Muslim players in Brazil World Cup 2014

The Brazil 2014 World Cup kicked off earlier this week with an abundance of Muslim players dotting the football landscape. Being an integral part of football, Muslim players starring in their different teams from across the globe in the month-long tournament are expected to draw much attention of spectators with special performance.

Here are some of the names of Muslim stars participating in the international tournament:

Xherdan Shaqiri

The 22-year-old Xherdan Shaqiri will represent the Swiss national team during Brazil 2014 World Cup. Born in Yugoslavia from Albanian origin, the Muslim footballer plays as a midfielder for Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga.

Since his breakthrough into Basel’s first team, the left-footed midfielder has drawn widespread praise for his speed, both on and off the ball.

Shaqiri won the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League title with Bayern in late May, as well as the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal title, making him one of the Bayern Munich players to have won the treble.

Moussa Sissoko

The 24-year-old Muslim footballer, who hails from a Malian family, will be playing for the French squad as a midfielder in World Cup 2014.

With 17 international caps, the own playing style French Muslim has started playing football at a very young age, joining Toulouse club’s first team at the age of 17.

In October 2009, Sissoko played his first international match between France and Faroe Islands. By 2013, the 188-cm Muslim midfielder has signed in for Newcastle.

Marouane Fellaini

The Belgian midfielder was born in November 1987.

Fellaini, who hails from Moroccan family, has signed for Everton in 2008, moving to Manchester United in 2013 in a deal worth £27.5 million.

The Manchester United Muslim footballer played his first international match between Belgium and Czech Republic in February 2007.

The 194-cm midfielder has a history of 50 international caps, scoring 8 international goals.

Wakaso Mubarak

Widely known as Wakaso, the Ghanina professional footballer, who was born in July 1990, plays for the Russian FC Rubin Kazan and the Ghana national football team.

The Ghanaian midfielder has played his first international match in October 2012. Wakaso has made 17 international caps, recording 7 international goals.

Between 2008-2011, the Ghanaian footballer has been playing for Spain’s Elche. After moving to Villarreal’s team in 2011, the youngster played a number of La Liga games for the club’s first team.

In 2013, Wakaso’s moving to the Russian club Rubin Kazan made him one of the Ghanaian squad’s key players who are listed for the World Cup 2014.

Bacary Sagna

The Muslim Senegalese footballer, who was born in Sens in February 1983, played hi first international match in 2007 between Slovakia and France.

At the age of 14, the Muslim player joined Auxerre where he developed his skills as a forward. Meanwhile, he was moved to fill in at right-back, dubbed as the best right-back by his fellow players in 2006 and 2007.

The French Defender has joined Arsenal in 2007, signing a £7-million contract.

With 41 international caps, the 178-cm midfielder will play for the French squad in World Cup 2014.

Vincent Aboubakar

Young as he might be, 22-year-old Muslim footballer Vincent Aboubakar is expected to be one of the best Cameroonian players in history. The Cameroonian striker plays for French club Lorient in Ligue 1. He joined the national first team at the age of 18 when he was named to the Cameroon 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

For to read the original article with pic of the player listed check:

http://www.onislam.net/english/news/global/473791-muslim-players-in-brazil-world-cup.html

This is the third installment in OnIslam’s series. For the first two please check:

Muslim Stars to Shine in Brazil World Cup

Black Muslim Stars to Shine in Brazil 2014

We Believe: A declaration of Islamic finance ethics

We believe that interest is the root cause of most of the world’s problems. If we did not have compound interest, we would not need compound growth. And if we did not need compound growth, we would not have most of the debt-induced poverty, resource-hungry wars, and runaway climate change we now see. All interest – whether simple interest or compound interest, whether at very low rates or very high rates – grows so fast that we simply cannot keep up.

Need an example? Brazil is home to the beautiful Amazon rainforest. This lush wonder supplies us with a quarter of the world’s oxygen. That’s one in every four breaths. Unfortunately, this forest will vanish in our lifetimes. Why? So Brazil can pay off $200 billion of debt. How? With lumber.

Or take an example closer to home. Are you or someone you know crushed under growing personal debt? 43% of all American families now spend more than they earn each year. And this problem gets worse each year for millions of families around the world.

