NBP to open stand-alone Islamic banking branches

The National bank of Pakistan (NBP), which has a customer base of over nine million, said in its annual report for 2002 that it was planning to open stand-alone Islamic Banking branches.

"We are also planning to open stand-alone Islamic Banking branches," the bank said in its report which was received in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Monday.The report said: "Thus, in combination with our very large and diversified base, we are truly a universal bank in Pakistan and in a position to offer the entire range of banking and financial products. We regard this as our key competitive edge." In the report, NBP Chairman and President Syed Ali Raza said the NBP made many strides during 2002 in positioning for the future both operationally and structurally.

Taken From: http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/apr2003-daily/22-04-2003/business/b8.htm

Panel offers views on Islamic movement in Stanford University

In collaboration with colleges from across the nation, the History Department hosted a workshop last Saturday titled “Islam and Globalization, Islam and Localization.” Stanford professors and graduate students who specialize in Islamic studies participated in this forum with colleagues from other universities. The workshop was divided into sessions: “18th and 19th Centuries,” “Late 19th and 20th Centuries,” “20th Century African Case Studies,” and “Late 20th Century Globalization.” Each session explored religion, scholarship and politics.

Stanford History Prof. Joel Beinin and Associate Prof. Ahmad Dallal headed the event.

According to Dallal, the dialogues were meant to encourage communication on a variety of subjects within Islam. They explored the Islamic movement from historical perspectives in different regions in theMiddle East, North Africa and the Ottoman Empire. The debate centered on the question of localization and globalization of Islam and the frequent intersection of the two.

TakenFrom:http://daily.stanford.edu/

IIA pays tributes to Keralite Islamic scholars

DOHA: The Indian Islamic Association (IIA) paid tributes to two noted Keralite Islamic scholars, N Mohammed Sharief Moulavi and Prof T Abdulla, who died in Kerala recently, at its general body meeting held inDoha on Friday.

Sherif Moulavi has been the chairman of the Nusratul Islam Trust, which runs a group of Islamic institutions based in Thirurkad, in Malappuram district, Kerala. He had visitedQatar on several occasions, said a press release yesterday.

Abdulla, who had served as head of the commercial department atFarooq College, had authored several books in Malayalam on Islamic economy and Islamic banking and insurance. He has been the chairman of the Indian Association for Islamic Economics — Kerala chapter.

Taken From: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp

Shi'ites on the march to Karbala

NAJAF andKARBALA - The Shi'ite armies are on the move. They have no tanks, no stealth bombers, and no night vision devices. Their sole weapon of mass persuasion is the power of the word - deep religious fervor inscribed in green, black and red flags waved under the sandy winds of Mesopotamia. But the political weight that they are about to display this Tuesday in Karbala is something unheard and unseen in centuries of history of "the land between the rivers".
Every year, a pilgrimage celebrates the 40th day of the death by decapitation of Imam Hussein, the son of the first Imam Ali (the Prophet Mohammed's brother-in-law), at the battle of Karbala, in the year 680 AD, which is the founding event of Shi'ism.
But the pilgrimage this year is unlike any other. At the office of the late Great Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Sadr in central Najaf, top cleric Abbas Elroubaei, who is also a painter, confides with a smile, "It took only three words." These - pronounced by the all-powerful al-Hawza council of 15 to 20 supreme Shi'ite religious authorities in Iraq - were simple: "Go to Karbala."
Taken From:http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED22Ak03.html