MSE News: Government gives Sharia-compliant student finance the go-ahead

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The Government has confirmed it will introduce Sharia compliant finance for university students...

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Government gives Sharia-compliant student finance the go-ahead




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Monkeyballs

If these loans are made available to all regardless of faith then I say game on.

My biggest concern regarding Sharia law is that it's exclusive to Muslims* which in my mind only serves to segregate them further from British society.

I know people who continually go on about "one rule for them, another for us" if there is a way to make applicable to all then it has to be a positive thing doesn't it? Maybe in future other laws can be made which are more in line with British laws but suitable for the Muslim faith?

* I'm speaking as a total novice so if I'm talking a load of old tosh please enlighten me and explain why

MB

rageagainstessays

If these become an option, 3rd year is sharia compliant!

waqasahmed

Monkeyballs wrote: »

If these loans are made available to all regardless of faith then I say game on.

My biggest concern regarding Sharia law is that it's exclusive to Muslims* which in my mind only serves to segregate them further from British society.

I know people who continually go on about "one rule for them, another for us" if there is a way to make applicable to all then it has to be a positive thing doesn't it? Maybe in future other laws can be made which are more in line with British laws but suitable for the Muslim faith?

* I'm speaking as a total novice so if I'm talking a load of old tosh please enlighten me and explain why

MB

Nah this would definitely be available for all. It may surprise you that the vast majority of people in the UK who use Islamic financial services aren't actually Muslim - at least at the more well known banks ie: Islamic bank of Britain and BLME

chattychappy

current-style student loans are not suitable for Muslim students, effectively shutting many out of the UK university system.

No, it's the decision of those students to place themselves under Sharia law that shuts them out of student loans. That is their choice.

waqasahmed

The daily fail reaction to this is hilarious. Like any thing with the word "shariah" in is big and scary

there are a lot of things in sharia that aren't compatible with UK law but as for sharia banking, its incredibly ethical...

chattychappy

I didn't say it isn't ethical. Personally I think charging interest is ethical. Ethics don't come in to it. It is the extent to which the state bends to the requirements of religious belief.

My mother cares about animal welfare. Her ethics are that she will only eat free range meat. She is in hospital. She is offered halal food, but cannot demand free range.

Whilst the state ignores people's individual ethical views, I think it should do the same with their religious views whether or not they might have any ethical basis.

Butterfly_Brain

Why should one portion of our society get a better deal than others who are born here?

Tropez

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Why should one portion of our society get a better deal than others who are born here?

Except in this case they're not, are they?

Article is quite clear - one of these Sharia-compliant loans will still require the student to pay back as much as a "normal" student loan. Secondly, the Sharia-compliant loans are available to anyone, regardless of faith.

So there's no advantage for one specific group is there?

And at this point, quite a sizeable number of Muslims have been born here.

ACG

Its a bit of a strange one though isnt it.
Its not interest charging but results in the same amount that gets paid back.
So basically it is interest charging but because its worded slightly different its acceptable.

There is no difference, its a technicality which is just ridiculous. Either its against morels/ethics/religion/law or anything else for that matter or it isnt. Changing the wording but it amounting to the same thing - just a waste of time and money.

I go into B&Q (other shops are available) and buy white paint but its not white its frost or snowdrop or some other daft name - but when its up on the wall nobody comes in and says oh I see you have gone with snowdrop paint do they?

Do you remember that advert where they said they cant say a certain word so they will just replace that word with the word sheep? Why not do that? Sheep will be charged at 2%?

Its the same principle, although I think I have gone just a little bit off topic there

waqasahmed

chattychappy wrote: »

I didn't say it isn't ethical. Personally I think charging interest is ethical. Ethics don't come in to it. It is the extent to which the state bends to the requirements of religious belief.

My mother cares about animal welfare. Her ethics are that she will only eat free range meat. She is in hospital. She is offered halal food, but cannot demand free range.

Whilst the state ignores people's individual ethical views, I think it should do the same with their religious views whether or not they might have any ethical basis.

I know you didn't, but I was commenting on the DM comments. Islamic banking is basically like Christian banking as well. European banking for the most part adopted Jewish banking, where you can charge interest

That's a bit of a spanner for those hardcore Christians...

I'm not talking ethics in terms of interest, but in terms of where your money goes ie: it's not allowed to be invested in things like weapons for instance.

At the same time, there are conventional banks that are also quite ethical (ie: Co Op)

I myself do have high interest accounts, so I do enjoy the benefits of the "conventional" banks, but for those who are strict in their religion, an Islamic account would be more beneficial

Also, there's no difference between halal and non halal meat, except that there's a prayer over it, and it HAS to be free range, so your mother does get her free range, stunned meat - it just so happens to have a prayer over it

^ Again, big scary, foreign sounding words, scare daily fail readers

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Why should one portion of our society get a better deal than others who are born here?

It's open to any one

Tropez wrote: »

Except in this case they're not, are they?

Article is quite clear - one of these Sharia-compliant loans will still require the student to pay back as much as a "normal" student loan. Secondly, the Sharia-compliant loans are available to anyone, regardless of faith.

So there's no advantage for one specific group is there?

And at this point, quite a sizeable number of Muslims have been born here.

This really. Especially the last bit