No description available.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / The Islamic Banking industry has been one of the fastest growing industries worldwide with a compound annual growth rate of 28% between 2006 and 2009(Reuters, 2010). These growth rates were experienced amidst the worst economic meltdown the world has seen in decades. This is a clear indication that there is a high level of confidence in the industry. Although the industry has existed for centuries, the past few decades have brought about a revival in Islamic banking. Many Western countries are recognising the industry’s importance and have taken various steps in supporting the establishment of it. South Africa has also taken such steps and has a vision of becoming a hub for Islamic banking on the African continent. This mini thesis examines the differences in nature of the underlying principles of Islamic and conventional banking which then brings to the fore the various challenges that exist in the unhindered functioning of Islamic banks within Western countries. These challenges revolve around institutional and legal frameworks, regulatory and supervisory bodies, South African Reserve Bank requirements, interest, taxation and conceptual understandings. In order to provide recommendations to address these challenges, case studies of Islamic banking in both, Islamic and Western countries were conducted. These case studies provided insight into how countries have addressed similar challenges and to what degree were they successful. This provided the basis from which recommendations were made for Islamic banking to function efficiently and effectively in South Africa and for the country to achieve its goal of becoming a hub of Islamic banking on the African continent.

Islam is the world's fastest growing religion. It is known to have an abundant and very rich amount of knowledge found in the Qur'an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, and as such, this religion has tremendously contributed not only to Muslim societies but also to the West. One aspect of this contribution explicated in this thesis is its contribution to the field of Conflict Resolution. The primary purpose of this study is to unearth the tradition of peace and conflict resolution that comes out of the religion of Islam, which is unknown to many Muslims today. In this study, existing literature in the field is examined, and a qualitative exploration is carried out, in order to formulate a better understanding of the dynamics of the Qur'an, hadith and other documents of Islam, as they relate to peace and conflict resolution. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, data collected for this study came from two sources: the existing literature regarding Islam and conflict resolution and the participants (Imams and religious scholars of Islam) interviewed through a questionnaire. To begin with, the thesis introduces the fundamentals of Islam and major concepts of the faith. It proceeds with Qur'anic and hadith injunctions on peace and conflict, and how those divine revelations as believed by Muslims, were applied by Prophet Muhammad and his early followers. This work is concluded with the opinions and interpretations of the scholars regarding the original question of this study and the matters discussed in the literature review. The thesis deals with the teachings of the Qur'an and only investigates and analyzes historical events from the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad and the early caliphate of Islam. In the process, to further explore the concept of conflict resolution in Islam, interpretations of Muslim scholars and imams are included in this document review of the sacred texts of Islam. Some questions addressed in this research are, how might this knowledge be valuable to Muslims today in these times of great turmoil involving the Muslim world after September 11? Where do the primary sources of Islam, the Quran and the hadith, stand as far as peace and conflict are concerned? And most importantly, what does Islam have to teach about conflict resolution?

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African retirement fund industry, financially sound and well regulated includes a private savings sector and government employees provided for with a near fully-funded retirement arrangement, but approximately three-quarters of the population reach retirement without adequate savings and are dependent on a government social assistance grant programme. One of the broad objectives of government retirement policy is to encourage individuals to provide adequately for their retirement needs and that of their dependents. The retirement funding system has been codified in the Pension Funds Act of 1956. The only investment guidelines that trustees of retirement funds had to follow was Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act, which prescribed maximum limits for investments of funds in the various asset classes but provided very little guidance on appropriate investment strategies. The new draft Regulation 28 compels trustees to draw up carefully considered investment strategies. The South Africa Muslim population, though two percent in number has a significant impact on the economy. This report investigates how Regulation 28 collectively with the new draft regulation can be modified to comply with the tenets of the Muslim faith i.e. Shari'ah (Islamic law) requirements. Perhaps the most significant distinction is investment in equity instruments are the main avenue available to Muslim investors for wealth creation, as Islamic law forbids interest. Islamic Commercial Law differs from conventional Western Finance, the most significant difference being the prohibition of riba (interest), commonly equated to interest in conventional finance. However, there are Muslim scholars and thinkers who are not convinced about equating interest with riba with some challenging the riba interest equation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die finansieel sterk en goed gereguleerde Suid-Afrikaanse Aftreefondsindustrie sluit 'n privaat spaarsektor in en voorsien aan staatsdienswerknemers 'n aftreeplan wat byna ten volle befonds word. Ongeveer twee derdes van die populasie bereik egter aftrede sonder voldoende fondse en is van die regering se Sosiale Bystandsfondsprogram afhanklik. Een van die bree doelwitte van die regering se aftreefondsbeleid is om individue aan te moedig om voldoende aan hulle en hulle afhanklikes se afreebehoeftes te voorsien. Die aftreefondstelsel is in die Pensioenfondswet van 1956 gekodifiseer. Die enigste beleggingsriglyne wat deur trustees van afreefondse gevolg moes word is Regulasie 28 van die Pensioenfondswet. Hierdie riglyne het maksimum limiete vir die belegging van fondse in verskillende bate kategoriee voargeskryf, maar het baie min leiding ten opsigte van die geskikte beleggingstrategiee voorsien. Die nuwe Regulasie 28 konsep verplig trustees am weldeurdagte beleggingstrategiee op te stel. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Moslem populasie, alhoewel net 2% van die totale populasie, het 'n beduidende impak op die ekonomie. Hierdie verslag ondersoek hoe Regulasie 28 in samewerking met die nuwe Regulasie 28 konsep verander kan word am aan die Moslem geloofsleerstellings, bv. Shari'ah (Islam wet) se vereistes te voldoen.

