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Muslim Bank Launches Shariah-Compliant MasterCard With Compass Pointing Toward Mecca

Oct. 15, 2012 7:38am Billy Hallowell

There’s a new MasterCard being marketed at Muslims, complete with a compass pointing the way towards Mecca. Al Hillal Bank, an Islamic financial company owned by the United Arab Emirates government, recently launched the credit card. Rather than merely serving as an instrument with which one can purchase goods and services, the card is also compliant with Islamic laws.

Muslim Bank Launches Islamic MasterCard With Compass to Mecca

Photo Credit: MasterCard

In addition to including a compass that allows Islamic adherents to comply with “salah” (praying five times per day, while facing Mecca — one of the Five Pillars of the Muslim faith), the bank’s MasterCard bans interest on loans. As Daily Mail notes, “riba,” or the charging of interest on loans, is forbidden in Islamic law. NBC News has more:

Shariah forbids “riba” or the charging of interest on loans because it could enable the rich to exploit the poor, encourages risk, and creates social and economic disharmony, according to Abed Awad, an expert on Islamic law who teaches at Rutgers and Pace universities.

To get around issues surrounding interest, MasterCard will charge user fees instead of interest rates, making the cards profitable for the company. An additional benefit beyond this is travel benefits, as cardholders will be able to obtain vouchers to pay for the “hajj,” the trip to Mecca every Muslim, pending good health, is intended to take. And a portion of the monies spent using the cards is donated to charity, as the act of giving is explicitly laid out in the Koran.

The purpose for the card’s creation is clear: To reach out to the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims in an effort to spawn business and to create a cultural connection that makes the first ideal possible.

“We continue to see a growing demand, especially in the Middle East, for Islamic banking in general, and more specifically in our case, for cards that are Shariah-compliant in accordance with the tenets of the Islamic faith,” James Issokson, a spokesperson for MasterCard, told NBC News.

NBC also notes that this isn’t the only example of shariah-compliant banking. Even in the U.S., the Islamic financial industry is in full swing. University Bank in Michigan offers home financing, deposit products — even commercial options — that are complaint with Islamic law. And, in Virginia, Guidance Residential offers home mortgages.

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Comments (137)

adamsindyapple
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:28am
Oh goody! No-interest credit cards for all (sarc). If they offer it for one group, shouldn’t it be available for all? If not, wouldn’t that be discrimination based on race and religion?

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- termyt
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:50am
  I think it’s a fine idea. That’s capitalism – mark products people want to buy, expand your market share, etc. It’s no imposition on me.
  
  They are replacing the interest with a “user fee.” That user fee would actually raise my credit card expenses, if it were me. I do not pay interest on my credit card purchases because I pay off the card every month. I’m going to assume the user fee is paid regardless of balance.
  
  Report this comment
- Ilikepeople
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:58am
  Of course they are, when the light gets more intense, then people will absorb the spectrum their fruit is capable of absorbing. Many people call that an evilness. That’s why the Bible says God will bring an evil where you don’t know where it comes from.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 9:19am
  For centuries Jews did not charge interest, to other Jews, based on the Torah. They did charge gentiles interest. This is nothing new.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 9:48am
  It should also be noted that it is this availability to cheap capital that is, in part, attributed to Jewish success in business. They remained ethnocentric and the rest of the world did not.
  
  Report this comment
- TAXLORDCOMETH
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 10:09am
  Wait, they left out the swipe fee that retailers are charged. MC is still going to charge that, and they are still going to make a lot of money on that, plus the user fee. CC companies have been ripping off consumers and businesses for decades. Why should a business pay 2.5% per transaction to f’g MC? Companies like Dwolla are offering businesses a flat transaction fee. Fifth Third bank has also come out with a flat fee system, so MC and Visa’s days are numbered. Jumping in bed with sharia is probably an indication they see the hand-writing on the wall.
  
  Report this comment
- term limits for congress
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 2:23pm
  Just signed up for my Infidel Visa. It charges 0.0001% interest and gives 10% cash back on all purchases. It is issued by the Bank of the Holy Prophet. Sounds too good to be true.
  
  Report this comment
- term limits for congress
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 2:24pm
  oops. meant Holy Profit.
  
  Report this comment
- bilejones
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:03pm
  This is how the market is supposed to work.
  
  Currently credit card companies discriminate in all sort of ways, they pretend, for example, to not want to lend to deadbeats.
  
  Discrimination is the divider between success and failure.
  
  Report this comment
- butthedd
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:11pm
  I wonder if they can put bombs on their card?
  
  Report this comment
rs65
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:26am
Little by little,inch by inch.

