Companies are discovering Muslims as consumers. According to Nazia Hussain, Director of Cultural Strategy at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Muslim consumers total almost 1.8 billion people worldwide. The halal market, which refers to that which is permissible according to Islamic law, is worth $2.1 trillion.
Ogilvy Noor became the world’s first Islamic branding agency in 2010 and offers advice on how to build brands that appeal to Muslim consumers. The Ogilvy & Mather venture is one of several efforts to understand the Muslim market. Others are A.T. Kearney’s analysis, Addressing the Muslim Market (2007), JWT’s report, Understanding the Islamic Consumer (2009) and the annual American Muslim Consumers Conference. Oxford University’s Saïd Business School hosted its inaugural Islamic Branding and Marketing Forum in 2010.
Why the burgeoning interest in Muslim consumers? A number of social, cultural, political and economic developments are responsible. A Muslim middle class attentive to the values of Islam and interested in modern consumption is emerging. Innovative Muslim entrepreneurs blend religious principles and capitalist aspirations. Muslim believers see themselves more and more as a supranational community connected through values and lifestyles. New Islamic social movements such as the Turkish-based Gülen community are gaining social, economic and political power.
Executive Certificate in Global MarketingPost 9/11 forces shape the global political economy and international relations. What do these developments mean for global executives? How can managers take advantage of opportunities in the Muslim market? Although a large proportion of the Muslim population is poor, the number of consumers with sufficient purchasing power is significant. As with all new ventures and markets, it’s essential to spend time learning about customers and their contexts.
Özlem Sandıkcı of Bilkent University in Turkey and I have edited the Handbook of Islamic Marketing (Edward Elgar, 2011). This new book provides a timely, critical, and multidisciplinary approach to the intersection of Islam, consumption and marketing.
Our contributors include scholars, consultants and executives who cover topics ranging from fashion and food consumption to retailing, digital marketing, spiritual tourism, corporate social responsibility, and nation branding in the context of the Muslim marketplace. Analyses are based on in-depth surveys and ethnographic research. Some authors examine the relationship between morality, consumption, and marketing practices; others consider the implications of politics and globalization for Islamic markets.
The book investigates consumption and marketing practices in a varied range of Muslim majority and minority countries, including Australia, Bahrain, Iran, Malaysia, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.
Complex, dynamic and diverse When looking for opportunities, executives should observe that the Muslim market, just like the “Hispanic market” or the “gay market,” is complex, dynamic, and diverse. A key message of the Handbook is that while Islam provides a set of ethical principles and values, how these are interpreted and negotiated in the everyday lives of consumers and marketers varies across time, contexts, and communities. Likewise, Ogilvy Noor’s practice “focuses on helping brands understand and empathize with core Muslim values first, before tailoring that understanding to specific Muslim markets,” says Ogilvy & Mather’s Hussain.
One-size-fits-all-Muslim products are unlikely to deliver sustainable success. Segmentation based on religion has been a common approach to Islamic marketing. Yet it is related to a normative view of Islamic ethics — Islam as a set of rules unequivocally and indiscriminately followed by all Muslims. Executives should be cautious about halal as an approach to a Muslim market: different Muslims understand and practice halal differently.
In multiethnic countries, the marketplace is even more complex. Managers at Carrefour know this. In its Malaysian hypermarkets, managers work carefully with government officials to obtain the halal certification of products for Muslim consumers. A separate room exists for the display of non-halal products. When a consumer selects these products, they are placed in thick plastic bags to keep them separate from any halal products in the store.
However, Carrefour’s managers have learned that consumers expect to find certain products in particular locations. For example, it is advantageous to shelve a non-halal product like the alcohol-containing Kikkoman soy sauce next to all other soy sauces. Managers designed a green sticker, “contains alcohol,” to alert Muslim consumers who wish to avoid alcoholic ingredients in food products.
Generating solutions Instead of starting by thinking of the “Muslim segment,” executives should focus on the daily practices or context for which a product or service might be relevant. Do consumers face any problems in that particular context? Managers should then generate solutions through the product’s design or usage. It can be more beneficial to emphasize solutions that help Muslims live proper Islamic lives rather than focusing attention only on achieving the “halal-ness” of products. Using the problem-solution approach, Ahiida Pty Ltd of Australia, marketed the “burqini,” (modest swimwear) to women who loved swimming but faced the problem of how to dress Islamically for the activity.
Digital media permit marketers to target Muslim consumers without overtly using religious identity to attract their attention. Regardless of customer religiosity, marketers can use digital media to integrate brand messages within lifestyle content in subtle ways on specialized websites: sports, fashion, technology and entertainment. In addition, Muslim-focused or ethnic media are already trusted by the potential customers.
Handbook contributor Mohamed El-Fatatry, named a Global Business Leader of Tomorrow by Chief Executive magazine in 2010, established Muxlim, the largest online lifestyle hub for Muslims worldwide, which reaches 10 million people a year, about one-quarter of them in the United States.
Wilson Sporting Goods Company ran a campaign on the Muxlim network encouraging Muslim basketball enthusiasts to share stories about players in the NCAA National Tournament. The user community rated, commented on, and promoted the campaign across different social media including Muslim-focused Facebook groups and Twitter. Online Muslim sports groups engaged with the campaign and contributed further information for consumption by the community. The campaign’s objective was to introduce Wilson as a brand of choice for Muslim consumers through association with things they cared about.
Muslim basketball players often don’t get significant exposure within the mainstream media. Wilson was able to bring their stories to Muslims and build brand affinity with Muslim youth through supporting and enhancing their passion for NCAA Basketball. From Muslims to non-Muslims It’s often possible subsequently to extend a brand’s demand from Muslims to non-Muslims. The burqini solves the problem of how to swim outdoors while protecting oneself form the sun. The burqini is “sunsafe swimwear” for non-Muslims. Carrefour has discovered that non-Muslims prefer to buy halal meat products because of the safety and quality insured through the government-supervised certification process.