<p>This study is a theoretical research concerning Ibn Arabi's Sufi experience and his philosophy of the &quot / unity of being&quot / (also his poetical talent). I therefore adopted the historical and analytical methodologies to analyse and reply on the questions and suggestions I have raised in this paper. Both of the methodologies reveal the actual status of the Sufism of Ibn Arabi who came with a challenging sufi doctrine. Also, in the theoretical methodology I attempt to define Sufism by giving a panoramic history of it. I have also researched Ibn Arabi's status amongst his contemporaries for example, Al-Hallaj and Ibn Al Farid, and how they influenced him as a Sufi thinker during this time.</p> <p><br /> In the analytical study I explore the poems &quot / Tarjuman al Ashwaq&quot / of Ibn Arabi, of which I have selected some poems to study analytically. Through this I discovered Ibn Arabi's Sufi inclinations and the criticisms of various literary scholars, theologians, philosophers and also sufi thinkers, both from the East and the West. In this analysis I have also focused on the artistic value of the poetry which he utilized to promote his own doctrine &quot / the unity of being.&quot / </p>

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the relationship between religion and revolution within the context of Egyptian Islamic culture. The discussion will begin with an investigation into the evolution of revolution as a concept, from its original scientific meaning within the writings of Copernicus to its current political meaning as a radical social break with the past. It will be argued that the revolutionary ideal of escaping fate and rationally constructing the future is the driving force behind the Modern era. Faith in the capacity of humanity for self-redemption could only arise after the scientific discoveries of the Renaissance began to disrupt the static metaphysical universe of the past. The concept of social development then arose in the Enlightenment as a quest for the liberation of reason so as to construct a new society free of myth and mystery. The discussion will then attempt to demonstrate that the culture of Egypt underwent a parallel philosophical development during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries due to the importation of modern technology. In order to prove this, the military reforms of Muhammad `Ali will be compared to Hobbe's concept of the Leviathan, the journalism of Muhammad `Abduh will be placed within the traditional Islamic debate concerning the ethical relationship between reason and revelation; the cult of nationalism will be contrasted with s&dotbelow;ufi mysticism; the social project of the Nasser regime will be interpreted in light of Rousseau's conception of the liberal social contract; and the thesis will conclude with a discussion of the thought of Sayyid Qutb in terms of the failure of Modernity to fulfil the promise of the Enlightenment.