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- montanalablover
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:50am
  You’ve got it exactly right. Little by little. I’m telling you they will eventually take over this country if we’re not careful. They are laying low, studying the constitution and our laws and out reproducing us by about 7 to 1, I believe. Eventually there will enough of them to get elected to public office and at that point, GAME OVER.
  
  Report this comment
- forthepeople
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 9:57am
  Brilliant , patient , just look at our universities molding these vulnerable minds ?
  Only if it was not such an evil outcome ?
  The money lenders ( rothchilds n ‘ such ) are thick as thieves in the square again, someone need to topple there tables ?
  
  Report this comment
- objectivetruth
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 10:20am
  Yeah sad part is that they have been doing it behind the scenes here for years.You might want to look at this link.You will see that the push for sharia compliant banks and financial packages is nothing new
  http://www.shariahfinancewatch.org/blog/about-shariah-finance/
  
  Report this comment
- Christopher4500
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 11:18am
  @montanalablover
  
  What’s it like to live in paranoia and fear?
  
  Report this comment
- Bobaz
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 4:36pm
  You’re absolutely right. The thousand years of darkness is Islam and it is quickly poisoning the world.
  
  Report this comment
JellyToast
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:25am
Still waiting for the one with the cross that says “Jesus is Lord.”

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- holy ghostbuster
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:53am
  You can always write in on your card with a Sharpie.
  
  Report this comment
- ldonnell
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 10:07am
  that would really cause a stir! main stream monkeys would have a field day with that!
  
  Report this comment
BDtheCD
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:23am
My Mastercard is history as of today. Take you Shariah-Compliant and shove it. This is America not some third world hell hole.

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- montanalablover
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:53am
  I was just thinking te same thing when I read this article. I like that “Third World Hell Hole.” Can you imagine if all the conservative MasterCard holders all canceled their cards. CANCEL ASAP.
  
  Report this comment
- cdn1979
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 1:01pm
  what are you babbling about? First of all, it’s a bank in the UAE offering the card, not an amercian one. secondly, if you did your research you would see that both visa and amex have similar offerings:
  http://www.standardchartered.com/pk/islamic/credit-debit-cards/en/saadiq-visa-credit-cards.html
  
  http://www.maybank2u.com.my/mbb_info/m2u/public/personalDetail04.do?channelId=CRD-Cards&cntTypeId=0&cntKey=CRD01.21&programId=CRD01-CreditCards&chCatId=/mbb/Personal/CRD-Cards
  
  so, unless your ignorant a$$ is gonna stick to diners club or discover, i suggest you grow up. If you don’t like it, don’t get it. what is the big deal? You get offended because someone does not want to charge interest? I bet you also get offended when you are charged too much interest. pathetic.
  
  Report this comment
- coldnorth
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 4:11am
  Just open up your wallet, and pay the man in US treasury notes. No hidden fees, no late charges, no suprises in the mail. And if you’re in a mom and pop shop you can haggle for that 2.5 they would have paid had you dropped plastic.
  Best of all it says “IN GOD WE TRUST”
  
  Report this comment
moreteaplease
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:23am
Glad I don’t have MC.

I just don’t understand why people and businesses are willing to kowtow to a demonic ideal that calls for their death and destruction and has waged terrorist attacks on American soil at home and abroad but yet, people continue to labor under the delusion that we will all one day “coexist” in some harmonious Utopia by laying down for them now. It’s all willful stupidity and foolishness.

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- IHATEMUSLIMS
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:38am
  $ controls all
  
  Report this comment
- saneromeo
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:56am
  In the End Days a strong delusion will encompass many people on the planet and they will believe The Lie. The Bible says, the Lie will be strong enough to deceive the very elect. Meaning even people that should know better will fall prey to this idea because it will be such a natural human kind of idea.
  http://saneromeo.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/iran-hints-at-a-deal/
  
  Report this comment
- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 10:24am
  Because sir it is the Spirit of the Times to be welcoming, tolerant, accepting of everything so that we can all get along. How can someone in America who has been indoctrinated that anything goes morally then be able to turn around and say that something else is wrong.
  
  Its the whole moral relativist movement which permeates everything right down to your kids cartoons. What is pushed above every standard the Western civilization is equality above all things and health uber allus. Those two things are the only things that matter today in these new spirit of the times.
  
  All reason, experience, historical facts do not matter because only this generation in place has the answers above anything previous to it…the ultimate in arrogance. Thats why we say we can change thousands of years of practice concerning man/woman marriage. Everyone else prior to this generation was simply wrong in not addressing it or embracing it.
  
  Furthermore, the card is based on religion and ID’s the holder as such. What about a mark that also IDs the marked as allegiant to someone? Its a road to the ultimate mark in my humble opinion. Just like so many other things are like the push to have a national ID card.
  
