Re: Heroes of Bangladesh ( Must read )
I've already addressed that. You never get a loan from an Islamic bank. Instead the bank buys an asset and sells it to you. Essentially you have a choice between buying at a low price today if you have all the money in your hand, or buying at a higher price but being able to pay over time. In neither case is any money ever lent by anyone, so there is no possibility of interest since it is defined in shariah (in it's most simplistic sense) as any loan which derives a benefit for the lender.
Right, but this is really the essence of the matter, isnt it? Say I want to buy a £500 house. I say to the Islamic Bank, i'd like to buy but dont have the money right now. They say no problems, we'll buy it for you, and then you can pay us a higher price over time. Price is fixed so there's no interest as you say. But isn't the end result the same as paying interest? The middle man (in this case the Bank) is getting a benefit in this case. The whole point of outlawing Riba is so that this sort of capitalism doesnt exist in an Islamic Society isn't it? I think the message behind why things are outlawed is the crux of the matter in this case.