, but fashion for pious women has made huge progress in the last 6-7 years,” Alpaslan Akman, an exec in charge of production and marketing at Armine told Dawn.com.

The brand blends colourful scarves with figure-skimming coats, pert collars, big buttons and ruffled sleeves. A coat typically sells for around 200 Turkish lira ($143.2), while scarves go for around 50 lira.

Wrapture and Riches

One in seven Turkish women cover their heads one way or another, and 16%, including Turkey’s first lady use the more concealing and self-consciously stylish “turban” style scarf, which tightly covers the hair and neck and usually encompasses an under bonnet as a base.

Muslim women in Turkey

In, 1992, Islamic fashion house Tekbirwe organised Turkey’s very first headscarf fashion show, earning it global attention. Turkish daily Milliyet now estimates the Islamic clothing market to be worth $2.9 billion.

While my friends in Pakistan have been keeping me up to date on the country’s Facebook ban and associated saga – I was intrigued to learn of another virtual controversy… this time in Turkey.

Thanks to my dear Turkish friend Lamia, who returned from Istanbul yesterday and tipped me off, I found an article in Today’s Zamman about the country’s ban on YouTube and some Google listings. Both the ban and the response to it are food for thought.

Banned Out of Respect

The Turkish courts have blocked access to YouTube since 2008. The measure was implemented after Greek users posted videos alleging that Mustafa Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President was homosexual.

Last week Turkey extended the ban to some Google pages that use the same Internet protocol addresses as YouTube.

Twy Saying “Tweet Tweet” in Turkish

Turkish president Abdullah Gul has voiced his opposition to the ban in a rather unique way: through his Twitter account!

Turkish President Abdullah Gul uses Twitter to voice his opinion.

In separate tweets, said he did not approve of the bans and had instructed officials to examine legal ways of reopening access.

This bid to bring back virtual freedom in Turkey isn’t Mr Gul’s first bold stand as President. The leader attracted his fair share of friends and enemies as he broke the mold by becoming the first former-Islamist President in the modern history of Turkey.

If It’s Good Enough for The President…

At the turn of this year, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe pressed Turkey to abolish or reform a law allowing it to block around 3,700 Internet sites.

By law websites can be blocked under article 5651 of the Turkish penal code for a range of offences including insulting Ataturk, child pornography and encouraging suicide.

Do any of you Turkish readers out there have anything to add to this? We’d love to hear from you!

A Kuwaiti friend of mine passed me an article about a new “diet” program on Kuwait TV that I’d like to share with you…

The article in The National spotlights Kuwait’s unprecedented growth – its rapidly expanding economy – and… waistlines. Thanks in part to the arrival of International fast-food chains, and to modern, “convenient·· sedentary lifestyles, many Kuwaitis have found themselves battling with the bulge. It’s a familiar story: many other countries around the world, including Spain, where I live, are wrestling to reverse such trends piled on by our “modern lives”.

Kuwaiti TV challenge: Svelte intentions

One Kuwaiti dietician has come up with a new, and equally international solution to this problem in his country. Ahmad al Haifi, assistant professor at the Kuwaiti College of Health Sciences, has created a pilot for a reality television program featuring 20 young Kuwaitis as they try to shift the pounds.

Based on the US TV show “The Biggest Loser”, the show will be the first of its kind in the Gulf region. It has already received the “Ethical approval” of the Kuwaiti ministry of health.

US TV show "The Biggest Loser" helps Americans to lose weight and to change their lives for the better.

“The aim is to reduce about 10 to 20 per cent of the excess body weight within six months for the obese adolescent boys – this is the main goal.” Mr. al Haifi told the National.

Rewarding Success

Cameras will accompany boys in their daily lives, while dieticians monitor their progress and educate them, their friends and their families on the best ways to lose weight. The show will also consult “celebrities” for their advice and award prizes, including “maybe a car” to the most successful slimmers.

Mr. al Haifi describes the program’s strategies as “pinpointing the causes of obesity, identifying where the calories are coming from, co-operating with friends and monitoring weight-loss.”

The idea of the new TV program has been well received by Kuwaitis, 100 of whom turned up to a lecture given by Mr. al Haifi, to potential contestants, and their friends and families. Teenagers hoping to be selected filled in forms about their eating habits and got weighed.

