Islamic finance is widely available throughout the Muslim world, but is rare in the United States, says Yahia A. Rahman, who bought Bank of Whittier, a tiny community bank in Los Angeles that specializes in financing for Muslims who want to comply with Islamic anti-usury laws that prohibit the paying or charging of interest, in 1982 and five years later opened a related financing operation, Lariba American Finance House, to handle mortgages and small business ventures.
Deals are structured so that the bank buys into the venture with the entrepreneur, who runs the company and buys the bank out, with payments structured so that the bank is compensated for its investment. Profits and losses are shared; the overall cost tracks with a traditional loan repayment at a standard interest rate………………………………………..Full Article: Source