Credit Cards is a very convenient method of making purchases without carrying cash. This convenience has has caused their proliferation, and almost everyone has one.

The way a normal credit card works is that you make purchases using your card and the bank issuing the card will pay on your behalf to the merchant providing you the product or service.

The bank deducts a certain percentage (2.5% normally) from the merchant in return for processing the transaction and adding the money to the merchant's account.

By owning a company's stock, you own a piece of a business as a silentpartner (you do not participate in the day-to-day running of the business).

Mortgage is a long term loan, usually for a person or family topurchase a house over a long period (30 years). This is fairlycommon in Western societies (perhaps the only way onecould afford or buy a house in those societies).

This practice barely exists in Muslim countries, at least for now.

This involves interest (and a lot of it!), and therefore alternativeshave to found to this method.

Conventional Bank Accounts fall into two main categories:

• Saving Account:
  Here you keep your money in the bank (for safety reasons) as well as earn a fixed interest rate on it.
• Checking Account:
  This normally doesn't have interest paid by the bank.

There are more than 1.2 Billion Muslims worldwide. This represents a huge demographic by any standard.

In today's economy there are not much choice for a Muslim to conduct his/her banking and investment without running into interest.

By grouping together, Muslims can show the global financial institutions that there are sufficient numbers that warrant customized products that avoid interest, and yet make good business sense.

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