I. A. ZARIPOV

Candidate of Economic Sciences

Advisor to the Executive Board of ZENIT Banking Group

The first fifteen years of the twenty-first century were a period of instability and crises. Constant turbulence and volatility resulted in turmoil in financial markets; opposition to the dominant position, dictates, and political adventurism of the United States led to tensions in diplomatic relations, as well as to the regrouping of regional and global alliances, the emergence of "hot spots" and conflicts between countries, which further "feverish" markets. All this could not but push the scientific community and the expert community to reassess and rethink the existing economic and political models of building society, to develop and implement new, alternative, more stable and fair mechanisms for allocating resources and assets.

"Islamic finance is not a silver bullet, but a gold mine."

Baroness Saeeda Warsi, Deputy Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom

(November 20, 2010)

Almost the entire 20th century was a time of confrontation between capitalist and socialist methods of building society. As a result, socialism lost, destroying along with its ideology and its main stronghold and support - the USSR. But capitalism has also changed in the course of this competitive struggle.

USING THE CAPITALIST ECONOMIC MODEL

Supporters of a purely market approach have been replaced by social Democrats and "leftists" who support state regulation, even interference in market economic processes; workers have received more social guarantees, in many countries education and medicine have become virtually free -all this is considered an achievement of socialism. However, capitalism did not correct most of its negative factors, because if it replaced them, it would cease to be capitalism and become a different socio-political formation.

Most religious people in the world have a sense of justice, and they cannot be completely happy if a significant part of the world's population is in need, and some are dying of hunger. And the capitalist system is based on an uneven distribution of wealth, resources, means of consumption, property qualifications for education, medical care, and intellectual goods. There is still a huge difference between rich and poor, and poverty among luxury goods is still the main problem of a market economy.

Globalization has exacerbated all the negative factors, raising the question of the continued existence of capitalism as a system. In addition, there is increased turbulence in the financial and stock markets, the presence of mobile speculative capital, which during the period of successful development of individual countries massively buy securities of local companies, inflating "bubbles" in certain market segments, and in case of the slightest danger migrate to the markets of countries with reserve currencies, bringing down the markets of developing countries.

At the same time, the formation and development of giant corporations, which are conglomerates of financial and industrial capital, continues, with resources exceeding the budgets of many states, which leads to the dominance of unfair competition in the markets, dictating their conditions to other market participants. Bank holdings, instead of reallocating resources from unpromising to significant industries, have become "financial vacuum cleaners" that take liquidity from the markets and use it for their own purposes.

These are real problems created by capitalism, and if they are not properly addressed, there may be a reaction that is likely to be even more aggressive than the wave of social revolutions that swept through many developing countries (Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen), which displaced disreputable political regimes.

We recognize that it is now necessary to replace the existing discredit-

of the capitalist system itself into a different one. An economic model based on the Islamic financial principles defined by Fiqh al-mu'amalat (an integral part of Islamic law that regulates, among other things, the economic relations of Muslims) could be a worthy option.

The famous Islamic scholar Taqi Usmani said in his speech at the international conference of the World Muslim Congress on the eve of the beginning of the XX century that the economic principles laid down by the Koran and the Sunnah of the Prophet are quite capable of solving the main economic problems of the modern world. These principles fully endorse private ownership and the market economy, while providing a well-designed and fair distribution system that can eliminate inequality and create a balance between profit-making and the public interest. ¹

According to Usmani," it was not private property rights and market relations that caused injustice and inequality in the capitalist system, "but rather the lack of criteria for determining "fair ways" to generate profit.²

Many elements that are currently acceptable: usury (loan interest), speculative operations, increased risks, exploitation of low feelings of people for profit-were denied in the early days of Christianity, as confirmed by the statements of the heads of the Roman Catholic Church, but were allowed by Protestants and Jews who supported them, which led to superprofits and the consolidation of individual companies the emergence of oligarchs and oligarchic groups that have distorted the market balance of supply and demand in their favor, creating a special "quasi-market mechanism" that counteracts healthy market principles. By attracting the power of States to their side, it is these small groups that impose their conditions on the majority of people.

