By Debbie Schlussel
Longtime readers of this site know that I’ve been on the case of Arcapita, formerly known as First Islamic Investment Bank, for over a decade. Last year, when the company–owned by Jew-hating Gulf State sheiks (including the family that owns Al-Jazeera, the Qatari royal family)–filed for bankruptcy, I cheered. But my jaw dropped when I learned that the company had the gall to submit a sharia-compliant bankruptcy plan. That’ll never fly, I thought, because it’s unconstitutional. But I was wrong. As I’ve noted many times before, there truly is no Establishment Clause for Muslims in America or separation between mosque and state. These things apparently only apply to Christians and Jews. Yesterday, federal Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, gushing how “fascinating” he found sharia, approved the sharia bankruptcy. Disgusting. It’s just the latest instance in which a U.S. Court recognizes Islamic law. Look for more and more of that. When an American bankruptcy court recognizes Islamic law, it opens the door for other American courts and institutions to recognize Islamic law.

Judge Sean Lane “Fascinated” By Sharia Bankruptcy, Which He Granted/Approved

Arcapita CEO Atif Abdulmalik Gets Dhimmi Judge to Grant His Company Sharia Bankruptcy
In 2002, Arcapita, the former owner of Caribou Coffee, appointed Muslim Brotherhood cleric and America-hating, Jew-hating scumbag Yusuf Al-Qaradawi as one of its top executives, to make sure that all of its products and services–at Caribou and its other businesses–were sharia-complaint. When I exposed this in a 2002 New York Post column (a longer version of which appears here) and appearances on FOX News’ “O’Reilly Factor” and MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” the bank claimed to fire Qaradawi, but it didn’t matter. Caribou (which is now owned by a German company, which is closing or renaming most Caribou stores) had its worst sales quarter ever, and the bank fired its then-CEO, replacing him with a far-left Jewish yes-man who flashed his Jewish credentials to try to get people to patronize Caribou. A few years ago, a friend of mine repeated my work in a newsletter he sent out to the Jewish community and found himself on the receiving end of lawsuit threats from Arcapita. I represented my friend and told Arcapita’s retained Jewish lawyer that we would be looking forward to deposing the sheik shareholders who own Arcapita and looking over their finances, including donations to Islamic terrorists. That shut them up.
You should note that, per usual, the extremist Arcapita–whose board members and shareholders included a cleric with ties to Al-Qaeda and a sheikh who apparently donated money to a Palestinian terrorist telethon–had a Jewish lawyer in the bankruptcy. Yup, they hate the Jews, but they always hire them as legal counsel. Clearly, lawyer Michael Rosenthal of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm wasn’t bothered by the fact that Arcapita’s hand-picked exec, Qaradawi, urged Muslims to give up their dowries and instead spend the money to fund Palestinian homicide bombers and spill “Zionist blood” or that he urged Muslims to blow up U.S. soldiers in Iraq as a religious duty.
More:
Bahrain investment firm Arcapita Bank received approval from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday for its plan to repay creditors, thought to be the first that is compliant with sharia, Islamic law. “I’m happy to confirm the plan,” said Judge Sean Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. “This has been a fascinating case for me.” Read the rest of this entry »