Understanding Muslim consumers and marketers, as with understanding any consumer or marketer group, requires a situated understanding. This contextual understanding goes beyond a focus on the differences inherent in the Muslim consumer. Instead, context emphasizes interactions and interrelationships with objects, people and places.
Differences can result in a misperception of uniqueness. In contrast, examining how consumers interact with objects and other people permits the generation of innovative, productive and sustainable solutions. “After all,” emphasizes Özlem Sandıkcı , Handbook co-editor, “we need to keep in mind that Muslim consumers are not only Muslim but consumers, and Muslim marketers are not only Muslim but marketers. Hence, our goal should be not to prioritize one term over the other but to focus on their co-constitutive relationship.” Gillian Rice, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita at Thunderbird School of Global Management. She has published widely in international business, specifically in the areas of Islamic business ethics, the environmentally-responsible behavior of consumers, political risk, creativity, forecasting, and trade shows. During 1996-97, she was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at The University of Bahrain, which enabled her to focus on her special interest of marketing in the Middle East. She serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals and is a columnist for “Global Business and Organizational Excellence: A Review of Research & Best Practices.”
Lowe’s Home Improvement recently caved to bigoted demands from the right-wing Florida Family Association and pulled advertising from TLC’s “All-American Muslim,” a reality show about five Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan.
It shocks and saddens me that a Fortune 100 company such as Lowe’s, one of the most powerful brands in the United States and across the globe, would condone and side with outright bigotry. It’s not that we haven’t witnessed this behavior before, but Lowe’s decision to pull advertising from the show validates overt religious prejudice and gives credibility to an attack on our community.
What may come as a surprise to Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock is that by taking a stand against our community, he is losing the business of a massive force in the American economy. American Muslims are more than 7 million strong and growing and have the buying power of between $170 billion and $200 billion annually.
Studies show that two-thirds of Muslim families make more than $50,000 a year, and a quarter make more than $100,000 a year. On average, we spend a lot of our money on home improvement - about $33 billion annually, according to an American Muslim market consumer study released by Dinar Standard, a research, advisory and business media firm that analyzes emerging Muslim markets.
The marketing firm JWT reported in 2007 that Muslim American consumers represented “a neglected market with huge potential for brands that are willing to connect with them.”
TLC’s “All-American Muslim” is the only television show about Muslim Americans. Niblock lacks insight and business savvy if he believes those who hate Muslims have greater purchasing power than Muslim Americans.
Just like the general consumer, Muslims like to shop where they feel welcome, whether that warm atmosphere is created by catering to our dietary requirements or by promoting our holidays.
When Best Buy wished shoppers a “Happy Eid Al-Adha” in its Thanksgiving 2009 circular, it faced similar backlash to what Lowe’s experienced from right-wing groups.
Thankfully, Best Buy stood firmly by its message. The American Muslim community was ecstatic and flooded the company with thanks, support and loyalty.
A 2010 study by the advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather found that 86% of American Muslim consumers believe American companies “need to make more of an effort to understand Muslim values” and 98% of Muslim consumers feel American brands “don’t actively reach out to Muslim consumers.”
Of those surveyed, 80% said they would "prefer to buy brands that support Muslim identity through promotion and celebration of religious festivals, for example." Most relevant to Lowe's is that 99% of Muslim consumers said they would stop supporting brands that offend them.
"To make matters even more alarming, a full 83% feel it is their responsibility to inform all their friends and family of what they know of the brand’s behavior," according to the study.
In 2006, Tom’s of Maine received halal certification, which means they are manufactured according to Islamic law, for almost 100% of its products. The Ogilvy & Mather study concluded that Tom's of Maine is now "one of the leaders in recognizing the needs of the American Muslim community. “What they cannot certify as halal,” the study said, “they make clearly known to Muslim consumers, ensuring that they do not unwittingly compromise anyone."
The American Muslim Community has seen a tremendous outpouring of support from communities of all faiths in the past few days. The Islamic Circle of North America sent an e-mail blast to 50,000 people and urged them to act against the Lowe’s decision by boycotting their stores.
We have not, in 40 years as an organization, received a more positive and proactive response from the public. We are incredibly heartened and grateful for this show of support, and we know that we can make a statement through our boycott.
Lowe’s and other advertisers that are pulling ads from “All-American Muslim” may have pacified the completely baseless concerns of hate groups, but they’ve alienated American Muslims and their friends, neighbors and supporters.
The following is the transcript of Miles Young’s speech from the 2010 American Muslim Consumer Conference.
Thank you so much for that introduction and thank you to the American Muslim Conference for organizing this informative, provocative and, I believe, hopeful and inspiring day. This is the second edition of this conference and I know I can say on behalf of all the sponsors that it has been an unqualified success. And I am confident that we will see this event grow year after year in size and stature as America and the companies that do business here come to realize the crucial role that the Islamic consumer will play in the future. On a personal note, I am very honored to be given this spot as a non-Muslim and conscious that I am presenting the views of an outsider. I therefore do present them with all humility.
Let’s just, as we close the day, take a moment to take consider the broader context. Because it is the broader context which every journalist asked me about during the lunch hour when I was doing interviews. The United States is in the midst of an uneasy period of relations with the Islamic world. Mistrust and misunderstanding flows back and forth, at the national level, and at the individual level. There is an emergence of some hardcore radicalism on the far edge of the political spectrum in American politics and reminders for some of us historians of the dark days of the post war period. As Sean Willets has recently argued in an article in the New Yorker, fears for security are being translated into fear of Islam as a whole. The United States’ battle against violent organizations seems likely to turn into a proxy war against Islam as a whole.