In addition, the loan-and-loan financial system, initially built on unfair principles, brings huge revenues only to super-large organizations (financial and industrial groups - FGS), which enrich themselves using the financial resources of clients entrusted to banks in the form of deposits, funds in current, trust, metal, brokerage and other types of accounts. Bank customers are rewarded with a small share in the form of interest payments, the amount of which is specified in the relevant agreement, which, in turn, is compensated by the FPG at the expense of customers, since it is included in the price of goods purchased by the same citizens - customers of usurious financial institutions.

So, financial and industrial groups receive depositors ' funds absolutely free of charge, which significantly increases the profits of the FPG. In addition, the speculative nature of most financial transactions, which is the basis of the "market economy" and is forbidden by Islam, also causes uncertainty and volatility, which causes an unfair and uneven distribution of assets in favor of FGS.

Note that all the world's religions (the so-called "Scriptures", i.e. having their own holy book) approve of market relations. All three major religions reject usury and support private property and market relations, but in Christianity there are many trends, one of which-Protestantism-allows usury and interest income, and Jews extend prohibitions only to Jews, interaction with representatives of other religions is not regulated by either the Old Testament or the Torah.

And Islam, in addition to allowing private property, contains a mechanism and tools for its fair use. It is Islam that encompasses the entire life of a Muslim, including economic relationships. Unlike Christianity, where the daily life of the parishioner is separated from the actual religious rules, in Islam, religious tenets are interwoven into the" secular life " of a Muslim. And for an Islamic society, the religious alternative is natural - it is equally spiritual and secular (pragmatic).

But if in the religious part (ibadat) the principle "one should only do this, everything else is forbidden" applies, then in the part that regulates the daily life of a Muslim (muamalat), the more liberal principle "everything that is not forbidden is allowed" works (see Fig.).

Islam clearly defines the concepts of acceptable (halal) and forbidden (khoram). There are still intermediate concepts between these two moral poles, but we will not give them in this article. Morals and ethics in economic operations, from the point of view of Islam, play a primary role (and not as in capitalism-profit making is dominant). All transactions in Islam are carried out in the name of Allah, a person is not the owner of any of the assets available to him temporarily by the decision of Allah. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with virtually "sacred" property and values rationally, it is impossible to accumulate it and put it in treasures, it is necessary to use it fairly in relation to your families and partners, increase it, using the income received.

Sharia law restricts monopolization, prohibits speculation and uncertainty, does not allow immoral types of income, as a result of which economic activity serves exclusively the interests of society, relieving tension from its natural stratification.

Instruments based on partnership and principles of profit and loss sharing, joint and several liability under RIS-

Fig. The structure of Islamic regulation of the life of Muslims.

they strengthen the business discipline of Muslim entrepreneurs, forcing them to pay more attention to risk assessment, counterparty verification, economic calculations, contractual relationships (mudaraba, musharaka), improve the business environment, increase trust and fair redistribution of resources, including through the institutions of Zakat and sadaqa.

Zakat-a mandatory tax on property and earned annual income from households or self-earning men and women-is one of the five basic principles in Islam. It is approximately 2.5% and is collected once a year. The funds received go to help the poor, the disabled, pilgrims, religious educational institutions and charitable foundations.

Sadaqahs are voluntary donations made by Muslims, either directly or through charitable foundations, to poor, disabled Muslims. Such widely applied, both mandatory and voluntary, Islamic instruments ensure a fair and non-governmental reallocation of resources from wealthy Muslims to the poor and needy. The Sharia Council and religious authorities monitor the correct receipt and distribution of funds. The use of Muslim principles in financial relations contributes to the fact that public resources are constantly in operation and quickly redistributed, eliminating the possibility of their excessive concentration.

In reality, there are only a few countries that have attempted to fully build their financial system on Islamic principles (Sudan, Iran). Currently, loan-and-loan finance is excluded in Sudan and Iran. Pakistan is still only at the beginning of its journey to bring the national financial sector into compliance with Sharia canons.

The rest of the countries, which are no less well-provided with natural and raw material resources, still use the capitalist usury-loan model, often in a distorted form, which further worsens their economic condition, vulnerability and exposure to regular crises. In addition, it should be noted that inequalities in some Islamic States are still even greater than in some Western capitalist countries.

