Follow the money: What is Zakat and Why is Obama Talking about It?

Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which people protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That's why I'm committed to work with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.

--Barack Hussein Obama, Cairo University, June 4, 2009

Interesting that zakat should come up in Obama's speech to an Arab audience yesterday, and even more interesting that it should come up in the context of freedom of religion, not exactly a major concern for Muslims, never mind liberals or socialists. Separation of church and state: that's a staple of Democrat foot-stamping talking points. You know, "Too bad the Taliban blew the head off an ancient Buddha carved into the Hindu Kush mountains and isn't it awful that people are rotting in Islamic jails or dead for sneaking a peak at a Bible, but get your (religious symbol, book, or quotation of your choice) out of my public square, right now, you bigot!" That separation of church and state.

What is zakat, anyway? The Thomas More Law Center offers an answer:

The zakat is a religious tax used to financially support Islamic "charities," some of which have ties to terrorist organizations that are hostile to the United States and all other “infidels,” which includes Christians and Jews.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, an example of an Islamic “charity” that qualifies for receipt of the zakat, was recently convicted by a federal jury for providing millions of dollars to Islamic terrorist organizations.

The reason that the Thomas More Law Center offers a definition of this soon-to-become a household word is that the Law Center just got the go-ahead in to bring a lawsuit against Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner and the Federal Reserve Board for using taxpayer funds to help Muslim religious authorities collect these religious taxes.

A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit will go forward concerning the government bailout of insurance giant American International Group, or AIG.

Brian Rooney of the Thomas More Law Center says the company engages in sharia-compliant insurance to fulfill tenets of the Muslim faith.

"There's a certain amount of interest that you cannot take under sharia, and anything above that interest has to be cleansed," he notes. "And they have a board of imams at AIG that cleanse this interest. The only way to cleanse it is to send it to Islamic charities."

Thus:

As a direct consequence of the taxpayer funds appropriated and expended to purchase and financially support AIG, the federal government is now the owner of a corporation engaged in the business of collecting religious taxes to fund interests adverse to the United States, Christians, Jews, and all other “infidels” under Islamic law.

To many, if not most, Americans, the term "religious authority" does not set off serious alarm bells. But many Muslim religious authorities in charge of deciding where the obligatory religious tax gets sent are not your typical rabbi, minister, priest, or lama.

Sometimes, actual often, the decision maker deciding where the zakat is going to go is Dr. Muhammed Imran Ashraf Usmani, from Pakistan, who sits on the 3-man (talk about glass ceilings!) Shariah Supervisory Board at AIG.

Dr. Usmani is the son, student, and dedicated disciple of Mufti Taqi Usmani, who is the leading Shariah authority for Shariah-compliant finance in the world and the author of a book translated into English in 1999 that includes an entire chapter dedicated to explaining why a Western Muslim must engage in violent jihad against his own country or government.

A very interesting presentation, Shariah-compliant Finance: Benign? or Belligerent? by attorney David Yerushalmi, an expert in security transactions and Shariah-compliant financing will interest you in further investigation of Obama's innocuous-sounding plans, according to his Cairo speech, to "deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world."

When Obama gets interested in using taxpayer dollars to pass the collection plate, surely it is of some interest to follow the money.

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