Thursday, November 29, 2012

ARE YOU IN HARMONY?

1. IN MATRIMONY



2. IN THE FAMILY




3. IN ACCOUNTING














MAGNIFICIENT CASTLE

CASTLE OF THE WORLD 1

1. Castle Babelsberg
Picture of Castle Babelsberg
Babelsberg Castle, considered the main castle in Park Babelsberg but only one of several, is located in Germany



2. Castle Mespelbrunn
Picture of Castle Mespelbrunn
Mespelbrunn Castle was built between Frankfurt and Würzburg Germany

3. Castle Heemstede
Picture of Castle Heemstede
Heemstede castle was completed in 1286 on the spaarne river in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It has been built, burned down and rebuilt several times over the centuries and it was last torn down in 1810, after years of neglect. Today it is a restaurant.

4. Castle Werfen
Picture of Castle Werfen
Werfen Castle, aka Hohenwerfen castle, was built near Salzburg Austria during the 11th century

5. Castle Matsumoto
Picture of Castle Matsumoto
Matsumoto Castle, also known as Fukashi Castle, is located within the city of Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture, Japan and can be dated back to the warring states period circa 1504.


TIPS DECIDING ON CHOICES



CHOICES IN LIFE

Life has no rules.  Life is not a rehearsal.  Life is hard work.  Life may not be as easy as we think.  It can be complicated and a bitter journey or it can be a happy rewarding journey with simple answers.  Life is what we make it.
Life is a series of choices that lead us to our destiny.  The choices in life will make life what it is.  To be successful and happy, we have to make the right choices.  Every day and every minute we have choices to make, even if they’re not to make any choices and to do nothing.  Think about the impact your choices.
When we are young and starting out in life, none of us have all the answers we need.  As we get older and are doing more with our lives, we are still looking for answers.  It can take a lifetime of learning and experiences to learn what we need to know.
TIPS DECIDING ON CHOICES
1.         Assess what you want from life.
2.         Knowing what you wish to achieve.
3.         Gain input from others on ethical issues.
4.         Ask a person whose input matters most.
5.         Analyze the consequences.
6.         Analyze the actions and how they measure up to principles of respect, dignity and honesty.
7.         Use the "five whys" method. Ask "why" five times to get to the internal cause before deciding
8.         Make choices from love and respect.
9.         Remove negative biases when making choices.
10.       Recognize that the right choice is not always the most obvious.
 
QUOTES FROM DR. SHAD HELMSTETTER’S BOOK TITLED “CHOICES.”:
1.         No one else can ever make your choices for you. Your choices are yours alone. They are as much a part of you as every breath you will take, every moment of your life.
2.         You may think that in life, a lot of things happen to you along the way. The truth is, in life, you happen to a lot of things along the way.
3.         If you’d like to know what your choices have been, look at yourself and the life you have lived. What you see is the choices you’ve made.
4.         You cannot manage your life if you do not manage your self. You cannot manage your self if you do not manage your choices. Manage your choices, and you will manage your life.
5.         The end result of your life here on earth will always be the sum total of the choices you made while you were here.

 SHARED FROM:
1.         http://choicesinlife.net/



SUKUK



SUKUK

Sukuk is Arabic word which means legal instrument.  Sukuk (Arabic: صكوك‎, plural of صك Sakk, "legal instrument, deed, check") is the Arabic name for financial certificates, but commonly refers to the Islamic equivalent of bonds.  Sukuk in general may be understood as a shariah compliant ‘Bond’.
Sukuk means Islamic bonds equivalent to conventional bonds. Sukuk is in compliance with the Islamic economic laws.  Sukuk securities are structured to comply with the Islamic law and its investment principles, which prohibit the charging, or paying of interest.  In its simplest form sukuk represents ownership of an asset or its usufruct.  The claim embodied in sukuk is not simply a claim to cash flow but an ownership claim.
Sukuk can be structured alongside different techniques. While a conventional bond is a promise to repay a loan, Sukuk constitute partial ownership in a debt (Sukuk Murabaha), asset (Sukuk Al Ijara), project (Sukuk Al Istisna), business (Sukuk Al Musharaka), or investment (Sukuk Al Istithmar).