For example, experts of the well-known Russian business school Skolkovo suggest the following classification of countries by the role of Islamic financial institutions in the national financial system (see diagram)::

- Strategic Islamic banks: Iran and Sudan (100% of all financial assets in the country), Saudi Arabia (55% of financial assets);

- systemically important Islamic banks: Kuwait (30% of assets), Qatar, Bahrain (25% each), Bangladesh, Malaysia (20% each), UAE (15%), Jordan (12%), Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt (<10% of assets);

- niche Islamic banks: European countries (<1% of the financial system's assets).

In addition, it is noted that not all experiences of applying Islamic finance lead to rapid success, even in countries with a predominant share of the Muslim population. This is what happens in the Central Asian states

Chart 1. Islamic financial sector in the world (as a percentage of the national financial system of individual countries).

Compiled by the author of: Korovkin V. Without prejudice to faith / / BRICS Business magazine. 2015, No. 3 (11), pp. 94-101.

Chart 2. Saudi Arabia's crude oil reserves over the past three years (in million barrels).

Источник: Joint Organisations Data Initiative, Riyadh; Bloomberg. 18.10.2015.

CIS - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. The existence of the necessary legislative system and state support did not lead to the creation of a network of Islamic banks. Each of the republics has no more than one Islamic bank, which mainly serves the large corporate sector.

DEBT AND FINANCIAL DEPENDENCE ON WESTERN COUNTRIES

The main problem of developing countries, including those with a predominant Muslim population, is dependence on rich Western countries, from which sovereign and private borrowers borrow huge amounts of money at interest. Some countries borrow funds not only to implement large-scale projects, but also, often, to compensate for their current expenses, and the most unacceptable goal, from the point of view of Sharia law, is to pay interest on their old debts.

Thus, debt bondage is imposed on Muslim countries - they become completely dependent, forced to constantly borrow money on increasingly stringent conditions in order to at least service their previous debts, and the total amount of obligations grows like a snowball. For example, a number of countries are almost entirely dependent on external sources of funding. For example, Mali receives 97.4% of development financing in the form of foreign revenues, South Yemen - 94.2%, Maldives and Burkina Faso-almost 100%³.

Despite substantial raw material reserves and significant exports, many Muslim countries have significant external debts. The Islamic Development Bank estimates the total external debt of its member countries at about $800bn4. However, most of the debt burden is borne only by individual countries. The three countries have an external debt of about $100 billion. each: Indonesia - $136.2 billion, Iraq - $126.7 billion, Turkey - $103.4 billion. Of all the Muslim countries, only Brunei has no external debt, but this small state with a population of about half a million people exists mainly due to oil and gas production. Its trade balance: exports - $10.7 billion, imports -$2.6 billion. in year ⁵.

It is well known that lenders provide mainly "linked" loans, i.e. the allocation of funds implies the fulfillment of a number of conditions. This means constant pressure and dependence of the borrowing countries on the usurer states and international organizations, which, before issuing the next tranche of funds (for which interest has often already been collected or accounted for), carefully check the compliance of the borrower state with the conditions defined by the lender. These covenants * make Islamic countries dependent on the external political, strategic and economic interests of the usurer countries and force Islamic countries to support the actions of other states that are alien in their moral and ethical concepts (attack on Iraq, invasion of Afghanistan, regime change in Libya, Egypt, pressure on Syria, sanctions against Iran, etc.). etc.).

Islamic principles prohibit borrowing money, especially at interest rates; only extreme circumstances and threats to life can justify such actions. And external debts, together with covenants, should be abandoned even in times of crisis.

However, the current debt burden borne by most Muslim countries cannot be explained by the lack of natural, labor and financial resources. According to experts, " Muslims have never been so rich in resources as they are now." It is impossible not to agree with T. Usmani: "Currently, Muslim countries occupy important strategic territories of the planet and are united by a common geographical chain from Indonesia to Morocco, producing about 50% of the world's oil. More than a third of mineral exports go to Muslim countries. " ⁶

Indeed, the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia

* Covenant - an obligation to perform any action or refrain from performing any action, which has legal force for the obligated party. Covenants are applied in a wide variety of areas, in the text we refer to certain requirements on the part of creditors to sovereign borrowers, on compliance with which the allocation of the next tranches of the loan depends (author's note).

