Shari’ah and Legal Risk Issues in Sukuk Structures: An Analytical Case Study on SABIC Sukuk in Saudi Arabia

As part of the Islamic financial development, Islamic capital markets have been developing in terms of structures and instruments in the last two decades. In particular, sukuk or Islamic bond market has proved to be a successful instrument for long-term project financing. While developments in sukuk market have demonstrated success, sukuk structures are not immune to various risk dimensions including Shari’ah, legal and regulative risks as well as financial risks. This study, hence, aims to explore and examine three particular non-financial risk areas relating to sukuk structures in the case of SABIC sukuk, which was issued in three tranches in Saudi Arabia in the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. In doing so, this research particularly examines the risks emerging from the performance of Shari’ah Board in charge of the Shari’ah compliancy of SABIC Sukuk as well as Shari’ah compliancy and legal risks. In order to examine the identified risk areas, in addition to rendering an in-depth literature based critical analysis in discursive nature, elite interviews were conducted with the Shari’ah scholars involved in the issuance of SABIC sukuk. In addition, in an attempt to provide non-Shari’ah perspective, finance professionals, lawyers, academics and technocrats were also interviewed to explore their understandings of the three identified risk areas in the case of SABIC sukuk in particular, and sukuk in general. Since the AAOIFI standards have asserted that the Shari’ah Supervisory Board (SSB) has to be involved in controlling as well as monitoring sukuk structures from the time of issuance until maturity, which is expected to provide guarantee of the performance of the product in a Shari’ah compliant manner. This aims to ensure that the progress and performance will not veer from the right track of Shari’ah through close investigation and follow up by the members of SSB. This study found that one of the risks emerging from the SSB is that the Shari’ah supervision based on AAOIFI standards is still not observed and implemented by many SSBs. The findings indicate that a clear method and mechanism for the SSB members to conduct their examination for Shari’ah complicacy has not been established; and for this end, a comprehensive fatwa will play an essential role in ensuring sukuk structure Shari’ah compliant. Another finding is that the failing of issuing a binding and a comprehensive standard for SSBs to follow as well as clear methods to be implemented have resulted many Shari’ah and legal risks. With regards to Shari’ah risks, the findings show that any inconsistency with the rules and principles of Shari’ah will lead sukuk to be Shari’ah incompliant. The inconsistency between sukuk structures issued in the Saudi Arabian market and AAOIFI standards is considered as a Shari’ah risk, as there still exist some major similarities between SABIC sukuk structure and riba-based bonds structure. Therefore, an array of Shari’ah issues needs to be resolved, which include ownership and the related issues in the sense of ‘real ownership’, the guarantee of the capital and returns, distribution of profits based on LIBOR instead of the performance of the project, the reserve account and the related issues. As for legal risks, this research established that the absence of a special law featuring sukuk in Saudi Arabia is considered to be the main legal risk faced by Islamic capital markets in the country. The findings also show that the rules and regulations issued by the CMA have failed to provide a specific law related to sukuk, which might expose sukuk holders to the risk of treating sukuk as riba-based loan bonds. However, failure to differentiate between sukuk and bonds might lead to certain risks such as the failure of sukuk holders to become incapable of proving their rights regarding their ownership of the assets they carry. Consequently, the legal position of sukuk holders is unclear in the Saudi Arabian market, which is due to the absence of a sukuk law. Therefore, it is necessary that the regulatory and legislative bodies in Saudi Arabia should provide a suitable legislative and regulatory environment for the issuance of sukuk taking in consideration the legal and Shari’ah risks that sukuk structures might be exposed

Effect of Exposure to Cement Dust on Pulmonary Function among Cement Plants Workers in the Middle Governorate, Gaza- Palestine

