[Honcho]

Since the “rental fee” is fixed to the market interest rate, the costs are roughly the same as a conventional mortgage

Someone has to explain to me what the difference is between paying a "rental fee" fixed to market interest rates are as opposed to paying interest.

They call it something different so that is suppose to make it alright? Interest is not interest as long as it's called something else? The buyer is still paying more for the home than the purchase price or the normal market price. I'm no expert in Islam but that kind of seems to be the point.

And why would we need a Christian or Jewish Mortgage Company as a "counter balance?" Sounds like capitalism to me.

I can kind of see the conversation in some boardroom going like this:

"We have these Islamic people who qualify for loans but won't give us their money because of their religious beliefs on loans , how do we get them to hand their money over?"

"Well Bob, what if we charge them interest but we just call it a "rental fee" instead?"

[cbkaty]

And why would we need a Christian or Jewish Mortgage Company as a "counter balance?" Sounds like capitalism to me.

Maybe you missed my point.....Getting a loan from a muslim Mortgage company is likely impossible for a Christian or Jew...yet a Muslim can get a loan from a non-muslim mortgage company backed by anti-discrimination laws.