Asia holds a dominant position in global commodity markets, with almost 70% of the world's total proven oil resources. And four countries from the Middle East region (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Iraq) form the oil market, collectively producing more than half of all the oil of the oil Exporting countries (OPEC)^.7

In August 2015, Saudi Arabia's crude oil reserves rose to 326.6 million barrels, the highest since 2012 (see chart 2).

This is due to lower prices for raw materials due to falling demand from countries in the context of a slowdown in global economic growth, expectations of a major global exporter Iran entering the market due to the lifting of economic sanctions against this country. Exporting countries are forced to reduce oil supplies, increasing reserves. Saudi Arabia's oil exports continued to fall during 2015. Thus, in August 2015 alone, oil export figures dropped from 7.27 to 7 million barrels. per day. Saudi Arabia is trying not to reduce the level of oil production, and, on average, for 2015. it ranged from 10.23 to 10.56 million barrels. per day (about 3.85 billion rubles). barrels per year) ⁸.

Exports of raw materials other than oil and gas, as well as agricultural products, are not so significant, although they exist: copper and iron ore are exported by Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Indonesia; cotton-Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan; tin, rubber, palm oil-export items of Indonesia and Malaysia; phosphates are extracted in the United States. Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan; jute is produced and sold for export by Bangladesh. Among the strategic raw material resources of Islamic countries, there are reserves of lithium, thorium, beryllium, uranium, and cobalt9.

It should be noted that the natural resources of Muslim countries not only allow them to fill the state budget, implement large infrastructure projects and increase social programs, but also carry some risks.

The presence of significant raw material resources relaxes the governments of Muslim countries, having a large reserve of liquidity in years of high commodity prices, they do not care about economic diversification, the development of processing industries, industry, agriculture and become dependent not only on world commodity prices, but also on other countries that supply them with most of the necessary goods and technologies.

However, the holdings of Muslim countries invested in the economies of Western Europe and the United States far exceed the total external debt of Islamic states, they are estimated at between $1.2 and 1.9 trillion. According to Russian experts, the total volume of foreign investment in Saudi Arabia alone is estimated at $1 trillion. Kuwait's investment in the U.S. economy alone has reached $50 billion.¹⁰ In reality, the figures may differ, as we believe, upwards and amount to more than $2 trillion.

This means that Islamic countries lend their own financial resources, but at a higher rate*. Thus, it can be argued that countries voluntarily borrow their own funds, while losing their economic and political independence, and there is no one to blame for this, only themselves.

Let us also note the following circumstance, which negatively affects the current political and economic state of the Islamic community and makes it difficult for Muslim countries to unite and develop a common position and reform strategy. This refers to the different levels of economic development of Islamic states caused by the uneven distribution of raw material resources, different geographical locations, different history of development (conditions of colonization and the presence of military conflicts), differences in management efficiency, and other factors that led to significant differentiation in the level of well-being of citizens and the economic and political situation of individual states, and that significant assets are accumulated by one group of Islamic States, while the debt burden is borne by other Muslim countries.

These are serious problems that do not allow Islamic countries to develop freely. First of all, we believe that the Islamic countries need to realize that this complex of problems exists, the situation is unsatisfactory, and we need to work together to find ways out of this situation.

For a comprehensive assessment and development of a balanced plan for a cardinal solution, difficult questions should be answered.:

- What is the basis of capital outflow, how to ensure the confidence of Islamic entrepreneurs in national economies, how to create attractive conditions for long-term and strategic foreign investors?

- How to change the tax system and ensure political stability, how to mobilize all opportunities for uniting all Muslims, creating such rules that would be fair, cost-effective and would correspond to the spirit of the Koran and other sources of Islamic postulates?

In addition to the debt dependence of Muslim countries on the developed countries of the West, we can also state other economic dependence, which is also a serious obstacle to the development of Islamic society. So far, almost half of the contribution to the total GDP of Islamic countries is made up of revenues from foreign trade.

In addition, the economies of these countries are strongly skewed towards imports (import to GDP - about 22%)¹¹, while the countries import almost all of them.