In his collection of lectures, the Majalis al-Mu'ayyadiyyah, al-Mu'ayyad fi al-Din al-Shirazi's (d.ca. 1078 C.E.) typologies of the imam set forth a distinctive concept of the Isma`ili imam, as it subsequently results from al-Mu'ayyad's engagement in the works of his predecessors and contemporaries in the Isma`ili missionary organization (da`wah). Al-Mu'ayyad's refutations against the "Exaggerators" (Ghulat) and the "Shortcomers" (Muqaṣṣirun) call attention to the importance of walayah as a doctrine of religious authority and guidance in the light of debates concerning the divinity or humanity of the figure of the imam in the mediaeval Shi`i tradition. In his main doctrinal work, the concept of the human being (al-insan) and a theory of prophetic anthropology are inherently enmeshed in al-Mu'ayyad's skillful presentation of the Isma`ili imam and the "friends of God" (awliya' Allah ). The shared significance of the da`wah and the "ranks of religion" (ḥudud al-din) as vehicles for perfection on the level of the individual human being stresses the necessity of religious guidance throughout the individual practitioner's formation and development (al-nash'ah). Through the guidance of the "friends of God", the individual practitioner may potentially attain to a true humanity that is associated with another birth and formation ( al-nash'ah al-akhirah); another formation that is spiritual rather than physical, and which takes place in the individual's subtle soul. / Underlying al-Mu'ayyad's typologies of the imam, where one of the specified lower ranks of the ḥudud al-din may potentially qualify to become the imam, is the idea that there has to be one specific imam at any time who is manifest and physically present so that individual practitioners can benefit from the presence of the imam. As this dissertation aims to elucidate, al-Mu'ayyad's introduction of the imam as the "absolute human being" (al-insan al-muṭlaq) and the concepts of the "imam at any (undetermined) time" (al-imam al-muṭlaq ) and the "seal of the imams" (khatam al-a'immah) into the 11th-century Fat&dotbelow;imid Isma`ili technical lexicon has broader implications for the internal mediaeval Isma'ili debates concerning the concept of walayah and the hierarchy of the "friends of God". In terms of al-Mu'ayyad's definition of the parameters of the "sphere of walayah", the soteriological doctrines associated with the final perfection of prophetic revelation through the guidance of the "friends of God" culminate in the appearance of the Messiah (al-Qa'im ) at the end of time.

<p>This study is a theoretical research concerning Ibn Arabi's Sufi experience and his philosophy of the &quot / unity of being&quot / (also his poetical talent). I therefore adopted the historical and analytical methodologies to analyse and reply on the questions and suggestions I have raised in this paper. Both of the methodologies reveal the actual status of the Sufism of Ibn Arabi who came with a challenging sufi doctrine. Also, in the theoretical methodology I attempt to define Sufism by giving a panoramic history of it. I have also researched Ibn Arabi's status amongst his contemporaries for example, Al-Hallaj and Ibn Al Farid, and how they influenced him as a Sufi thinker during this time.</p> <p><br /> In the analytical study I explore the poems &quot / Tarjuman al Ashwaq&quot / of Ibn Arabi, of which I have selected some poems to study analytically. Through this I discovered Ibn Arabi's Sufi inclinations and the criticisms of various literary scholars, theologians, philosophers and also sufi thinkers, both from the East and the West. In this analysis I have also focused on the artistic value of the poetry which he utilized to promote his own doctrine &quot / the unity of being.&quot / </p>

Magister Artium - MA / This study is a theoretical research concerning Ibn Arabi's Sufi experience and his philosophy of the &quot;unity of being&quot; (also his poetical talent). I therefore adopted the historical and analytical methodologies to analyse and reply on the questions and suggestions I have raised in this paper. Both of the methodologies reveal the actual status of the Sufism of Ibn Arabi who came with a challenging sufi doctrine. Also, in the theoretical methodology I attempt to define Sufism by giving a panoramic history of it. I have also researched Ibn Arabi's status amongst his contemporaries for example, Al-Hallaj and Ibn Al Farid, and how they influenced him as a Sufi thinker during this time.In the analytical study I explore the poems &quot;Tarjuman al Ashwaq&quot; of Ibn Arabi, of which I have selected some poems to study analytically. Through this I discovered Ibn Arabi's Sufi inclinations and the criticisms of various literary scholars, theologians, philosophers and also sufi thinkers, both from the East and the West. In this analysis I have also focused on the artistic value of the poetry which he utilized to promote his own doctrine &quot;the unity of being.&quot; / South Africa

Building on social psychological theories of identity, social networks, and religion, I developed and empirically tested a social network framework of civic and religious identity development among Muslim adolescents. In Chapter 2, I explore the social networks of Muslim high school students in the classroom in four European countries, finding that Muslim adolescents’ network centrality in the classroom erodes over time, which has an impact on academic outcomes. In Chapter 3, I explore social relationships in an identity-boosting after-school program to understand how Muslim adolescents develop their social connections with other Muslim peers. I found that participation in the event has an overall main effect of increasing civic intentions, enhancing affiliation and communion language, and developing a larger trust radius in a network of other Muslims. I also determined that Muslim girls and boys experience civic engagement differentially and discovered that meta stereotypes about their religious identity and centrality within a civic social network predict greater civic outcomes among Muslim girls. In Chapter 4, I build on the findings from Chapters 2 and 3 to develop a social network framework of religious and civic identity development among Muslim adolescents. In Chapter 5, I take a broader look at existing literature within social psychology studying Muslim populations through a content analysis. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for social and cultural psychology, network science, and intervention science.