This study was conducted to investigate the level of PM air pollution in cement plants, and their impacts on respiratory system health and pulmonary function for cement plants workers. Case-control study was conducted on all cement plants at Middle Gaza Governorates. 100 individuals participated, case (exposed) and control (non exposed) groups contain 50, 50 respectively. All participants were subjected to questionnaire, lung function measuring by electronic spirometery. The findings of this study showed that an average particulate matter from 106.3 to 143.3, which is about more than 4 times higher than the particulate matter (PM2.5) existing standard of 35 μg/m3 also an average particulate matter from 615 to 656, which is about more than 4 times higher than the particulate matter (PM10) existing standard of 150 μg/m3. As well as, it showed clear links between PM exposure and respiratory health and pulmonary function. Cough, dyspnea and sputum buildup were more common among the exposed group, Furthermore, the mean of FEV1/ FVC (%) for control group is significantly greater than that for FEV1/ FVC (%) for case group. Among other recommendations, this paper infers that Environmental and engineering control of cement dust emissions, protective techniques, procedures, measures and equipment and periodic medical examinations.This study was conducted to investigate the level of PM air pollution in cement plants, and their impacts on respiratory system health and pulmonary function for cement plants workers. Case-control study was conducted on all cement plants at Middle Gaza Governorates. 100 individuals participated, case (exposed) and control (non exposed) groups contain 50, 50 respectively. All participants were subjected to questionnaire, lung function measuring by electronic spirometery. The findings of this study showed that an average particulate matter from 106.3 to 143.3, which is about more than 4 times higher than the particulate matter (PM2.5) existing standard of 35 μg/m3 also an average particulate matter from 615 to 656, which is about more than 4 times higher than the particulate matter (PM10) existing standard of 150 μg/m3. As well as, it showed clear links between PM exposure and respiratory health and pulmonary function. Cough, dyspnea and sputum buildup were more common among the exposed group, Furthermore, the mean of FEV1/ FVC (%) for control group is significantly greater than that for FEV1/ FVC (%) for case group. Among other recommendations, this paper infers that Environmental and engineering control of cement dust emissions, protective techniques, procedures, measures and equipment and periodic medical examinations

Responses of Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) to soil and foliar applications of Haza (Haplophyllum tuberculatum).

This study aimed to investigate the responses of Periwinkle plants to soil and foliar applications of Haza plant in two separate tests under the conditions of the nursery at Shambat, Khartoum North, Sudan. The foliar treatments were for boiled water extracts of hand crushed Haza shoots in concentrations: 0.0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 g/l, while the soil dressing test was for powder of dry shoots of Haza applied in doses of: 0.0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 g per plant. The Periwinkle transplants were planted in 18 inch plastic pots containing River Nile sedimentary soil. The study was arranged in complete randomized design and each treatment was replicated 7 times. Data were collected 4 months after applications. The results showed substantial increments in vegetative and reproductive growth parameters coupled with high alkaloids content from soil dressing with 10 g/plant Haza treatment or the foliar application of the 10 g/l Haza extract. These findings elucidated the bio-stimulating potential of Haza applications for enhanced vegetative and reproductive growth beside alkaloids content of Periwinkle. This stimulating potential may be of value for trials on organic production of other horticultural crops

A cooperative multihop radio resource allocation in next generation networks

With the objectives of improving 3G networks coverage by using relaying nodes, a game theoretic approach to radio resource allocation for the downlink capacity is introduced. One of the basic issues not examined in the literature is the importance of fair resource sharing among mobile nodes located along a multihop link. We describe a novel technique for providing a resource allocation mechanism in a multihop relaying network. The resource allocation problem is formulated as a cooperative game using Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS), which allows mobile nodes to fairly share a downlink bandwidth among themselves. Sharing of the downlink capacity between multiple nodes using a noncooperative approach is inefficient when the radio resource is scarce. If upstream nodes manipulate their location at the head of the multihop link to exploit the downlink capacity, downstream nodes will suffer disproportionately. The undesirable properties can be avoided by means of a cooperative agreement in which all nodes share the radio resources equally, where downstream nodes are allowed to pay compensation to prevent upstream nodes from exploiting the downlink capacity and encourage them to cooperate. © 2005 IEEE

The Role of Social Media Platforms in Confronting Intellectual Extremism from Majmaah University Students Perspective

