Regarding Culture and religion, what are some of the factors that an investor must consider when planning to invest in a predominantly Muslim country?

Minimum precaution we take when we are at other's place is that to remember the saying - Be like a Roman when you are in Rome.

Other than this, for a righteous investor, neither culture nor religion or Muslim Country matters. All kinds of law all over the world made for trespasser alone and not for righteous. Perhaps commercial factors may be required but again righteous does not cross the righteous boundary.

Investors, dealing with money. Money has no religion. There are place for talking religion, Mosque, Churches and or Synagogue – On the other hand the place for talking Money at the office. Do you speak my language?

 

 

 

• Fundamentally, this is a push against the economic efficiency gradient. It will not happen without serious effort and luck, at least until energy income declines.
• A historical legacy of a Soviet alliance and socialism in the Arab world (due to their opposition to the west during the early cold war, opposition to Israel, and some ties between Pan-Arab nationalism and socialism just due to both being revolutionary anti-colonial movements, and due to the beliefs of specific leaders like Nasser).
• Resource curse (“Dutch Disease”). Essentially anyone smart goes into oil/gas, or if smart/lazy, into oil/gas ministry jobs, and anyone seeking safe investment returns tends to invest in oil/gas, where a great return is likely. Having some resources is better than no resources, but having resource based industries dominate your economy crowds out all other investment.
• Anti-intellectualism and anti-science bias of modern fundamentalist Islam. Clearly it’s not the case that Islam itself is hostile to science; after all, for hundreds of years, the Islamic world was the standard-bearer for world scientific knowledge and progress. Yet, education in many Muslim countries consists primarily of religious rather than scientific programs, and those who do get quality educations in the west tend to remain overseas.
• Women as second-class citizens. It’s not just that women can’t contribute directly to the workforce (although that’s a big factor), but that women aren’t educated to the same standard, and thus aren’t able to raise children to be scientists and engineers as effectively. This is one area where great progress has been made, but there’s a generational lag.
• Geopolitical instability. In general, lack of stability doesn’t lead people to make long-term investments in the future. If you’re worried the world is going to end, you’re going to enjoy life now (to the extent possible), not sacrifice a lot to potentially have a better future. A high level of fatalism and lack of feeling of agency has never helped entrepreneurship.
• Antiquated legal environment (largely based on old UK law without update, merged with Sharia), and not really compatible with modern business. Setting up a business takes a long time, requires local partners, etc. – not a free market. There are efforts to have different law for some countries (the Dubai free trade zones are great examples — Jebel Ali in the70s was probably the first major development of its kind), but the law outside business still needs revision.
• Corruption. It’s a combination of an inefficient official process and a small number of wealthy and powerful families, able to either change the law as needed, or ignore it. If you ever get into a dispute with a local national, you’re going to lose. If local nationals of different levels of power (“wasta”) get into a dispute, it’s usually decided on the basis of connections, vs. the merits of the case.
• High cost of failure. If someone launches a new business and it fails, there’s a high degree of shame and loss of social standing, but even worse, potential prison time for any debts personally guaranteed. Compare this to Silicon Valley where an entrepreneur with a few failed businesses is generally viewed as experienced.

Thanks for your invitation,

The financial policy of the State, Religion, Culture, habits, Political and security stability, Customs and traditions, all these elements constitute the inputs to make a decision to invest or not to invest in a Muslim or non-Muslim country, drawing attention to the Muslim community with their own culture, customs, traditions, investment must be consistent with all of these factors to be successful. 

Regards.

Generally, countries across Europe have wrestled with the issue of the Muslim veil - in various forms such as the body-covering burka and the niqab, which covers the face apart from the eyes. The debate takes in religious freedom, female equality, secular traditions and even fears of terrorism. The veil issue is part of a wider debate about multiculturalism in Europe, as many politicians argue that there needs to be a greater effort to assimilate ethnic and religious minorities.

Like anywhere else, local preferences.

They shall contact the best financial institutes of that particular country and if possible the Shariah Banks.