  Report this comment
poorrichard09
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:22am
A portion of profits will be donated to charity…how nice. But the only “charities” muslims give to are islamic “charities”, like the Holy Land Foundation that turnout to be a front for financing terrorists!

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- coldnorth
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 4:18am
  You’re talking about Zakat? And how the US limits by law which organziations muslim US citizens can give to? Don’t worry, BHO told the muslim peoples that he would change that, so they could give to the muslim charity of there choice (terroristic or otherwise). Hopefully, it will be another unfullfilled campiegn promise.
  
  Report this comment
huey6367
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:18am
Is there really a need for this card? I think MC will lose some business over this. This is PC run amuck.

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- ohboyohboy
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:34am
  I retired Navy and have been using USAA’s M/C for 50 years. I was going to cancel but your scenario is better. I did one additional thing and sent USAA an email, saying:
  
  I am outraged over MasterCard’s new sharia compliant credit card. Why? If you don’t know then start looking into what religion the murderers of 9/11 and 7/7 and Madrid and Mumbai and Bali and Breslin belonged to.
  
  I’ve been with USAA for 50 years and I can tell you this: If you retain M/C I may cancel all association with USAA including auto, home, life, insurances, and our IRA’s.
  
  Until I see some adjustment in your association with MasterCard I will cut back on use of that card and use American Express.
  
  Report this comment
paladin42
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:12am
I’ll join the chorus…. I have a dozen or so cards – both personal and business. A few are mc. They will no longer be used, but not cancelled. Let them spend the money on postage to mail me a statement every month saying I don;t owe anything.

I’m hoping that someone from mc actually reads the comments and finds out how many customers they are ******* off.

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- Popp40
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 10:43am
  I will be doing the same thing. I will be using my AE. But I pay my bill off every month but I don’t even want them making money off my swipe fees.
  
  Report this comment
- cdn1979
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 1:15pm
  hey genius. Visa and Amex have one too.
  
  Report this comment
midcoastmainepatriot
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:12am
They can still use it for lap dances and booze right ????

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- coldnorth
  Posted on October 16, 2012 at 4:21am
  Only in Bahrain where Allah can’t see them.
  
  Report this comment
scrapadapolis
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:11am
youtube “what islam is not”

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kickagrandma
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:09am
So glad we do not have a MC!

PRAY ON, AMERICA!

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SamIamTwo
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:06am
Oh, maybe (put out the word) there is a chip that feds required master card to implant, eh?

And I heard they use pig oil for their laminate.

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- midcoastmainepatriot
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 9:43am
  mmmmmm……..pig oil…..mmmmmm…….hog fat………mmmmmmm …….greasy hog juice….mmmmmmm
  
  Report this comment
layla
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:03am
what is sharia compliant home financing ?!! special treatment. that should end well.

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- Norm D. Plume
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 2:11pm
  This is the piece of the infrastructure I foresaw would be needed, for Islam to take over the USA.
  
  Our dollar is going to collapse. Emirates, flush with ridiculous amounts of money from wars we are, and will be, involved with in the Middle East, will be able to offer Shari’ah banking services to people in the USA, and will be able to afford to put forth the reserves of hard assets.
  
  The American people will flock to such offers, because they need to be able to eat and put roofs over their heads.
  
  Just recite that little pledge and become a Muslim, and you, too, can live in a house and eat.
  
  Report this comment
SamIamTwo
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:02am
Is business really that bad? Oh that’s right, they have been over here since the 50′s and have jobs in just about every company you can think of and in the federal, state and city governments.

Expected…no. Surprised…no. Cortex warp…yes.

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Reeferman
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:01am
Dropped master card several years ago and now glad I did. I won’t do business with muslims or any company that does.

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- mikem1969
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:07am
  dropping mine a we speak. I ill not do business with any company that bows down to the evil that is islam.
  
  Report this comment
TruthMonkey
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:00am
As of this morning my company will no longer accept MC
If Visa follows this we will stop accepting Visa also.

I am also canceling my our company MC card

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- lookes2003
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:19am
  VISA has them too. Google it. I haven’t checked AMEX yet… I can only hope…
  
  Report this comment
BashfulBob
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:59am
I bet Visa couldn’t put out a card with the manger Scene on a Card,or any other

Religious Symbol…..

wonder If this means we no longer have to pay Interest on our card,or just a flat

user fee————–RIGHT!!

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- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:52am
  http://www.americaschristiancu.com/personal/giveback-visa-credit-card/giveback-visa-credit-card.html
  
  There are a number of Christian themed cards out there. Plus not to mention those that cater to personal images of your choice (of course not to say those haven’t become restricted as to images they allow).
  