Friends and Family Pitch In

“I’m so fat, and I want to be smaller,” said Mohammed al Moumen, a 15-year-old who weighs 95 kilograms. “Maybe I’ll have health problems in 20 years. I eat junk food every day and I never do any exercise. This is a real problem with the youth of Kuwait.”

Hussein al Sayer took his son, Ali, 17, who weighs 103kg to the lecture. He said he liked the show because the diet is supervised by experts and “takes it easy on the children”.

“Ali sits and watches Real Madrid and Barcelona play football on TV, but he doesn’t play himself. The Internet and the PlayStation have affected all children in Kuwait. Twenty years ago, you had to do sport because there was nothing else to do,” Mr. al Sayer said.

Sign of the Times

Kuwait’s oil wealth has brought wonders and woes to this Gulf country, magnetizing International companies such as McDonalds, which opened in 1994. The first day the fast-food chain opened, 15,000 Kuwaitis and a seven-mile-long queue of cars lined up to be served.

Sami al Bader is a dietician with Diet Care, a health-food company that has run the Get Healthy Kuwait program in co-operation with Taiba Hospital since June. It’s as bad as it can get anywhere in the world,” Mr. al Bader told The National.

“Around 80 per cent of Kuwaitis are overweight or obese and around 26 per cent have, or will soon have, diabetes.” According to Mr. Bader, Kuwait’s harsh weather encourages people to stay indoors and travel in their cars, while Bedouin traditions encourage people to eat more.

Food Glorious Food…

“Our lives revolve around food. If I visit my family today, I’m going to be given seven or eight plates of food. If I visit my friends after that, I’ll get another seven or eight plates,” he said.

While international imports can take the brunt of the blame, Mr. Bader adds that many young Kuwaitis socialize with their friends in restaurants serving meals packed with twice as many calories as their home-cooked equivalents and points out that “a shawarma is just as bad as a Big Mac in terms of calories and fat”.

While it may be a unconventional approach, I’m inspired by this Kuwaiti initiative and believe a lot of other countries could take a leaf from its book.

I am absolutely enchanted with the Arab Jewish culture – it seems like such a potent blend of flavors and sounds. It all started when I made a couple of Mizrahi (Arab Jewish) friends in the US. They kindly introduced me (sonically) to Om Kolthoum, and fed me some of the most extraordinary hummus I’ve ever devoured!

It’s hard to estimate how many Arab Jews there are today – according to an Aramica article from 2002, 800,000 Arab Jews lived in the Middle East prior to 1948 and by 2002, there were around 8,000 Arab Jews left in the region.

Why do we never hear about Arab Jews?

The Aramica article includes three fascinating interviews with experts on the subject of Jewish Arabs in America. The first is with Professor Ella Shohat, an Iraqi Jew who teaches in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at New York University.

She talks about mutual discrimination of Arab Jews within both the Jewish and Muslim communities and the choice Arab Jews are pressurized to make between being Jews and being Arabs. The professor describes the fragmentation of the Arab Jewish community within the Arab-American community, concluding that Arab Jews don’t really interact with the Arab American nor the European Jewish communities.

Unfortunately, the events of September 11^th made it especially complicated for this small community, with members targeted on the streets alongside other Arabs and Muslims who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

An Active Approach to Honoring Arab Jewish Heritage

Aramica also interviews David Shasha,  an American born Arab Jew living in Brooklyn. David holds a Master’s Degree in Jewish/Middle Eastern Studies from Cornell University and works as an activist, educator, author and archivist. He is the Director of The Center for Sephardic Heritage.

David explains how records and documentation of Arab Jewish history are far less prolific than that of Jewish history during the Russian revolution or the Holocaust. As such, it’s hard to get a clear idea of what life was like for Arab Jews, as very little reflection has been produced by historians.

David dedicates his career to changing this and dispelling some of the clouds on some of the historical and cultural issues surrounding the US Arab Jewish community.

Can you Be Both an Arab and A Jew?

The final interview in the article is with Professor Ammiel Alcalay, who teaches at Queens College and is the author of numerous books on Arab Jews and Levantine culture.

