Muslim Chuckle

I read this quick little blurb in BusinessWeek today, and it gave me cause for a chuckle. Apparently the Muslim fate forbids the paying of interest or riba. So if you're a devout Muslim, you're screwed. No bank loans for that house you've had your eye on. In Muslim countries, this is not an issue, since they cater to such craziness (and before anybody wish to flame me for being intolerant -- bite me! I'm intolerant to all religions!). In the US however, Muslims are at a disadvantage -- or were -- because a little bank in Chicago is starting to cater to Muslims. For mortgages for instance, the bank purchases the property, then sells it back to the home owner on the installment plan or Murabaha, at a price that includes the projected interest cost. The chuckle? That small bank that's being innovative in catering to their Muslim clients is Devon Bank -- owned by the Loundy family, who just happens to be Jewish.