It could, but actually, I don’t think it will. And I give you that answer rather particularly as a European – for two reasons.
First of all, because what you have in the United States is certainly not what you have in the Netherlands, where a political party has been elected into a powerful position purely on Islamophobia. What you have in the United States are not riots in the streets between police and Islamic people as you do in France. So there is something very different here. There is a kind of psychological problem, and it seems to me to be born out of fear. And fear comes from ignorance and ignorance comes from what you don’t know – from a lack of knowledge. As a newcomer to the United States I’ve been rather astonished actually by the ignorance of Islam and the ignorance of Muslim people. But the good news is that while ignorance exists, ignorance can also be dispelled. And that I feel that is part of the theme of this conference and one of the reasons why it is so important. Secondly, because although we hear a lot of bad news in the media there’s also a powerful desire in the US and I think the Islamic world to tighten the links. Our friends at Gallup have recently pointed out that that both the majority of Americans and citizens of Islamic countries desire better understanding between the West and Islam. And given that fact, contrary to conventional wisdom, Gallup also found that people in the Islamic world admire the west.
So, time and time again, I’ve been asked by journalists today “why now?” and “why is your company involved in this?” “Isn’t it dangerous?” “Isn’t it risky?” And actually I have a very simple answer for that, which is that every multinational corporation I know of has got a diversity policy. Every multinational company I know of publicly states its commitment to inclusion. And how can you believe in diversity and inclusion if you practise rabid exclusion? If you treat in a pejorative way a community that absolutely has the right to be regarded as central to and included in society? So to me it’s absolutely not an option not to be involved. It is not an option.
Of course, it is not just altruism. We heard in the entrepreneurial session some really exciting, ambitious business plans. It has to make business sense. The global halal market is worth $2.1 trillion dollars and it is growing at $500 billion dollars a year. While we don’t know exactly, we can safely assume that American Muslims comprise a very attractive quantum of spending power. And we also heard today that they are the best-educated religious group in American. We know that over 40% have bachelors’ degrees thanks to Gallop. It comes as no surprise therefore that they are strong earners. It makes this community the richest Islamic population probably in the world and quite different in character from other Western minority Muslim communities. Now Islam is already the third largest religion in the States. It is a faith on the rise. As Meghrani reminded us, we don’t really know exactly how many there are. But let’s assume its somewhere between 6 to 8 million. I think that someone just mentioned that’s the size of a reasonable European country. Let’s say Portugal. Well, my own holding company has net revenues of $100 million dollars in Portugal. That is not something to sniff at. And intriguingly, the Islamic population, whatever it exactly is, is probably about the same as where the Hispanic population stood around 25 years ago. And you know around 25 years ago you started to have the set-up of Hispanic advertising agencies in the US. They still exist. They have multiplied. Which says to me that this community will go the same route, will follow the same direction, and will become increasingly central to American marketing and advertising.
Let me turn briefly to the bigger world, which I believe we need to understand. Nazia, my colleague, mentioned a landmark survey that Ogilvy Noor has done on Islam and the new Muslim consumer. Just a word on why we did it. We did it for two reasons. One, because we have a strong business in majority Islamic markets around the world. We employ many Muslims. We have relationships not just with global clients, but with local Muslim clients in the countries where we do business. Two, we also believe it was important to get this agenda on the desks of CEOs globally. We heard today about a tipping point. It is a disgrace that there are no clients at the forthcoming World Halal Forum. But one of the things we constantly have to do is to make sure that those CEOs realize that importance of the size of this opportunity. And if they fail to take advantage of it they are in fact neglecting their strong shareholders’ interests.
So to me there are a number of challenges, which we have to overcome. And the first challenge for Islamic branding is for there to be some coherent viewpoint of what Shariah-compliant branding actually is. There is no one-size-fits-all definition. But it is worth reminding ourselves of what the values are and we heard them today. The nouns. These are the nouns we have to sing out: honesty, respect, consideration, kindness, peacefulness, purity, patience, discipline, authenticity, transparency, trustworthiness, humility, modesty, community – above all of sincerity and sincerity of intent. And all those words sound very very familiar to us because they are the words that have come to the fore in the age of transparency, which has been driven by the internet. They are the words which are referred to when marketing gurus talk about the need for authenticity. They are the values that any smart brand would want to espouse. They have to be put in the context of the mainstream and not of the minority. There is a communication problem, because of the confusion of Sharia values with a very narrow association with Sharia law in the West. Islamic branding can help solve that problem by incorporating Sharia values into brands, and the creative properties that go along with brands and the ideas that communicate brands – and by doing so in an engaging way and not in a legalistic or formulaic way. So the starting point for understanding the Islamic consumer must be an understanding of the role that compliance plays in people’s lives as a set of practices that are lived in concert with religion.
The second challenge for us is to understand that the Muslim community is like any other – not homogenous. I believe this is not understood by those who are the detractors and opponents of the Muslim world. And I also believe that if it is understood that it will dramatically increase empathy. So part of the “othering” which stigmatizes this community today is based, I think, on the belief that it is just some kind of homogenous green block. And actually that’s not surprising when so little market research or classic segmentation work has been done into the behavior of this community. Part of the benefit of the sort of the research that we’ve heard today from a number of sources is that we can see the community in a much more intelligent way. And certainly it is possible to divide it into two different macro-groups based on generational factors and on the role of faith. One group are rather more traditionalist, collectivist more with a sense of belonging, more strongly aligned with Sharia values of compassion, quietly proud. But the second group is what we call the Muslim futurists. This is the group that we in the room today should really be thinking about. And as we heard the presentations just a few minutes ago I think that this is the target audience of the majority of those businesses. These are not just another manifestation of Gen Y or millennials: they are steadfast followers, according to our research, of Islam. But they do seek to engage in the West, to engage in society and to be proud of the society in which they live while not compromising their principles. As marketers, this is the group that here in America I surmise we need to be particularly focused on, fascinated by. Can you imagine though any other community in America that has to endure ignorance and sometimes bigotry from high-profile media commentators only to see those people rewarded with multimillion-dollar jobs? It is a challenge.
And the third challenge is to convey normality. I believe this can be partly be done by analogy. For instance there is an analogy in the United States of the kosher market – $12 billion dollars back in 2008, 13% of the American population purchases kosher foods even though Jews only account for 2% of the American population. And that market is growing like a topsy and is becoming quietly mainstream. There is a parallel here with halal. The Jewish population at 6 million is smaller than the Muslim population. But it is interesting to reflect some 6% of purchases of kosher food in America are Muslim. Probably an understatement; it may be higher. So I think there is a role for branding in the States that is very specific. Brands must inform, educate, reassure the Muslim consumer, but I also believe they have to reach out beyond the Muslim consumer and the very act of reaching out beyond the Ummah legitimizes their role as brands without in my view necessarily undermining them.
And my fourth and final point refers to the challenge of soft power. I think the context for all the discussions today is a lack of soft power of Islam in the United States. And therefore the hard power of Islam is diminished. And it is extraordinary, isn’t it, that all the charitableness of Islam is given no credit or not enough credit. The reason is the lack of soft power. At the end of the day it is all about cultural things. If you consider countries, for instance, Japan, during its economic rise, it also suffered from a lack of soft power and spent a lot of effort to trying remedy that. You had a phenomenon, which was called “Japanese National Cool”, which meant conveying Japan as a cultural entity, as a center of design of advanced of cultural assets, or even of cartoons. Pokémon was an ambassador for the cultural “cool” of Japan. China is going through the same issue at the moment. It is trying also to turn itself into a design, arts and creative center. I am on the Prime Minister’s economic advisory council in Turkey. The main concern of Turkey, which is a secular country with an Islamic population, is that it completely lacks the soft power that it should have relative to its hard power.
Now all research and experience shows that creative design is the major component of soft power. I suggest to you today that something that hasn’t really come out of the session is that Islam is not strongly enough associated, in this country, with design: with graphic design, with the arts, with fashion or creative design. And in this sense it differs from the minority Muslim communities in Europe and certainly from the majority Muslim communities. And let me tell you, art and design diffuse fear. They normalize, they soften. And as I reflect on my own industry I feel there is much more that we should be doing to encourage young Islamic designers to be proud of their Islamic dimension as well as their role as designers. So Islamic branding has to make no concession what so ever in terms of design sophistication. We saw today in the entrepreneurial presentations some references to design but the last mile, really walking the talk about design is the most difficult thing.
Today, I think the consensus was that we are at the beginning of a journey. There are some fantastic and encouraging steps and examples and we heard some of those today. I thought that the Best Buy example was really inspiring – what Steven Pilchak talked about. He wanted to do something big. He wanted to do something different. He believed in diversity. He wanted to find a creative way of connecting based on what the consumers around him wanted. I thought that his video deserves a much wider airing than just in this meeting. Adnan, Saffron Road, is an example of Islamic brand that has got creativity baked into it. And we also heard the role of research at arriving at that brand identity. So these are some great examples, but they do sit within something of a soft power vacuum. And if you want an illustration of something that I would regard as good practice in this area, we should look at the sort of branding that is done for organic and free-range products in Europe. It’s really smart. It has very strong design ethic. It is very sophisticated and it transforms the category.
So drawing all these strands together, I think there is an important point on branding to be made here today. It was Farhan [Tahir] who reminded us that he was a product as an actor and he also had a brand. And the difference between a product and a brand is something that actually my company was built on. It was David Ogilvy, who is our founder, who was probably the inventor of contemporary brand image thinking. And he made the distinction: a product is something that is hard, it is all about bits and bytes, it’s got features. You can feel it. It is tangible, it is made on a production line or it is designed in an office, but it is solid and it is defined. A brand is something very different. It is not so rational. A brand is fundamentally an emotional thing. A brand is a relationship between any manufacturer, any seller of services, and the customer. The brand is actually owned by the customer. It is such a mistake to imagine that it is owned by the manufacturer. So Coke is not a fizzy soft drink as a brand. That is what it is as a product. But it is more than that. Coke is selling optimism. Optimism defines the Coke-consumer relationship. Optimism makes it a brand.
Thus, for instance, I feel a bit uncomfortable about so-called halal branding. Because I think there is a dangerous of misunderstanding here. You know halal is a process, halal is an ingredient. At the very most it is an ingredient brand like Intel is to a computer. But it’s not in itself a complete brand. As one of the speakers asked today, and I thought it was possibly the most important question I heard, “what is the halal premium?” That is an important question. Because it asks that what makes one halal brand better than another halal brand? The answer lies of course in the brand, not in the compliance. It lies in the emotional triggers based on the consumer’s needs and attitudes and motivations. So halal products become brands when halal becomes just a subscript. It is a certificate not a brand. And at the point where we have normal competition between rival halal brands then we will have halal branding. Otherwise what we are talking about is frankly nothing more sophisticated than the sort of branding that existed in Eastern Europe in the communist period.
I do think there is a general deficiency of creativity in halal branding. It is seen as something that has been invented, nothing wrong with that, by producers, but actually the subject of this conference is about consumption. Maybe this is a message or a plea to The World Halal Forum. Abdul Hamid, you talked about the importance of finding a language. It is critically important. But it goes beyond that. It also means finding a narrative, which the language has to express. And it goes beyond that. It means defining the emotions, the imagery and the design, which walk hand-in-hand with the language. This is particularly the case, in my view, for local brands. Unless local brands embrace this, then I fear that the multinational brands will just take over and dominate.