Professor Alcalay talks about the cultural creativity of the Arab Jews in countries such as Iraq and Spain. Sadly this became muted in the face of integration issues the community had to endure trying to fit into America’s Ashkenazi Jewish community.

He concludes that the political situation in the Middle East has further isolated members of the Arab Jewish community. Not  fitting in with the Arab community and wanting to associate with Israeli politics has left the community somewhat adrift and rootless within the US.

“In America, it seems very strange to people that you can be both an Arab and a Jew.” The professor concludes.

Did you know London footwear guru Dato’ Jimmy Choo OBE, was born and brought up in Malaysia?

Maybe I’ve had my feet in the sand, but I didn’t!

In fact, Choo, (born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat in Penang), made his first pair of shoes in his native Malaysia when he was 11 years old.

Tiptoeing up to the Red Carpet

Jimmy was born into a family of shoemakers and went to London to study, graduating in 1983. He worked part time as a waiter and a shoe factory cleaner to help pay for college.

In 1986 he opened a workshop in an old hospital building in Hackney, North London, where he garnered rather of a lot of attention. In 1988 he earned himself an 8-page spread in Vogue, and in 1990, Diana Princess of Wales became his patron, which planted him well and truly in the public eye.

In 1996 Jimmy founded Jimmy Choo Ltd with British Vogue accessories editor Tamara Mellon.

In 2000 Jimmy earned the Malaysian honorary title “Dato’” for his achievements, granted by the Sultan of Malaysia’s Pahang State.

You can take the Man out of Malaysia but You Can’t Take Malaysia out of the Man

In April 2001, Choo sold his 50% stake in Jimmy Choo Ltd for £10 million. Since then, he has been working on an exclusive couture line, within the company.  Tamara Mellon runs the ready-to-wear line, which now includes handbags. In 2002, he was granted an OBE by Queen Elizabeth of England and in 2004 he was awarded Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri by the Governor of his home state of Penang, which also carries the title Dato’.

How many titles does a man need? I guess that’s a bit like asking how many pairs of shoes a woman needs…

Jimmy Choo lives in London, but his heart is still very much entwined with his native Malaysia, where, not surprisingly he has become a hero to young shoemakers and fashion designers.  He  is presently setting up a shoemaking institute in his homeland. There are 39 Jimmy Choo stores worldwide.

I’m very interested in the issue of interfaith between our global Muslim community and those of other religions around the world. In 2010, there are almost as many Muslims in the world as there are Christians, and the religions are full of similarities and parallels. Some would say it’s time Muslims and Christians recognized just how similar we are, and that the fate of the world depends on it.

This was in fact the subject of an open letter signed in 2007, and launched from Jordan to the Vatican by 138 Muslim leaders and scholars.

First Class from Jordan to The Vatican

The 29-page letter — entitled A Common Word between Us and You  was organized by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman, Jordan.

The letter was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and 25 other named Christian leaders.  It emphasized that world peace depends on greater understanding between the two faiths. This powerful message for mutual understanding represented the first time so many high-profile Muslims united to make such a public call for peace.

A Call for Mutual Understanding

A Common Word between Us and You was first signed in Jordan on the morning of October 11^th 2007, then in other countries throughout the course of the day. It was finally unveiled at a Muslim-Christian press conference  in Washington, D.C., by Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, and John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.

This positive call for world peace detailed the similarities between the Bible and the Koran, and between Christianity and Islam. It reached out to Christian leaders to “come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions.”

High profile Muslim signatories included Sheik Mohammed Nur Abdullah, vice president of the Fiqh Council of North America; Sheikh Salem Falahat, director-general of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan; Hasan Shariatmadari, head of the Iranian National Republicans party; and Sheikh Ikrima Said Sabri, former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Imam of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Finding Common Ground in the Name of World Peace

According to an article in Time Magazine, the letter notes that whilst the faiths are clearly different, both require believers to believe in only one God, and it’s the same God. Both religions are founded on goodwill, not violence, and  many of the fundamental truths that were revealed to Muhammad — such as complete devotion to God, the rejection of false gods, and the love of fellow man — are the same that form the basis of Christianity.

Because of this, the letter says, Muslims are bound by the Koran to treat believers of other faiths with respect and friendship — and that Muslims expect the same in return. Finding common ground is essential for the survival of humanity.

