On October 18-20, 2010 the government of Kazakhstan invited Hajj

Abu Bakr Rieger, Chairman of World Islamic Mint, and Prof. Umar Ibrahim Vadillo, the CEO of Kelantan Golden Trade, to participate in the World Forum of Spiritual Culture, held in the capital city of Astana.  Hajj Abu Bakr Rieger or Rais Abu Bakr, as he is known in the Muslim world, is also the Chairman of European Muslim Union and European Muslim Lawyers Association.  He delivered a paper “Islam and Nihilism in Europe” on the prevailing state of nihilism on one hand, and the spread of Islam on the other, among Europeans. Both Europeans, Nihilist and Muslim, acknowledge the crisis of Europe but first believe nothing can be done while latter actively engage in the construction of a new Europe.

Rais Abu Bakr pointed out that nihilistic thinking and behavior that dominates in Europe today, and indeed all over the world, is clearly manifested in the way mankind conducts its economic practices: on one side - billions of dollars created every day out of nothing by a few and on the other - 47,000 people dying from hunger every day. Rais Abu Bakr quoted the iconic German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who in his famous drama "Faust" wrote about the danger of paper money. It were German thinkers who, more than any ones else in the West, already in the 19th century saw the collapse of Christian Europe and upcoming new world order, technocratic and totalitarian. It were German philosophers who declared the end of European philosophy and looked for a new spirituality.   

Umar Pasha needed no introduction to Kazak audience this time, many remembered the furor of his last visit in March 2009, and impatiently waited for his presentation.  The author of two most important fatwas of our time, Fatwa on Paper Money and Fatwa on Banking, didn’t disappoint the Kazak audience. In the hall filled with representatives from all sort of religions and spiritual charlatans come from around the world Umar Pasha started off his speech by saying: “I want you to listen to this… ‘AAAALLAAAAH’, and then again ‘AAAALLAAAAH’ and again ‘AAAALLAAAAH”.  Pasha sang the name of the Creator as if he was in a Sufi Zawiya.

Many got baffled, especially synchronic translators, a speaker from France stood up and left but yet many faces got illuminated by the beauty of the Lord’s name.  After the little intoxication Pasha began his speech with the message he had lived for, and didn’t deviate an inch from, in the last 25 years: Capitalism is based on Riba, Riba is greatest crime and Allah declared war on it.  

“For many people this (he showed US dollar note) – is wealth. This is superstition because it is nothing but worthless piece of paper”- said Umar Pasha.

“Capitalism is the only religion of the world today, no matter where you live and what god you pray to: constitution is its holly book, economists are its priests, banks are its places of worship, paper money is its symbol; and it is this religion that has imprisoned the mankind without exception. Only Muslims can stop this false religion and the first call for freedom has come from a little place in the South-East Asia, called Kelantan.  And I promise to you what happened in Kelantan will happen all over the Muslim world” – concluded Umar Pasha.