But if we get it right, the consumer desire very definitely is there. There is no doubt at all. And I believe that it is perfectly possible for Islamic branding to exist, to be targeted, to be sophisticated, to be effective, to be empathic and to be appropriate. And in so doing, we should realize that the Islamic market has commercial potential to be sure, but it has a more important role perhaps to play in the future. Because those Muslim futurists I talked about, they are America’s children just as much as any other younger demographic.
Which brings me back to that critical role of branding. Branding normalizes. Branding explains. Branding elevates. Branding inspires. Branding is a former of soft power. I think that Islamic branding can help break that vicious change of “othering”, of dehumanizing, of demonizing which somehow is cinching around America’s soul. Islamic branding can de-other, it can re-humanize, it can give respect.
And it should in time begin to show that the flow of ideas in creative capital in the world is not one way, and that Islam is not a target but a resource, one of the well-springs of our collective future. So that we can say from our hearts, “all-American, all-Islamic” in one phrase, with a sense that it does indeed signal a bright future.
مؤشرات كثيرة تفيد بقرب الترخيص لها بالمغرب ومعيقات تلوح في الأفق
مولاي إدريس المودن
أسبوعان فقط بعد إعلان اكتساح حزب العدالة والتنمية للانتخابات وشروع قيادته في تشكيل الحكومة التي ستقود المغرب للسنوات الخمس المقبلة،
عاد الحديث بقوة عن إمكانية إنشاء بنوك إسلامية في المغرب مع استقبال أمينه العام لوفد قطري يبحث إمكانية إنشاء بنك إسلامي ومؤسسة تأمين إسلامية. النقاش ليس وليد اليوم، بل إنه بدأ قبل أزيد من عقدين، مع طلبات كثيرة بقيت حبيسة رفوف السلطات المالية، وطيلة هذه المدة، ومع إصرار عدد من الجهات على ضرورة أن يفسح المجال أمام التمويل الإسلامي، كما يحدث في عدد من الدول العربية، وتقديمها لمبررات قوية منها ضعف نسبة الاستبناك، والرغبة في توفير منتوجات لفئات عريضة من المواطنين ممن لا تغريهم المنتوجات التقليدية الربوية، وجد بنك المغرب في التمويلات البديلة مخرجين لكنها فشلت بعد خمس سنوات بدليل الحصيلة غير المعلنة. في هذا الملف رصد لأهم المستجدات التي يشهدها ملف البنوك الإسلامية، وفيه آراء مختصين ومهتمين بقطاع التمويل الإسلامي. الخطوة التي أقدم عليها بنك المغرب، بالترخيص لتسويق منتوجات بديلة، بعد مشاورات مع المجموعة المهنية لبنوك المغرب، هي حسب المتتبعين نتيجة طبيعية لحاجة عبرت عنها شرائح عريضة من المستهلكين الرافضين لأي نوع من التعامل بالمنتوجات الكلاسيكية المخالفة للضوابط الشرعية، وهي أيضا استجابة لضغط بعض البرلمانيين، خاصة المنتمين إلى حزب العدالة والتنمية، وأيضا تحت إلحاح عدد من المستثمرين الخارجيين، خاصة المنتمين إلى دول الخليج وشرق آسيا. عملية إخراج هذه المنتوجات، سبقتها مشاورات ودراسات امتدت على مدى قرابة سنتين، وتم استقدام مجموعة من الخبراء من عدد من البنوك الإسلامية من ماليزيا والهند وبعض دول الخليج، لدراسة إمكانية وضع منتوجات جديدة بهدف استقطاب شريحة واسعة من المغاربة التي لا تهتم بالعمل البنكي في صيغته الكلاسيكية بمبرر تعامله الربوي. وكان الهدف منها قطع الطريق على أي محاولة لإنشاء بنوك إسلامية. ويرى مهتمون بالمجال في رفض الترخيص لدخول البنوك الإسلامية إلى المغرب والاقتصار على وضع منتوجات بديلة أنه سلوك لا يتماشى والتطور العالمي الذي يعرفه القطاع المالي، وما أصبح للمالية الإسلامية والمعاملات المالية المحترِمة لمبادئ الشريعة من صدى وطلب على مستوى عدد من الدول الأوربية، خاصة فرنسا وبريطانيا، بدليل أن دراسة نشرت نتائجها وكالة التنقيط Standard and Poor’s أشارت إلى أن المالية الإسلامية ستعرف تطورا كبيرا بعد صمودها أمام الأزمة المالية العالمية، وحسب هذه الدراسة فإن «عددا من المؤسسات المالية الإسلامية ظلت محمية من الأزمة المالية العالمية، وهذا راجع إلى أن مبادئ الشريعة تحرم الفائدة»، ودائما حسب الدراسة «هذه المبادئ هي التي منعتها كذلك من الاستثمار في منتوجات مالية معقدة عملت كقناة لنقل الأزمة». المبررات المغربية لرفض الترخيص للبنوك الإسلامية، هي كما أعلن عنها عبد اللطيف الجواهري والي بنك المغرب في وقت سابق، تتلخص في أن «بنك المغرب لم يرخص للأبناك الإسلامية لأن الطلبات كانت كثيرة بالنسبة إلى السوق المغربي. إذ تلقى البنك أزيد من عشرة طلبات من كل من قطر وأبو ظبي والكويت والبحرين وليبيا، بالإضافة إلى طلب داخلي، مضيفا أنه إذا تم إعطاء ترخيص لجهة دون أخرى فلن يبقى المشكل تقنيا، وسيتحول إلى مشكل سياسي، ولتفادي هذا المشكل، اعتمد بنك المغرب 3 نوافذ إسلامية». مبررات والي بنك المغرب لا تقنع الكثيرين ممن يطالبون بضرورة فسح المجال أمام هذه البنوك، بذريعة أن الأمر سيفيد في إضافة نقطتين إلى معدل النمو الاقتصادي في بلد يسعى إلى تسريع وتيرة النمو من أجل معالجة معضلة البطالة.
