‘Heaven’s Bankers,’ by Harris Irfan
Islam does not allow money to be made from money — it must be made from a tangible asset that one owns and thus has the right to sell — and in financial transactions it demands that risk be shared. So in an Islamic mortgage, rather than lending someone money at interest to buy a house, the bank will buy the house outright and agree to sell it for a “cost plus amount,” which the person living in the house can pay in fixed monthly rental installments.