We believe there is a connection between interest and many of the world’s problems. And we believe that Islamic finance can help solve some of these problems.

But for this to happen we need two things: the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. For the letter of the law to work, Islamic finance needs to follow some basic minimum standards. Standards that won’t be taken seriously unless central banks start pulling some licenses.

The best standard in the industry – de facto in over 90% of the world’s Islamic finance jurisdictions – is AAOIFI (pronounced “a-yo-fee”), which stands for the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions. AAOIFI brings together scholars from all over the world who agree on Shariah standards. If it isn’t AAOIFI-compliant, it probably isn’t Shariah-compliant. We believe that following AAOIFI Shariah Standards – and questioning whether your bank, scholar, or trainer is following them – is a good starting point for following the letter of the law.

But we can’t stop there. Islamic finance needs to follow the spirit of the law as well.

We need to promote equity-based structures like Musharakah and Mudarabah and reduce our dependence on expedient structures like Murabaha. We need to eliminate Tawarruq. And at a broader level, we need to address the larger problem of fractional debt-reserve banking. Why do banks get to lend money they don’t have? And make money on money that doesn’t exist? Does this make sense?

While the reality is that banks aren’t going away anytime soon, a first step to challenging fractional debt-reserve banking is establishing a globally recognized gold-based currency. This immediately forces the market to tie transactions to assets rather than base them on mere numbers inside computers.

So where do we start with promoting the law in letter and spirit?

We believe it starts with you and me.

If you’re a banker, you can start doing two things at your bank: 1) check that your bank’s products comply with AAOIFI. The latest standards are available atwww.aaoifi.com; and 2) start switching to Musharakah and Mudarabah for a variety of activities ranging from liquidity management to trade finance. And if your bank doesn’t offer Islamic finance, start asking why.

If you’re a regulator and Islamic finance is already practiced in your jurisdiction, pressure banks to follow AAOIFI or risk having their licenses suspended. At a broader level, support the Islamic microfinance industry. If Islamic finance hasn’t yet reached your jurisdiction, promote awareness with training and educational initiatives.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably have a skill the Islamic finance industry could use. Dream big: create a company, a community-based institution, a local currency, an ecologically-minded village, or an innovative product. In most countries, people still lack interest-free alternatives to home, education, and healthcare financing. Why is it easier to issue a billion dollar Sukuk than it is to raise a single penny for a Shariah-compliant education financing? How can we better operationalize Zakah? How do we build Waqf-based community-owned trust models? The recommended reading list for entrepreneurs later in this book gets you started with your idea.

If you’re a student, learn Islamic finance. Think beyond the standard career path and seriously consider starting something on your own. Do what you love and success will follow.

And if you’re an educator trying – like us – to change Islamic finance for the better be patient. Lasting change takes years. often decades. Resist the temptation to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and reject all Islamic finance. The industry is still a work in progress with a long way to go. Be part of this progress rather than embarking on a dazzling new theory of economics that leaves the average customer scratching his head wondering how to finance a small house for his family. Just promote Diminishing Musharakah instead, for instance. The deeper, structural environment that Islamic finance inherits – fractional debt-reserve baking, fiat currency – are not solved by replacing products. They are solved by replacing systems: gold-based currencies issued by Islamic central banks.

We believe this century – indeed, the coming years – will be like nothing before. Global heating will mean less food and water. Peak oil will mean less energy. And repeated financial crises will mean less certainty. We can throw our hands up and walk away in resignation. Or we can identify the root problems and do something about it. God only makes us responsible for our actions. He takes care of outcomes.

We believe that it’s time to openly question the interest-based paradigm and promote interest-free finance as the proven alternative. The time has come. But the first step to questioning a paradigm and offering an alternative is to educate oneself.

Only then will you believe. Because if you believe, then so will everyone else.

This manifesto is taken from the first page of Handbook of Islamic Finance (2013 Edition) that was produced by the Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance. Grounded in the Sharia, it clearly lays out the ethical and theoretical foundation for a fair and balanced approach to modern finance, the Islamic approach. Download a copy here.