The present study aims to investigate the role of social media platforms in confronting intellectual extremism among Majmaah University students. The researchers conducted the descriptive analytical approach and applied a 20- item questionnaire to a randomly selected sample of (213) students. The results showed that Tik Tok and Snapchat were ranked first among the study sample. Also, there was a moderate negative impact of social media on intellectual security, with a mean of (2.99). This is due to the nature of the content published on networks and its impact on the subscribers. It indicated the importance of social media, more specifically Tik Tok and Snapchat, among the sample of the study. It can be attributed to gender since females are more interested in social networks to publish and share photos. Moreover, the results revealed that social media platforms played a moderate role in resisting intellectual deviation among the participants, with an average mean of (2.96). There were no statistical differences in the impact of social media platforms on young peoples intellectual security and their role in resisting intellectual extremism due to responses to the study questions. The findings of the study call for the necessity of activating the positive role of social media by exploring new approaches to evolve effective alternatives in dealing with social networks by enhancing young peoples media literacy. Contribution/Originality: This study contributed to the existing literature by identifying the role of social media in combating intellectual extremism from the perspective of students at Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia. It also explored the most popular social media platforms among university students and their impact on students intellectual security

Synthetic mycobacterial diacyl trehaloses reveal differential recognition by human T cell receptors and the C-type lectin Mincle

The cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is composed of diverse glycolipids which potentially interact with the human immune system. To overcome difficulties in obtaining pure compounds from bacterial extracts, we recently synthesized three forms of mycobacterial diacyltrehalose (DAT) that differ in their fatty acid composition, DAT1, DAT2, and DAT3. To study the potential recognition of DATs by human T cells, we treated the lipid-binding antigen presenting molecule CD1b with synthetic DATs and looked for T cells that bound the complex. DAT1- and DAT2-treated CD1b tetramers were recognized by T cells, but DAT3-treated CD1b tetramers were not. A T cell line derived using CD1b-DAT2 tetramers showed that there is no cross-reactivity between DATs in an IFN-γ release assay, suggesting that the chemical structure of the fatty acid at the 3-position determines recognition by T cells. In contrast with the lack of recognition of DAT3 by human T cells, DAT3, but not DAT1 or DAT2, activates Mincle. Thus, we show that the mycobacterial lipid DAT can be both an antigen for T cells and an agonist for the innate Mincle receptor, and that small chemical differences determine recognition by different parts of the immune system

Simulation Study on Computer Tomography Imaging of Nuclear Distribution by Quasi Monoenergetic Gamma Rays with Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence: case study for ELI-NP application

CoE on Sustainable Energy System (Thai-Japan), Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT), ThailandNon-destructive inspection carried out by using nuclear resonances excited by an MeV energy region gamma ray is a promising method. The high penetrability of MeV gamma ray of nuclear resonant energy makes possible the detection of nuclides surrounded by massive materials. As an application of this method, computed tomography imaging of nuclear distribution inside objects can be reconstructed from transmission factor of gamma rays. We have studied the image reconstruction of the nuclear distribution using Monte-Carlo simulations to estimate the gamma-ray transmission factor assuming the ELI-NP facility where about 3 order higher intensity of quasi-monoenergetic gamma rays will be available

In-beam fast-timing measurements in 103,105,107Cd

Fast-timing measurements were performed recently in the region of the medium-mass 103,105,107Cd isotopes, produced in fusion evaporation reactions. Emitted gamma-rays were detected by eight HPGe and five LaBr3:Ce detectors working in coincidence. Results on new and re-evaluated half-lives are discussed within a systematic of transition rates. The $7/2_1^+$ states in 103,105,107Cd are interpreted as arising from a single-particle excitation. The half-life analysis of the $11/2_1^-$ states in 103,105,107Cd shows no change in the single-particle transition strength as a function of the neutron number

Delegation of Authority to the Performance of the Medical Staff and Its Relationship to Improving the Quality of Health Care in Palestine

The study aimed to identify the delegation of authority for the performance of the medical staff and its relationship to improving the quality of health care in Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the southern Palestinian governorates. Administrators, and technicians) with a total of 2150 employees, and the questionnaire was distributed to a stratified random sample of 330 employees, and 302 questionnaires were retrieved, with a rate of 91.5%. One of the most important results of the study was the existence of a statistically significant relationship between delegation of authority and the quality of health care. One of the most important recommendations of the study was to strengthen the direction of senior management towards excellence in patient service, because the patient represents a fundamental focus in health services