Indonesia is counting on people like Nur Hanifah, a 50-year-old widow who sells plastic buckets and inflatable kiddie pools, to help it catch Malaysia, a country one-tenth the size that leads the world in Islamic finance.
Hanifah took out a Shariah-compliant loan from PT Bank Muamalat Indonesia after her husband’s death to help finance a store on the ground floor of a shophouse in Serang, two hours’ drive west of Jakarta. While she doesn’t pay any interest, borrowers like Hanifah typically must give the bank 40 percent of their profit plus part of the principal each month………………………………………..Full Article: Source