Courtesy of Minnesota's state housing agency...

http://wcco.com/local/islamic.mortgages.minnesota.2.952805.html 

The state buys a home and resells it to the buyer at a higher price. The down payment and monthly installments are agreed to up front at current mortgage rates.

The deal is identical to a thirty-year fixed-rate loan, except there's no additional interest, because the higher up front price factors in payments that would have been made over the life of a traditional mortgage.

A handful of private banks and lending institutions offer Islamic mortgages in the U.S., but Minnesota Housing is the first state agency to offer such a product. The program is the brainchild of Hussein Samatar, director of the African Development Center in Minneapolis.

"The process is different, but the outcome will look the same," Samatar said. "We wanted to be as conventional as possible, while respecting the tenets of Islam."

* * * * *

Does this mean Muslims only put their money into non-interest earning checking accounts? The article says this program is targeted at low-to-moderate income families, and its goal is "to help Muslim home buyers build wealth..."

Does Utah have special state programs to help Mormons "build wealth"? I'm not aware of the Fairfax District here in Los Angeles implementing government programs to help Jewish residents "build wealth."

I'd like a state program to help cigar smokers build wealth, please.

ScottHar

If the wife misses a payment the bank Beheads her...

sound fair,,

wheel,

I expect that many "progressives" see such a Muslim-targeted government program as an admirable example of multi-cultural inclusiveness.

But just imagine the reflexive outcry if a program like this benefited Christians ("Separation of church and state!!!").

ScottHar

Kinda like the Amish hitchhiking.

... Catholic Birth Control programs?

Personally, this sounds a little like being Catholic, and finding out that the Pope says masturbation is a sin...then you point out that the Bible doesn't prohibit a brisk massage of one's genitals.

I'd heard about Riba, the applicable principal here. Never really looked into it, so I did a little searching. Turned up the following,

"Perhaps one of the most difficult issues in Islamic concern for fairness in business dealings is its prohibition of business transactions that call for charging riba (usury and interest). Riba, in its Qur`anic meaning, means paying money for the use of money. Muslims have struggled with the problem ever since the Qur`an categorically denounced riba."

That's the beginning of an essay that appears to defend the faith in that context, although I don't have time to read the entire thing. I just wanted to know the basic principal. For the rest of the essay, see

http://people.virginia.edu/~aas/article/article7.htm 

#3 Scott:

Not me. I find it a ridiculous program. If muslims want mortgages, let em pay freakin interest.

And yes, that IS a violation of separation of church and state.

Just one of the first steps toward sharia law.