نقاش مستمر
اليوم عاد النقاش مجددا مع تولي حزب العدالة والتنمية لقيادة الحكومة، وتغيرت معطيات كثيرة، منها ما أعلن عنه الجواهري قبل أيام، خلال ندوة صحافية إذ أوضح أن البنك المركزي يناقش مع وزارة الاقتصاد والمالية كيفية إدراج المقتضيات المؤطرة لهذا النوع من المؤسسات البنكية في قانون البنوك، واعترف بأن البنك «يأخذ بعين الاعتبار هذه الآليات في إطار دعم المالية الخارجية»، وأضاف قائلا: «إذا أراد المغرب الانتقال من دائرة التمويل الإقليمي إلى نطاق التمويل الدولي، فإنه يتوجب عليه الاعتماد على جميع الأنشطة المالية». وربط والي بنك المغرب، أيضا تطوير البنوك الإسلامية بمشروع القطب المالي للدار البيضاء، وقال إن هذا القطب «يؤطر بطبيعة الحال جميع أنواع التمويلات الممكنة، بما فيها أنشطة البنوك الإسلامية». تصريحات الجواهري تأتي بعد أيام فقط من استقبال عبد الإله بنكيران، رئيس الحكومة المعين، لوفد قطري حل بالمغرب لبحث إمكانية إنشاء بنك إسلامي وشركة إسلامية للتأمين. وخلال الاجتماع طرحت فكرة إنشاء بنك إسلامي وشركة إسلامية للتأمين في المغرب كتجربة رائدة ستعود بالنفع على المواطنين المغاربة الذين سيملكون 51 في المائة من أسهم المؤسسة البنكية فيما سيساهم القطريون بنسبة 49 في المائة. وهي الفكرة التي قال بخصوصها محمد نجيب بوليف، القيادي بحزب العدالة والتنمية في تصريح سابق لـ «المساء» «ملف إنشاء البنوك الإسلامية بالمغرب سيجد طريقه إلى الحل، لأنه ملف رئيسي بالنسبة إلى حزب العدالة والتنمية، باعتبار أننا كنا ندعو دائما في المعارضة إلى فتح الملف، لضمان تنافسية حقيقية، ولكي يكون هناك التزام واضح تجاه المواطنين المغاربة باعتبار أن جزءا كبيرا منهم لا يريد الحلول التجارية الحالية التي تقدمها البنوك، وبالتالي ففي إطار ديمقراطية الاختيار، فالحزب سيدفع بمحاولة تأسيس بنوك إسلامية، وحتى الفاعلون الذين كان لديهم نوع من الاعتراض أو عدم وضوح الرؤية، تغير الأمر بالنسبة إليهم، وأتكلم هنا عن والي بنك المغرب الذي صار يتكلم بإيجابية، ومن المنتظر أن ينظم خلال دجنبر الحالي يوما دراسيا تكوينيا لفائدة العاملين في القطاع البنكي للتعرف على التمويلات الإسلامية، وهناك أيضا المدير العام للمركز المالي للدار البيضاء، الذي تحدث عن كون هذه التمويلات هي إيجابية بالنسبة إلى البورصة المغربية ويجب دعمها، ثم هناك مجلس القيم المنقولة، الذي أعطى إشارات واضحة بأن التمويلات الإسلامية إيجابية، وهذا ما يجعل المستثمرين الخارجيين يتحركون، بمجرد صعود العدالة والتنمية إلى الحكومة، في اتجاه ضمان مكان متقدم في القطاع». تصريحات بوليف، القيادي بحزب العدالة والتنمية، والتي قال فيها إن «حزب العدالة والتنمية إلى جانب الشركاء الآخرين في الحكومة الحالية سيحسم في ملف التمويلات الإسلامية» تنضاف إلى تصريحات مماثلة لأكثر من قيادي بالحزب، ومنها ما صدر عن القيادي سعد الدين العثماني الذي أكد «أن من التدابير التي ستنظر فيها الحكومة التي يقودها حزبه، إنشاء بنك إسلامي في المغرب، اعتبارا لما له من قيمة إضافية كبرى لصالح البلاد، مضيفا أنه توجد حاليا صيغ مصرفية بديلة عن المعاملات البنكية التقليدية، لكنها لم تلْق الإقبال المرجو، بسبب القوانين المالية التي جعلت كُلفته مرتفعة». العثماني أضاف أنه «وجب التفكير بجدية في إنشاء بنك إسلامي في البلاد مادامت دول أوروبية كثيرة أدركت فوائد المعاملات الإسلامية، لافتًا إلى أن المغرب سيستفيد اقتصاديًّا، نظرًا لجذب الاستثمارات وأصحاب الأموال الذين يحبذون الطريقة الإسلامية في التعامل البنكي».
مسألة وقت..
