Photograph: NBC Islamic Banking billboard in Kiponda District, Stone Town, in Zanzibar, Tanzania.  Picture credit:  Adam Jones | CC2.0. 

These resources explore Islamic banking, its foundations in the Quran, and how Muslims have carried this institution forward. Islamic banking is interesting because they charge fees for service, rather than promise interest rates to depositors. The basic principle of Islamic banks is to avoid interest rate promises. So they charge a small fee for banking services, and compete with each other based on who charges lower fees. It is still capitalist. By contrast, our non-Islamic banks make money by legalized gambling with debt. They compete with each other by promising higher interest rates on your deposits. But they have to make that money and also pay their staff by using your money to make investments, all the while gambling that you won't need to withdraw all your money at once. Meanwhile, our banks lobby lawmakers to loosen regulation, shut down postal banking (which used to exist in the U.S.), and oppose public options for banking, while they ask for bailouts when they fail. Thus, private banks inherently privatize gains and socialize losses. Is that "capitalism"? Is it wise for us to have fictional dollars circulating in the economic system (created by fractional reserve banking) that accountants call "assets" on the same level as physical assets?

 
 

Christian Restorative Justice, Banking, and Finance: Topics:

Christian Restorative Justice Critique of the Right: Domestic Policy Topics:

Christian Restorative Justice Critique of the Right: Philosophical Influences: