A guide to the financial world's Islamic advisers

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Let's Make a Flalal Deal

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INTERN;TIONAL

. . . THANKs rHE suncB in MiddleEastoil wealth, ro areas finance, of bankingis one of the fastest-growing Islam-friendly proceed expected reach$r trillion by zoo9.To help deals to smoothly,blue-chipfirms arehiring clericsfor advice versed in law.The costof retaining scholar a on Shaiah,orIslamic a financeandancientjurisprudence: $zopoo to $4o,ooo year.

Yusuf Talal Delorenzo UnitedStates

Mohamed Ali Elgari

Saudi Arabia

Hussain Hamid Ilassan

United. Arab Emirates

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Muhammad Taqi Usmani

PaF;i,stan

N izam Yaquby

Bahrain
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ATTENDED

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Cornell University
ADVISES

University of California
ADVISES

Al Azhar University
ADVISES

Darul Uloom Karachi

ADVISES

McGill Universitv
ADVISES

DowJones, Shariah Capital A MassarcInnelts-born convert to Islam, Delorenzo works closelywith Shariah Capital, a tech and consulting group based in Comrecticut. One recent project: an Islamic trading platfonn for hedge funds that mimics short sales.It relies on an arboon, a transaction involving a down payment, to ;rddress the Koran's prohibition against. selling what you don t own. Hedge fund CIRT Capital has signed up; Barclays Capital rvill process trades.

A.I.G. Takatul. HSBC Amanah, Citi Islamic Investment Bank

Elgari, perhaps the most renowned Islamic-finance scholar in Saudi Arabia, has advised on large infrastructure projects in the kingdom, including $1 billion in Islamic financing for Al Waha Petrochemical Co. last fall. Flush with oil revenue, the Saudi government plans to use Islamic financing to pay fbr construction projects during the next decade.

Deutsche Bank, HSBC Amanah

As chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank's Shariair board, Hassan has signed offon some of the largest szlcaftg or Isla"rnic bonds, ever issued, including a $3.5 billion Dubai Ports offering in 2O06. This summer, Hassan vetted an instrument structured by Deutsche Bank that pegs returns on halal investments to \l-estem hedge funds. In an open letter to the Islamic financiai communifi cleric Delorenzo criticized the vehicle as counter to Shariah.

HSBCAmanah, Guidance Financial Group

Usmani, a retired justice from Pakistan's supreme court, advises a dozen financial institutions worldwide, including Dow Jones, which helped kick-start the Islamic finance movement in 1999 with its Islamic Malket Indexes. The wolld index incirrdes Shariah-compliant
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HSBC Amanah, DowJones, A.I.G. Takaful Yaquby, along with Delorenzo, advised Lebanon-based investment bank BSEC last summerin the first sukuk originating in the U.S.:In the deal last July, Houston's East CameronPartners raised$166million to help {'und oil and gasexplorationin the Gulf of Mexico. With U.S.lnvestors participating, the transactionrvasthe first Islamic bond rated by Standard & Poor's. (It received CCC+.) a
-CLANCY NOLAN

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Murabaha, or cost-plus financing, replaces interest with a flat fee that is agreed upon by both buyer and seller. It is used instead of a traditional mortgage. The charging of interest-or riba-inany form, regardlessofthe rate, is forbidden by the Koran; it is considered profiting from those in need.
54 Cor:d6 Nast Porlfolio. November.o/

Terms of Investment
A lexicon Islamicfinanee of

Shariah, the Islamic legal code drawn from the Koran and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, advises on everything from dietary law to

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Takaful systems-an insurance alternative-are structured as pools of money il which lossesare evenly distributed.

A sukult involves creating a legal entiQr around a specific asset, like a building, that creates returns and distributes payments similar to those d n n [7? 17fll]2 of 'aWestern-stvle

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