When the creators of IslamiCity decided to upgrade their Islamic information Web site, they knew they would need a top-notch server and other computer equipment costing $10,000.
They also needed an equipment loan, but there was one major hitch. Islamic teaching forbids Muslims from dabbling in conventional credit, the interest-based fuel that powers international finance and stokes the United States' consumer economy.
A bank loan "simply wasn't an option," says Mohammed Abdul Aleem, president of Hadi Inc., a Culver City, Calif.-based Islamic charitable organization that developed the IslamiCity Web site (http: //www.islam.org). "It would have been hypocritical to use a loan for a project like this."
Instead, the organization purchased the equipment through a lease-to-own arrangement with American Finance House, a Pasadena, Calif.-based finance company specializing in transactions conforming to Islamic religious law. In the process, Aleem joined a global legion of Muslim entrepreneurs, consumers, investors and even a few non-Muslims who are reviving the ancient tradition of interest-free Islamic banking.
With assets estimated to be nearing $150 billion in Muslim countries, the religious-based system now is gaining a toehold in the United States, where a few institutions like American Finance House are catering to the fast-growing Muslim population.
"Muslims want cars and homes and businesses like everyone else," says Abdullah Tug, chief financial officer and general manager of American Finance House. "But they want to do it in keeping with their religious beliefs. Islamic finance is providing that alternative."
Derived from the teachings of the Islamic holy book, the Koran, and its companion Sunna, Islamic religious law prohibits Muslims from paying or receiving interest. Religious scholars say the ban was a response to the age-old practice of loan-sharking. But in a modern society, it prevents observant Muslims from taking out mortgages, carrying balances on credit cards or investing in bonds, Treasury bills or any other instrument that smacks of a guaranteed return.
Which isn't to say that Islam frowns on making money, or demands that Muslims revert to an all-cash or barter economy. What's essential, according to Samuel Hayes, a Harvard Business School professor and expert on Islamic finance, is that all parties to a financial transaction share in the actual profits or losses of a venture, and that no one gets predetermined compensation -- interest.