  Report this comment
nzkiwi
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:57am
It’s actually worse than you think.

In Europe and the UK, muslims have created “no-go” areas which are Islamic enclaves ruled by clerics in accordance with Shariah. The police don’t go there and generally don’t interfere.

I bet you didn’t think that it would happen in the land of the free, but it’s beginning…

http://www.blazingcatfur.blogspot.ca/2012/10/dearborn-fordson-high-school-principal.html

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DEMOCRATS.ARE.EVIL
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:56am
Cool….Satan enters the credit industry.
But, isn’t Mecca the pedophile capitol of the world? Big risk, MasterCard.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:26am
  I’m pretty sure Satan was into that industry centuries ago.
  
  Report this comment
- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:55am
  Lol
  
  Report this comment
jackact
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:54am
Wonder if Islamic women are allowed to have one?
I’ll just keep my American Express card thank you.

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ExO
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:53am
This Country really needs to get back to being American….
We need to stop catering to every nut that wants to make this country just like the country they left.
The only thing aside from the MC logo they should allow it the American flag with In God We Trust on it….

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badswing
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:53am
step by step, inch by inch…and when we are weakened further, whether it be by more debt or less fire power, they will come.

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- brotherwil
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 9:12am
  a truer maxim has never been uttered
  
  Report this comment
Gonzo
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:48am
Have you seen the new Mastercard commercials?
C-4 explosive: $250
Detonator: $22.75
Wired vest $365
Dead infidels: Priceless

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:08am
  GONZO, LOL, no, but I’ll pay more attention during commercial breaks from now on.
  I’m wondering about the “fees” as opposed to interest. If they are not compounded daily, then I guess they are actually fees. To me, the card itself if a wasteful use of the Golden Ratio.
  
  Report this comment
- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:59am
  IEDs are cheaper than that.
  
  Report this comment
Gary_K
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:43am
Time to dump everything master card…..they can all go to mecca. (aka hell)

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- loriann12
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:47am
  How does a Muslim even own a credit card? Aren’t they against paying interest? So, does Mastercard demand it be paid off every time so they don’t pay interest, or do they just waive the interest if you’re Muslim?
  
  Report this comment
- Angel_light
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:58am
  loriann12
  
  “In addition to including a compass that allows Islamic adherents to comply with “salah” (praying five times per day, while facing Mecca — one of the Five Pillars of the Muslim faith), the MasterCard bans interest on loans. As Daily Mail notes, “riba,” or the charging of interest on loans, is forbidden in Islamic law.”
  
  They are waiving the interest b/c – “Shariah forbids “riba” or the charging of interest on loans because it could enable the rich to exploit the poor, encourages risk, and creates social and economic disharmony, ” – apparently. and instead – “To get around issues surrounding interest, MasterCard will charge user fees instead of interest rates”
  
  hmm…
  
  Report this comment
- Penn
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:00am
  This is a perfect example of a free market and free speech. If Mastercharge, as a business decides they wish to gain muslim business by offering sharia compliant cards, they should have that right. Now let’s see if they offer cards with the Ten Commandments or Beatitudes (sermon on the mount) verses. Until they do, it will be a cold day in mecca before I ever use a mastercard.
  
  Report this comment
- Angel_light
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:37am
  Penn- good point. I would love a card that had the ten commandments on it; and gave me special favors like exempt from ALL fees and interest, not just interest. (some sarcasm)
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:53am
  @Angel_light thanks, I skimmed the article and missed that part
  
  Report this comment
- Norm D. Plume
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 2:15pm
  Honestly, if the user fees weren’t crippling, this is the kind of finance I’d like to see take hold in the western world. At least, limit interest to a couple of percent. Credit-worthiness, then, would determine how much money you could borrow.
  
  Report this comment
- Welcome Black Carter
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 2:59pm
  Just another in a long list of hypocritical daily events of being a muslim. Just call it a “user fee”.
  Need to wash your feet? Just take off your shoes and wet your hands, then rub hands on socks. Replace shoes. Presto, feet washed!
  Need sex, can’t afford to buy a bride from a father yet? Grab a suni boy, it’s ok, not homosexual as long as it is a boy…
  Got religion? Memorize the koran. Don’t speak arabic, not a problem. You must still memorize in arabic…
  Don’t understand what is in the koran? Not a problem, very few muslims do. Just follow…
  
  Report this comment
guns-an-bibles
Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:41am
Time to Drop MasterCard.

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- Angel_light
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 7:59am
  That’s what I was thinking
  
  Report this comment
- starman70
  Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:16am
  DROP MASTER CARD? No, cut it up and then tell them to shove the pieces up their sand covered AZZ.
  
  Report this comment

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