“The relationship between these two religious communities [is] the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. No side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world’s inhabitants. Thus our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake.”

Yes, I’ve been tracking down love poems for my collection again! This time I jumped on a cyber train to Karachi.

I’d heard of Zeeshan Sahil before but I’d never gotten around to looking him up. Turns out he was an extraordinary, shy, gentle Karachi writer who loved his country, his family and life’s simple pleasures and beauties.

“I love trees, the air, travelling and dreaming. I love flowers, colours and words but water and skies are my favourites. I am afraid of loneliness and stagnation.” – he said in a 2002 interview with dawn.com.

All You Need Is…

Love, is indeed the focus of Zeeshan’s work – more than anything his love of Karachi, and his love of poetry, so much so that he named his 1995 anthology after the city.

Karachi aur doosri nazme, is his poignant Urdu documentation of the city torn apart by trouble in the nineties, written with a vision of truth and a heart filled with love.

“I fell in love with this city filled with life and people, it gave me a place in its heart. …My brothers and sisters and my friends have spoiled me with their love and affection and perhaps this is what continues to give meaning to my poetry.”

An Untimely Ending

Perhaps my only regret is not finding Zeeshan before his untimely death in 2008. No stranger to struggle, this incredible poet maintained wit and humour in his prose and poetry, despite a physical disability that left him unable to live independently.

Sometimes I wonder if some artists weren’t simply born to do what they do, and this would certainly hold true in Zeeshan’s case. In his own words:

“If I did not write poetry then I would not have done anything. Writing poetry is my vocation and not a hobby or habit.”

My favourite of the Karachi poems is simply entitled A Poem for You. I hope you like it!

A Poem for You

The world is the wrong place to live

if one had to live forever.

Each day life

would become more unbearable.

But the happiness of traveling on the bus

with Saiduddin,

and the melting wax from the burning candle

on your dressing table,

and the smoke collecting on your mirror

make up for everything.

The flowers pressed in my book

grow in to jungle dreams.

Your fingers trace many different paths

in the dust on the Formica.

And in the city with many blank street signs

when the night becomes darker,

your uneasy presence makes

the stars unnecessary, the moon redundant,

and the sea superfluous.

Your memory and the mounting pressure around my

heart

make me pray.

Despite the eternal anger of God toward poets,

my prayer always begins with you.

As a Muslim who lived and studied in the UK for a while a few years back, I like to keep up to speed what’s going on there, particularly when it comes to the Muslim community.

The UK has a thriving and well-integrated Muslim population for the most part and London has long been known as one of the largest centres for Islamic finances. I was still quite surprised to read last month that Sharia law is going to become part of the UK’s tax budget!

How? Ah, that bit’s simple: The UK Treasury plans to simply rewrite Britain’s tax rules to incorporate elements of Sharia law that deal with lending, borrowing and taxation and therefore make money matters easier for Muslims.

The question is WHY?

Putting your Money where your Mullah is

The Sharia finance market is growing at the speed of light and looks set to top £205billion a year. Not surprisingly, the UK Government wants to tap into it and turn London into the “global gateway for Islamic finance”.

Here comes the tricky part: Sharia law dictates that conventional loans that involve repayments with interest are forbidden, so the UK is going to have to adapt if it wants a piece of the pie.

It doesn’t seem like such a far-out idea, given that The UK Government was one of the first Western countries to issue a state-backed sukuk (Islamic bond).

Sharia-compliant mortgages, car insurance and even baby bonds are available for UK Muslims who want to avoid “riba”  (interest payments).

In December ‘09, the UK treasury proposed rewriting the present tax laws so that Muslim businessmen aren’t unfairly taxed if and when they try to raise money on their companies.

Jackpot or Hotpotch?

In an article in The Express, Mohammed Amin, head of Islamic finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “The UK has become the leading Western country in Islamic finance by taking a series of measures to ensure that Islamic finance is taxed no worse and no better than conventional finance.

Supporters of the proposed legislation say the Government is wisely knocking on the door of a market that could net London a fortune in the future.

Critics say that it’s rushing into a financial system it does not fully understand and question the extent to which British laws should be rewritten to accommodate Muslim practices.

The Financial Services Authority says its policy is one of “no obstacles, no special favours” for Islamic finance.