TYPES OF SUKUK
i.        Mudaraba Sukuk
Mudaraba has been most successful in the case of investment deposits with an Islamic bank where the return is calculated annually based on the bank’s profits.  holders of mudaraba notes are only entitled to a profit share.  The mudaraba note holders are not registered owners, and cannot attend or vote at the annual general meeting.

ii.       Musharaka Sukuk
Musharaka involves establishing a partnership or company to provide financing with the participants sharing in the profits in relationship to the size of their investment share.  In practice these have been very similar to mudaraba certificates rather than being a distinct asset class.

iii.      Ijara Sukuk
Under an Ijarah contract, the usufruct of a particular property is transferred from the owner to another person in exchange for a rental payment.  In other words, it is a leasing agreement with the lessor referred to as the mujir, the lessee called the mustajir and the rent paid to the lessor called ujrah.
The holders of such sukuk bear all cost of maintenance of and damage to the real estate.  Ijarah sukuk are the securities representing ownership of well-defined existing and known assets tied up to a lease contract, rental of which is the return payable to sukuk holders.  Ijarah contract is for a predetermined period, and rent provides a regular monthly, quarterly or annual income.

iv.      Murabaha Sukuk
In this case the issuer of the certificate is the seller of the Murabaha commodity, the subscribers are the buyers of that commodity, and the realised funds are the purchasing cost of the commodity.  The certificate holders own the Murabaha commodity and are entitled to its final sale price upon the re-sale of the Commodity.  Despite being debt instruments, the Murabaha Sukuk could be negotiable if they are the smaller part of a package or a portfolio, the larger part of which is constituted of negotiable instruments such as Mudaraba, Musharaka, or Ijara Sukuk. Murabaha sukuk are popular in Malaysian market due to a more liberal interpretation of fiqh by Malaysian jurists permitting sale of debt (bai-al-dayn) at a negotiated price.

v.       Salam Sukuk
The concept of Salam refers to a sale whereby the seller undertakes to supply a specific commodity to the buyer at a future date in return for an advanced price, paid in full on the spot.  The price is cash but the supply of the purchased goods is deferred.
Muslim farmers used Salam to receive cash advances in order to meet immediate commitments until their crops were grown as they were not able to borrow on the basis of riba.
Salam represents a type of forward contract, but such a contract is forbidden under Shari’a law unless there are strict conditions attached that aim at the elimination of uncertainty, or gharar.
·    the initial payment by the buyer must be paid in full, to ensure there is no uncertainty over outstanding payments.
·    salam can only be used for commodities that are standardised, and where the quality and quantity are measured exactly.

vi.      Istisna Sukuk
Project financing can be undertaken through an istisna’a contract, whereby funds are advanced to pay for the supplies and labour costs by an Islamic bank.  Once the project is completed, the advances are repaid from the revenue derived from the project.

vii.     Hybrid Sukuk
Considering the fact that Sukuk issuance and trading are important means of investment and taking into account the various demands of investors, a more diversified Sukuk – hybrid or mixed asset Sukuk – emerged in the market. In a hybrid Sukuk, the underlying pool of assets can comprise of Istisna, Murabaha receivables as well as Ijara. Having a portfolio of assets comprising of different classes allows for a greater mobilization of funds.


Sukuk is similar to conventional bonds but the main difference is that Sukuk is asset-based.  Conventional bonds create money out of money.  The money generated through Sukuk must not deal in interest based business activities.  Sukuk are basically investment certificates consisting of ownership claims in a pool of assets.
Sukuk is comparatively a new concept in the modern Islamic finance so it needs to be dealt with good governance.  The market for sukuk is now maturing and there is an increasing momentum in the wake of interest from issuers and investors. sukuk have confirmed their viability as an alternative means to mobilise medium to long-term savings and investments from a huge investor base.

References:
4.         http://www.euromoneyplc.com