تعكف لجنة مشتركة بين بنك المغرب والمجموعة المهنية للأبناك منذ أشهر على إعادة النظر في القانون البنكي الحالي من أجل إدماج آليات التمويلات البديلة في النظام البنكي المغربي. وتشتغل اللجنة على أساس استخلاص أهم المميزات التي تميز تجارب عدد من الدول ومنها التجربة الماليزية، التي سمحت بخلق نوع من التعددية في صيغ تمويل الاقتصاد والتي سمحت بخلق نوع من الانسجام بين التمويلات الكلاسيكية والإسلامية، وهو النموذج الذي يمكن أن يكون ملائما للمغرب. ويرى عبد السلام البلاجي، رئيس الجمعية المغربية للدراسات والبحوث في الاقتصاد الإسلامي، أن «هناك مؤشرات قوية على قرب الحسم في ملف البنوك الإسلامية مع الحكومة الجديدة، بدليل أن معظم البرامج الانتخابية للأحزاب التي تنافست في الانتخابات الأخيرة كانت تشير إلى إمكانية تأسيس بنوك إسلامية في المغرب، وهذا ما يمكن وصفه بشبه اتفاق بين الأحزاب بما فيها أحزاب هي اليوم في المعارضة». البلاجي يضيف، «الآن الأبواب أمام البنوك لم تعد مغلقة كما كان في السابق، والتقرير الأخير الذي صدر عن بنك المغرب، أشار إلى العمل على إخراج بنوك إسلامية وصيغ إسلامية جديدة. إذن فالمؤسسة الرسمية وهي بنك الإصدار لم يعد لديها أي مانع بل إشارات إلى ضرورة الاستفادة من تجارب دول أخرى مثل ماليزيا التي نجحت في التعايش بين البنوك الإسلامية والبنوك التقليدية. يضاف إلى ذلك «تقرير البورصة الذي صدر قبل شهر، والذي ركز بشكل كبير على البنوك والصيغ الإسلامية وضرورة أن تجد لها مكانا في المغرب». السؤال العريض الذي يطرح نفسه بإلحاح هو ما سبب هذا التحول في مواقف عدد من الأطراف التي كانت تمانع في الترخيص للبنوك الإسلامية بالدخول إلى حلبة المنافسة في المغرب، منذ أزيد من عقدين؟ يرى عبد اللطيف شقيري، أستاذ قانون الهندسة المالية بجامعة الحسن الأول بسطات، أن الفكرة التي تقول إن رفض الترخيص لإنشاء بنوك إسلامية بالمغرب سببه ضغوطات تمارسها جهات حكومية مجانبة للصواب، ويرى أن من الضروري التأكيد أن القانون المنظم للقطاع البنكي يمكن من منح صفة البنك الإسلامي لأي بنك يريدها، والقول بأن الدولة ترفض الترخيص لمثل هذه البنوك غير صحيح، لغياب أي إثبات بوجود أي سلطة من السلط تمنع وجودها. وليس هناك أي تشريع يمنع وجود هذه البنوك، والقانون المنظم للمهنة يشترط بعض الشروط الشكلية الواجب توفرها، والمادة الأولى من هذا القانون تشترط أن تكون مؤسسات الائتمان على شكل شركات مساهمة، وربما لم تحترم الطلبات المقدمة هذا الشرط أو شروطا أخرى، وطالما نحن في دولة تحترم القانون فمن حق هؤلاء التوجه إلى المحكمة الإدارية، والقضاء مؤهل للنظر في مدى احترامها للضوابط القانونية أو القول بأن الجهات المسؤولة ترفض الترخيص لها بدون مبررات قانونية». المصدر ذاته يضيف: «اعتقد أن مسؤولي البنوك الإسلامية يعرفون مسبقا أن نسبة الاستبناك في المغرب ضعيفة، ولو أنها وجدت فيه سوقا قابلة للاتساع والتطور لأمكنها إيجاد عدة طرق للدخول، منها التأقلم مع التشريع المغربي المنظم لشركات الائتمان..». من جهته يرى عبد السلام البلاجي، أن «الذي تغير هو الظروف الاقتصادية الدولية التي تنظر إلى كل ما هو إسلامي بعين الشك والتخوف، وهذه مسألة أضحت متجاوزة، وفي فرنسا مثلا، فمنذ 2007 أصدر مجلس الشيوخ الفرنسي تقريرا تحت عنوان «المالية الإسلامية»، ويقول بضرورة إدماج المالية الإسلامية في المالية الفرنسية، مضيفا أن التشريع الفرنسي يضم مجموعة من المبادئ القرآنية وأنه لا يتعارض مع التشريع الفرنسي، وإذا كان هذا يحصل في المناخ الدولي، ففي مناخ إسلامي مثل المناخ المغربي فالأحرى أن نحسم في هذا الملف، وللأسف انتظرنا حتى تأخذ فرنسا القرار».
تحدي المنافسة..
في سنة 2008 نشرت جريدة «لا تريبون» دراسة «تشير إلى أن سكان العالم الذين يدينون بالإسلام يمثلون 25 في المائة، ويقدر البعض أن ما بين 40 و 50 في المائة من الادخار سيدبر طبقا للشريعة الإسلامية خلال 8 أو 10 سنوات عوض 10 في المائة خلال سنة 2007، ولهذا يرى المهتمون أن المغرب مطالب باللجوء إلى إنشاء هذه المؤسسات المالية لحاجة المجتمع والاقتصاد الوطني إليها، كما أن النظام المالي الإسلامي يمكن أن يكون مكملا للنظام المالي التقليدي، وذلك بخلق منافسة صحية، من شأنها إغناء الحقل المالي والبنكي بالمغرب، بمنحه قدرة على جلب رؤوس أموال ومنح المستثمرين إمكانية مصاحبة استثماراتهم ببنوك أو شركات استثمارية خاضعة لمبادئ الشريعة الإسلامية كما هو جار على مستوى العالم أجمع. عنصر المنافسة القوية التي تمثلها البنوك الإسلامية لنظيرتها التقليدية، هو تحد آخر أمام المنتوجات الإسلامية، وفي هذا الإطار يرى، البلاجي أن «هذا التخوف تجاوزته كثير من البنوك الفرنسية في الخليج، لأنها فتحت شبابيك تتعامل وفق أحكام الشريعة الإسلامية، وأصبحت لها فروع تعامل بكلا النظامين أي الإسلامي والتقليدي، لكن مع ضرورة أن تكون هناك مراقبة شرعية حتى لا يتم التلاعب بعقائد الناس ورغباتهم، واليوم يمكن أن تكون هنا فترة تعايش وتنافس بين الأسلوبين، ومن أثبت جدارته سيستمر في السوق، وعلى الأقل يجد المتعاملون مع الأبناك بدائل ولا يضطرون إلى التعامل مع منتوج واحد». هناك بعض البلدان مثل باكستان، يقول المصدر ذاته، «حيث انتهجت الدولة خطة تم في المرحلة الأولى منها التعايش بين البنوك الإسلامية والبنوك التقليدية، ثم في مرحلة ثانية تم تغليب البنوك الإسلامية على البنوك التقليدية ثم في مرحلة ثالثة إدماج البنوك التقليدية في الأسلوب الإسلامي.. وفي اعتقادي أن الأمر يجب أن يترك لما يريده الزبناء، وإذا كان هناك زبناء يفضلون استمرار البنوك التقليدية، فعلى الأقل لا يحرم الآخرون ممن يرغبون في التعامل مع البنوك الإسلامية».