* The loan rate is always higher than the deposit rate, because the margin-i.e., the difference between these two rates-is the profit of financial institutions. In this case, we note that countries place their funds in Western banks, and then apply for loans there as well. author's note).

a set of products they need, and they export mainly raw materials. And the volume of imports is constantly growing. While GDP growth remained around 5% in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s (with the exception of the 2009 crisis), it fell sharply from 5% in 2012 to 2.3% in 2013, and remained at this level until 2015. The International Monetary Fund predicts a return to ^{4.5% GDP growth only in 2020.12}

In order to overcome this abnormal "attachment" and gain true independence, which will allow the Muslim Ummah to develop independently, be protected from any external shocks and sanctions, Islamic countries need to achieve the following goals: strategically and socially significant consumer goods, materials and preparations used in processing industries should be produced locally; the structure of foreign trade should be reviewed. trade in favor of exporting goods, technologies and services of Islamic countries, rather than exporting raw materials. At the same time, commodity and financial flows should be reoriented to cross-country exchange within Muslim states, and know-how and innovations should be exported from Western countries, not goods, and on their basis, developing and applying their analogues.

Currently, such conditions have not been created in Islamic states, which is explained by the one-sided socio-economic structure and insufficient level of development, as well as a certain mentality that needs to be rebuilt and changed. We believe that it is premature to speak of Islamic countries as an economically and politically homogeneous group of countries.

* * *

We have attempted to identify the most pressing problems facing the Muslim Ummah. Another problem is disunity and lack of desire to reach an agreement or compromise. Islamic States have long preferred to solve their own problems alone, only turning to other countries or groups of countries when absolutely necessary.

We believe that now is the time to understand that only a united front, a united alliance, can solve the serious problems and challenges facing the Muslim Ummah.

Neither national nor territorial obstacles should be the cause of differences among Muslims, their division into groups that have different allies and different interests. The political boundaries of Muslim states are conditional and should be taken into account for internal administrative matters, but all Muslims should hold a common opinion on the main issues affecting the interests of the entire Ummah.

Most authoritative Islamic political and spiritual leaders, jurists and scientists call for the creation of a single interstate association of Islamic countries - a union of Islamic states united not only in religion, but also in economy and politics, which can become a center of attraction for both Muslims living in other parts of the world and true believers of other world religions.

The situation has changed when the monopoly right to own technologies belonged to representatives of Western countries. Currently, Muslims have enough intellectual resources that can meet all the needs of a developing economy. The goal is to concentrate these resources by financing R & D, research institutes, innovation centers, and the introduction of new technologies and developments in the halal sector of production of goods and services (including financial ones).

We should speed up the restructuring of financial and economic systems, bringing them in line with Islamic financial principles. And success and achievements based on the application of Islamic financial canons will become excellent evidence of the effectiveness of the Islamic model of society functioning and attract even more supporters, customers and resources.

If Muslim countries consistently and in a coordinated manner adopt Sharia-compliant financial models, entrepreneurs of other faiths will gradually begin to restructure their businesses to interact with Muslim partners, and the world will become less unfair in business relationships, economic operations will become more predictable, and the world economy will be able to develop steadily and without crises.

^{Taqi Usmani.} 1 The Economic Challenges for the Ummah http://www.albalagh.net/Islamic_economics/economy.shtml

² Ibid., p. 2.

³ IDB. Annual Report 2014 -http://www.isdb.org/irj/go/km/docs/documents/IDBDevelopments/lnternet/English/IDB/CM/ Publications/Annual_Reports/40th/IDB_Annual_Report_1435H_English.pdf

⁴ Ibidem.

⁵ To the world the world. Brunei - http://miry-mir.com/brunei/

^{Taqi Usmani.} 6 Op. cit., p. 3.

⁷ OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin, Vienna, Austria, 2015. P. 27.

^{Wael Mahdi.} 8 Saudi Crude Stocks at Record amid Quest to Keep Share. October 18, 2015 - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015 - 10 - 18/saudi-crude-stockpiles-at-record-high-in-august-as-exports-fell

⁹ Ibid., p. 3.

^{Gorokhov S. A.} 10 Islam and the world economy - http://www.eifgaz.ru/islameconomika_2.htm, p. 5.

¹¹ International Monetary Fund. World Economic Outlook. Adjusting to Lower Commodity Prices. October 2015 -http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2015/02/

¹² Ibid.; Statistical Appendix, p. 4.

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