Is Islamic Capitalism feasible? (a tangent)

[Theophylact]

ClubMed, I have a tangential but not wholly unrelated question.

As I understand it, Islam* bars the lending of money at interest. Although this isn't the only way of raising money, to what extent do you think this crimps the development of capitalism (and hence the fostering of individual rights) in Muslim countries?

*By the way, so does Judaism, but people have rationalized their way around it.

[Warthog]

heh...interesting concept. Never thought of that.

[LinuxNewbie]

some loud mouth but pretty smart jewish guy i know told me "there are 2 types of jew, the religious kind and the rich kind" infering that as long as you are religious, you will never be wealthy.
technically the christian bible tells me that if i don't give away everything i own, i'll live in a shack in heaven or else burn in hell.... so i ditched that and made my own religion

[ClubMed]

Theo PM.

[OuTpaTienT]

oxymoron?

[wyvrn]

They do not allow interest, but they use a similar concept called discount rates. I learned about this in my economics class. I don't remember exactly how it works, but its similar to the relationship between bonds and stocks. Bonds are often sold at less than face value and redeemed for face value, the difference being the yield. It's not interest per say, but it gets the job done in many cases.