البلاجي: إذا لم يأخذ المغرب المبادرة في المنطقة فالفرصة ستضيع «هناك تغيرات دولية وتسابق كبير بين فرنسا وبريطانيا لاستقطاب البنوك الإسلامية، يقول المصدر ذاته، والمغرب مؤهل لأن يكون منافسا قويا لوجوده في شمال إفريقيا وصلته الوطيدة مع دول إفريقيا الغربية الناطقة بالفرنسية وصلته مع جنوب أوربا، ثم إمكانية أن تكون له صلة متينة مع دول القارة الأمريكية، هذه كلها مؤشرات تمكنه من أن يصير سوقا مالية للتمويلات الإسلامية كما هو الحال بالنسبة للبحرين في الشرق العربي، وعلى المغرب ألا يستمر في التأخير الحاصل في هذا المجال، لأن القطار لن ينتظرنا إلى الأبد، وتونس دخلت المنافسة منذ شهر يوليوز الماضي، وإذا لم يأخذ المغرب المبادرة في المنطقة، فالفرصة ستضيع، زد على ذلك أن هناك طلبا شعبيا كبيرا على التمويلات الإسلامية».
الشقيري: اللوبي البنكي لا يتحرك طالما يعرف أن هناك معيقات قانونية من المتوقع أن يصطدم الترخيص للبنوك بعدد من المعيقات، وخاصة منها المعيقات القانونية، وبالخصوص القوانين التي تتطرق للفائدة، وجب أن يتم تعديل عدد من الفصول إذ نجد أن ظهير الالتزامات والعقود يحرم الفائدة، ونجد عددا من المواد في مدونة التجارة تتحدث عن الفوائد والعمولات، ومن الضروري أيضا إدخال تعديلات على تدابير حماية المستهلك التي تتحدث عن الفائدة، لأنه لا يمكن أن نعدل القانون البنكي ونسمح بوجود بنوك إسلامية ولا نعدل القوانين المرتبطة بالعمل البنكي، وهذا في رأيي من المعيقات الصعبة التي ستواجه الدولة. اللوبي البنكي لا يحرك ساكنا طالما يعرف بوجود المعيقات القانونية التي أشرت إليها، وفي هذه الحالة سنكون أمام خيارين، إما تعديل الترسانة القانونية الحالية وهذا ورش ضخم يحتاج إلى عمل مضن، أو نلجأ إلى وضع قانون خاص بالمؤسسات البنكية الإسلامية، وحتى فكرة القطب المالي للدار البيضاء، يمكن أن يطرح إشكالية تضارب القوانين ووجود قانون جديد وآخر قديم. اللوبي البنكي، يراقب الآن النقاش الدائر بخصوص الملف، لكن ماذا ستكون ردة فعله بخصوص مبدأ المنافسة غير المشروعة، خاصة إذا علمنا أن البنوك الإسلامية تتعامل بنسبة صفر فائدة، في حين أن البنوك التقليدية تطبق نسبا مرتفعة، وهذا يفرض أن ندخل تعديلات جذرية على قانون المنافسة المشروعة، لأن المؤسسات التقليدية تجد نفسها متضررة من منتوجات البنوك الإسلامية. الخلاصة، هي أن الملف ضخم ويجب إشراك عدد من الأطراف منها رجال الاقتصاد والخبراء الماليون ورجال الدين والجامعيون، على أساس وضع أرضية للانطلاق تحول دون ارتكاب زلات قانونية ونجد أنفسنا بعد سنتين أو أكثر أمام قانون تتخلله العديد من الثغرات.
The core concern that these papers convey is what must be done to render Islamic finance efficient, competitive and well integrated with the global financial system…. This is a collection of significant, perceptive and insightful papers that is indispensable to understanding operational aspects of Islamic finance. By transcending the heat created by the vacuous debate questioning the validity and viability of Islamic finance, this collection of papers generates the light of understanding focused on the pragmatics of the institutional scaffolding needed to allow Islamic finance to deliver on its promises. At a minimum, this book should become a required reading for all who are interested in an alternative financial system, particularly in this post-financial crisis Stage.
Dr Abbas Mirakhor
Former Executive Director, International Monetary Fund
and Internationally renowned authority on Islamic finance
This book is a collection of Dr. Venkataraman Sundararajan's Writings on Islamic Finance. It is an example of his intellectual strength, his analytic rigor and flair to put complex professional materials in a language that "non-experts" can readily understand, and his unique ability to give policy advice to both technocrats and top decision makers.
Dr P R Narvekar
Former Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
