Islamic Interest - Free Banking: Is It Feasible in the Western World?

"Need car finance for either a new or used car? We can accept people with or without previous credit problems. With rates as low as 6.9% APR (Annual percentage rate) there has never been a better time to use an Easy Loan to buy a holiday home, get a new car or simply pay off your existing debts," says an advertisement on the MSN website. Who doesn't need banking services? At different instances in our lives, we need banking services for various purposes: to finance new business ventures, buy a house, to buy a car, facilitate capital investment, undertake trading activities, and to offer a safe place for savings. However, whether interest should be charged on the loans or deposits is what differentiates Islamic Interest-free banks from the Western Banks. Islam forbids Muslims from dealings involving interest, not profit though (will be discussed later). But, in this modern world in which almost all the financial institutions are interest based, what option it leaves for the Muslims? Should they deny what their religion strictly forbids? Why are they strictly ordered to abstain from the method of financial dealings that the whole world has adopted? Why not they put efforts to introduce Islamic interest-free Banking in the western world which has dominated the entire globe? If that happens, are there any chances of success? Well, there are. …