Financial dilemma: For many Muslims, conventional loans can be a sin
By Katherine Glover
Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008
MinnPost.com

Seven years ago, staff at the Neighborhood Development Center made a realization. Plenty of Somalis and other Muslim immigrants had attended the St. Paul-based center’s trainings for small-business entrepreneurs — but in more than a decade, not one Muslim had ever taken advantage of the center’s small-business loans.

The reason? Islam forbids “reba,” or usury. To some, the term refers merely to excessive interest, but to others, it includes the payment of any kind of interest — making conventional bank loans a sin for them.

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Posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm