14AR19-37

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Apologia Report 19:37 (1,220)

October 29, 2014

Subject: Inside the hidden world of Islamic finance

In this issue:

HINDUISM - does it offer satisfactory answers to life's big questions?

ISLAM - the Islamic banking boom and companies that "settle for Shariah-lite"

SCIENCE - an atheist with an appreciation for Scripture that's "bafflingly absent in many self-described Christians"

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HINDUISM

The New York Times web site includes The Stone, "a forum for contemporary philosophers." There, Gary Gutting's post "What Would Krishna Do? Or Shiva? Or Vishnu?" (NYT Opinion, Aug 3 '14) notes that "Some of the more important Hindu philosophers are atheists, arguing that no sacred religious text such as the Veda could be the word of God, since authorship, even divine authorship, implies the logical possibility of error." In his interview with Jonardon Ganeri (visiting professor of philosophy at New York University Abu Dhabi), Gutting asks him to clarify his reference to "'non-theistic' concepts of the divine." Ganeri explains, and refers to different Hindu concepts of the divine, one of which is an "essential reality in comparison to which all else is only concealing appearance. This is the concept one finds in the Upanishads. Philosophically the most important claim the Upanishads make is that the essence of each person is also the essence of all things'; the human self and brahman (the essential reality) are the same.

"This identity claim leads to a third conception of the divine: that inwardness or interiority or subjectivity is itself a kind of divinity."

Later in the interview, in response to an inquiry about what sort of ethical guidance Hinduism provides, Ganeri remarks that "leading a moral life is at best an enigmatic and ambiguous project. No escape route from moral conflict by imitating the actions of a morally perfect individual is on offer [in Hinduism]. ... [T]he idea of karma does not imply a fatalistic outlook on life, according to which one's past deeds predetermine all one's actions. The essence of the theory is simply that one's life will be better if one acts in ways that are ethical, and it will be worse if one acts in ways that are unethical. ...

"The essence of Hinduism is that it has no essence. What defines Hinduism and sets it apart from other major religions is its polycentricity, its admission of multiple centers of belief and practice, with a consequent absence of any single structure of theological or liturgical power. Unlike Christianity, Buddhism or Islam, there is no one single canonical text - the Bible, the Dialogues of the Buddha, the Quran - that serves as a fundamental axis of hermeneutical or doctrinal endeavor, recording the words of a foundational religious teacher. (The Veda is only the earliest in a diverse corpus of Hindu texts.) ...

"To the extent that Hindus worship one God, they tend to be henotheists, that is, worshiping their God but not denying the existence of others ('every individual worships some God,' not 'some God is worshipped by every individual'). The henotheistic attitude can accept the worship of the Abrahamic God as another practice of the same kind as the worship of Vishnu or Shiva (and Vaishnavism and Shaivism are practically different religions under the catchall rubric 'Hinduism').

"Without a center, there can be no periphery either, and so Hinduism's approach to other religions tends to be incorporationist. In practice this can imply a disrespect for the otherness of non-Hindu religious traditions, and in particular of their ability to challenge or call into question Hindu beliefs and practices. The positive side is that there is in Hinduism a long heritage of tolerance of dissent and difference.

"'The cultivation of epistemic skills is what stops the merry-go-round between cognitive error and mental distress.'

"One explanation of this tolerance of difference is that religious texts are often not viewed as making truth claims, which might then easily contradict one another. Instead, they are seen as devices through which one achieves self transformation. Reading a religious text, taking it to heart, appreciating it, is a transformative experience, and in the transformed state one might well become aware that the claims of the text would, were they taken literally, be false. So religious texts are seen in Hinduism as 'Trojan texts' (like the Trojan horse, but breaking through mental walls in disguise). Such texts enter the mind of the reader and help constitute the self.

"The Hindu attitude to the Bible or the Quran is the same, meaning that the sorts of disagreements that arise from literalist readings of the texts tend not to arise."

Gutting asks: "What ultimate good does Hinduism promise those who follow it, and what is the path to attaining this good?" Ganeri replies: "The claim is that there are three pathways, of equal merit, leading in their own way to liberation. Hindu philosophers have employed a good deal of logical skill in their definitions of liberation. To cut a long story short, for some it is a state defined as the endless but not beginingless absence of pain; others characterize it as a state of bliss. The three pathways are the path of knowledge, the path of religious performance and the path of devotion. The path of knowledge requires philosophical reflection, that of religious performances various rituals and good deeds, and that of devotion worship and service, often of a particular deity such as Krishna."

