Banking – from the Muslim perspective

This was a really interesting read – Inside Islam goes provides an explanation on how banking in the Islamic religion is suppose to work. The most surprising thing? No interest on loans!

According to Business Week, instead of earning interest banks and individuals profit from investments in other ways. Investments are technically considered leases, where the individual will pay back the total sum borrowed in a set amount of time with “rental payments.” Alternatively, the bank turns over the payments to a third party. The third party, Citibank for example, shares the profits with investors in return for service. By charging a “service fee” for doing its part in the transaction, Citibank can earn steady profits from providing a line of credit.

OK – so it’s kind of like interest. But not. Still, an interesting look on where religion and economics meet.

LittleBigPlanet aftermath: How long until….

Here’s a serious question out there. With the delay of LittleBigPlanet because of the inclusion of a song with quotes from the Koran that “had” to be removed for fear of offending Muslims -

How long until user created LittleBigPlanet levels are released with songs done entirely with quotes from the Koran?

Both positive and negative. You know someone wants to do it. Someone’s already dreaming of making a user made level with beautiful buildings, perhaps a Braid level of genius showing some of the beauty and fascination with the Middle East, and how the Islamic faith ties into it. Maybe like a little “History of Islam” level made by some enterprising historian.

Or – how long until we see the opposite, a stupid, hate filled LittleBigPlanet level that embarrasses the entire gaming community just to get on the news and make attention for themselves?

I can’t help but wonder if Sony just made the problem even worse by drawing so much attention to what should have been a non-issue.

MTV interviews LittleBigPlanet musician

Big thanks to Ms. Leigh Alexander who posted about MTV interviewing Toumani Diabate, the musician behind the controversial music that was included in the game LittleBigPlanet. Because the music contained verses from the Koran, Sony decided to postpone the game so they could remove it for fear of offending Muslims.

Personally, I think it to be a bad call, since, as the article points out, this is all based on the complaints of one person, on a forum – yeah, like forums aren’t full of trolls.

A virtual world for Muslims?

I’m not sure which is more interesting – that there are plans for a Muslim themed Second-Life like virtual world aimed at Muslims, or that the system will be offering social networking features usually banned in some Middle Eastern countries.

I’m usually not down on things that separate people based on ethnic or religious lines, but at the same time, it’s always nice to have a place where people share your feelings and beliefs.

The question is – how will the Middle Eastern countries like Iran – which are big on censorship – react? And just as importantly, how will the US government treat this new communications medium?

What followers of Islam really lost with the LittleBigPlanet Ban

LittleBigPlanet was suppose to have been released yesterday, October 19th. However, the game was found to have background music that included tracks from the Koran. Here’s the part I thought was interesting:

That said, it’s a shame LBP is taking it in the shorts like this, and it’ll have a chilling effect on games’ efforts to engage or include Middle East culture going forward. Anything said in Arabic won’t be bothered to be translated for vetting or approval. It’ll just be removed, with LBP and Media Molecule cited as the reason.

Look at the current election, where you have people afraid of one candidate because he has a middle name “Hussein”, a popular Middle East name. You have Muslim believers who fight and die alongside our soldiers, but to too many people, they are “the enemy” – that the actions of a few terrorists stands for all people. That’s like claiming that the actions of the KKK represent all Christians.

Imagine if in a background song someone put in a section from the bible, and put it in a song, and people started freaking out over it. Considering that it happens all the damn time (see “The Byrds” with “Turn, Turn, Turn”), people would assume that its crazy.

Who’s to blame for this situation that even speaking a line from Islamic scripture is considered a reason to be afraid? Is it the Islamic leaders who call for death threats against cartoonists and writers like Salan Rushie – or us for not standing up and saying “No, this is ridiculous – we won’t let a loudmouth minority of any religion dictate to everybody else what is and isn’t proper.”

Either way, I’m sad that Sony felt the need to freak out instead of saying “You know, the lyrics are beautiful, and if you think the Koran is something to be ashamed of, deal with it.”