Friday, November 28, 2008

Syariah-approved Shares

Malaysia is an Islamic state. The Islamic institutions exert enormous influence over the Muslims in this country. Even in the stock exchange of Malaysia, there is a list of so-called “Syariah-approved shares”, which are considered halal, or legal, from the perspective of religion.

Of course, this is by no means that Muslims are not allowed to own non-Syariah-approved shares. They are just discouraged to do so. As a non-Muslim, I do not refer to the list when I invest in the stock market.

(By the way, “share” is the British English term. The American equivalent is “stock”.)

I am not clear of how the Islamic institutions select the Syariah-approved shares. I do know that conventional banking in which lenders earn interest is considered haram (illegal). It is, therefore, not surprising that virtually all banking shares are not Syariah-approved.

Two airlines companies are listed in the stock exchange – Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia. The latter is Syariah-approved while the former is not. MAS serves alcoholic drinks to the passengers, and alcohol is prohibited among Muslims. Perhaps this is the factor which contributes to its failure to earn approval. AirAsia is no-frills airlines.

But seriously, I believe that AirAsia does not deserve the status. The reason : its female cabin crews wear short skirts!


AirAsia's uniform is definitely 'haram'

10 comments:

  1. Like that you can always find faults in anything and everything and thus anything and everything is haram! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. gosh. pretty and hot stewardess is one of the perks of flying right... lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum yum. =X

    Im taking JetStarAsia to Hong Kong in December, I'll see what they wear. =p

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think M'sia is better termed as a Muslim country rather than Islamic. And yes, there's a difference. An Islamic country is like Saudi Arabia or Iran where the constitution of the country draws inspiration and guidelines from the Syariah, the highest source of authority of the country.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Irenelim
    But not all shares are haram. The Islamic institutions are inconsistent!

    xin
    You are right, LOL...

    shingo
    I think you can google...

    kyh
    Outsiders usually see Malaysia as an Islamic state.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The shorter the skirts are the better! Wukakaka!

    ReplyDelete
  7. gosh..the reasons they use to approve or disapprove a share from being on the list. but i suppose it is prudent if they feel these moral values matter to them and they have a choice to invest or not invest in them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. neo
    AirAsia will be privatized, so they can go shorter :D

    bengbeng
    I agree with what you say, but I am thinking if the consistency is there.

    ReplyDelete
  9. They're not really very short. Just right. And the uniforms look rather pretty! :) But then again, it draws the eyes to the legs. :P So I guess...haram then? :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. 宝茹
    The skirts are short by Islamic standard. Some MP already raised this 'non-issue' in the Parliament.

    ReplyDelete