Saudi Arabia's unique financial system!

by Ami Komo
(Suginami, Tokyo, Japan)

My image about Saudi Arabia is that they must have a lot of money. Because they have a lot of resources--that is, of course, oil!! Not only Saudi Arabia, but almost all countries in the Middle East have a lot of resources and therefore they can get a lot of money.

Recently I got interested in world contemporary history (maybe I said last week). So just now I'm in the middle of books about it.

The books say the Middle East has a lot of money because of resources. They can invest the money in leading companies in developed countries and they can increase their money more.

Companies in developed countries also can get money from the Middle East, so they seem to help each other. It's a very interesting system, isn't it??

Even more interesting, almost all countries in Middle East are Islamic. Islam has a unique financial system. They can't take interest from people!!

The Koran doesn't allow people to get interest when they borrow money. But they established a unique system where they can make a profit without interest.

An Islamic lawyer checks the Koran and makes sure a contract between bank, company, and people is legal. I think it is incredible for Japanese!!

Who cares about the teachings of Buddhism when people contract in Japan?? The Koran influences people in Middle East--not only their customs, even also financial rules!!

To know about Islam is very interesting, so I want to know about more!!