Your Money's No Good Here

Allahu akbar! The free market is trying to make a buck off Muslim investors whose scruples about paying interest do not extend as far as taking advantage of infidel profiteers willing to assuage same:

When Caribou Coffee went public last year, sharp-eyed investors noticed some unusual promises in its prospectus.

Caribou, the second-largest coffeehouse chain in the U.S., said it would never sell pork or porn. It wouldn't charge or receive interest, either.

By following financial rules that are part of the Islamic code called Shariah, Caribou is among a small but growing list of Western businesses looking to make themselves as attractive as possible to Muslim investors.

Some, like Caribou, are motivated by principle, while others see Muslim investors as an attractive new source of money.

Middle Eastern investors flush with oil profits are looking for new places to invest, and American Muslims are looking to invest in a way that doesn't conflict with their faith.

"There's a bunch of Islamic investors who are prohibited from a lot of regular investments, so a lot of money is sitting in cash not earning anything at all," said Khalid Howladar, a vice-president for Middle Eastern and Islamic Structured Finance with Moody's Investors Service in London.

Lenin wasn't far wrong when he said the capitalists would sell their enemies the rope with which to hang themselves. Only he never thought they'd sell it to the Mohammedans.

Source: Yahoo Finance