Al Haqeeqa
Duping in the name of Halal investments is an issue that has left thousands of Indian Muslims confused, scared and angry. Muslims in two cities -Hyderabad and Bangalore are especially at the receiving end, yet there is every chance that unless you are from that region and following local media, you may have no clue that thousands of Muslims have been duped over just the past year in the name of “Halal”investments.
In these ‘Halal’ offers, even more attractive than the Halal factor was the ridiculously high returns they promised to their investors. This, coupled with religious scholars who were too happy to promote such companies, meant that Muslim investors came in hundreds. Such smart marketing embedded with lies and deceit meant that these companies were easily able to fool people.
In this five-part series, TwoCircles.net will look at how companies like Heera Gold, now at the centre of a confirmed Ponzi scheme, used a combination of religious symbolism, Ulemas, fake propaganda and political tools to attract investors in Hyderabad.
Parallelly, in Bangalore, similar stories are emerging on a monthly basis, with over 10 companies having been exposed as either Ponzi schemes or fraudulent companies sofar .
We will also look at successful examples of Shariah-compliant investments especially from the state of Kerala. We also get an expert to help us understand how to avoid such fraudulent companies, understand the basic concepts of Shariah investment to ensure that investors do not fall into the trap of Haram in the name of Halal. In the second of the five-part series, Nikhat Fatima looks at how the investors in Heera Gold have been left divided on whether they will recover their money or not and why the wait for them to see their money might just turn out to be very long.