We finish with Gutting's remark: "The liberation you've described seems to be a matter of escaping from the cares of this world. Doesn't this lead to a lack of interest in social and political action to make this world better?" In response we encourage you to follow the link below and consider Ganeri's answer. Then ask yourself if he satisfies Gutting's question and the next, concluding the interview. <www.ow.ly/DkTez>

ISLAM

Heaven's Bankers: Inside the Hidden World of Islamic Finance, by Harris Irfan [1] -- reviewer Gregor Stuart Hunter reports: "Mr. Irfan, an observant Muslim, charts a course from seventh-century Arabia ... to the 1970s and the establishment of the first Islamic commercial lenders in Dubai, as well as the short-lived 'Islamization' of Pakistan's economy. But it's the turbocharged present that is the focus of the book: Islamic banking, otherwise known as Shariah-compliant banking, is now an industry approaching $2 trillion, thanks to soaring trade in emerging markets such as Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. ...

"Mr. Irfan also provides numerous examples of how Western financiers, determined to win over the faithful, have diluted Shariah standards in pursuit of commercial advantage: Bankers delete the word 'interest' from deal documents in favor of Shariah-friendly language; Islamic investors wittingly and unwittingly fund businesses where alcohol and pork products are consumed; and Islamic scholars find their names used to suggest that they had given approval to deals they had never reviewed. ...

"It's plain, though, that many Western bankers treat Islam as a nuisance: 'I don't care about the Shar-eye-ah stuff!' yells one New York-based banker as a cross-border acquisition deal runs into religious requirements. On the flip side, many Muslims, Mr. Irfan argues, also turn a blind eye. ... Deutsche Bank finds some companies prepared to settle for Shariah-lite. ...

"The industry remains arcane and poorly understood, and often facing accusations that it is somehow linked to terrorist finance...." Wall Street Journal, Aug 6 '14. <www.ow.ly/DkNpR>

For recent concerns about shariah-compliant banking, see <www.ow.ly/Dr45h>.

SCIENCE

Writing for Forbes magazine, John Farrell reviews The Serpent's Promise: The Retelling of the Bible Through the Eyes of Modern Science, by Steve Jones [2]. "In Serpent, Jones, a professor emeritus of genetics at University College of London, takes a few key passages from the Bible to launch into scientific discussions of some of the questions that occupied the authors of the books of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament (mostly the former) - but providing the insights that modern science can now offer them."

Without religion, Jones writes, people "will no longer depend on the dubious promises of a serpent. Instead they will be free to form a single community united by an objective and unambiguous culture whose logic, language and practices are permanent and universal. It is called science."

To this, Farrell responds: "Perhaps. But in one important sense, the connection fails, I think, because what the Serpent of Genesis promised Eve ultimately was knowledge of Good and Evil -not knowledge of the natural order.

"Good and - perhaps especially - evil are matters that many philosophers and scientists have concluded are beyond rational explanation. And so Jones's prediction that in the increasingly global village of our species, men and women will no longer need pastors or depend on the Bible (or other books of wisdom) is short-sighted.

"Still, it's evident throughout his engaging book that Jones has an appreciation for Scripture that he finds bafflingly absent in many self-described Christians who belong to what he dryly calls the Church of the Holy Metaphor.

"'Sceptic as I may be,' he writes, 'I have more faith in the Bible than many Christians do.'"

"He's not alone. The Serpent's Promise is well worth adding to your reading list." Forbes.com, Jul 26 '14. <www.ow.ly/DkV9V>

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Heaven's Bankers: Inside the Hidden World of Islamic Finance, by Harris Irfan (Constable, 2014, hardcover, 368 pages) <www.ow.ly/DkWha>

2 - The Serpent's Promise: The Retelling of the Bible Through the Eyes of Modern Science, by Steve Jones -- apparently the subtitle has been changed from "The Bible Retold as Science." (Doubleday Canada, 2013, hardcover, 448 pages) <www.ow.ly/DkW0X>

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