Exclusive Q&A With the President of a Michigan Sharia Bank Part I

Back in JanuaryI posted about a Michigan bank which had implemented Islamic banking. The bank also went way beyond that and banned alcohol at after work gatherings and they have also banned their annual Christmas party. These three changes were clearly done to cater to the Islamic community while showing no concern for the beliefs of anyone else. I want to state that I am not against the free market. I am just pointing out how the free market is being used by Muslims to slowly change the country to suit Islam. This is one of the reasons that I am against Muslim immigration. Because the less of them that are here, the less of this we will see. Continually changing aspects of our country to suit Islam is not fair to our country's future non-Muslim generations. As they will just continue to come up with new demands.

Here is the the email that I had sent to Mr.Ranzini the President of University Bank.

Mr.Ranzini,
I am writing in concern of your bank implementing sharia banking, which I find highly offensive.Do you realize that this is just one way that Muslims are slowing getting aspects of Sharia law into Western culture?

I also realize that you are doing this to try and raise more business. But why did you ban the annual Christmas party and alcohol? If Muslims are such tolerant people why would they be offended by what other people believe in? Did you even begin to consider the beliefs of anyone else besides the Muslims?

Thank you,
Christoper Logan


In his response he tries to spin it that he had a sudden awaking against alcohol because of alcoholics, and he also states that he is against charging interest. So we are supposed to believe that he as banker is all of a sudden against high interest being charged? As he talks in circles he claims that it is not appropriate for his bank to promote a religion, but yet they are promoting sharia banking.

Dear Christopher:
Thanks for your email.
The principles of Islamic Law that you are referring to, are part of both Jewish and Christian legal systems. By saying that you don’t want Sharia law in Western culture isn’t logical. Please see attached history of usury for your information in case you’d like to learn more about this topic. A condensed history is as follows:
History of Usury (As a Catholic I find the history of usury rather interesting)
Jewish Talmud says it’s illegal for Jews to charge Jews interest
Jesus says it’s illegal for everyone to charge interest
Mohammad (610) agrees with Jesus
Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215), c. 27, only forbids Catholics to exact excessive interest.
Monti di Pieta societies (Mountain of Piety) founded in Italy 1460s after first founded by Bishop of London in 1361 are the first Western World banks following the Fourth Council’s edict
Martin Luther did not change the policy, so it applies to all Protestant faiths (usually)
Enacted into law in all Western societies that usury is only the charging of excessive interest
1% per month was the usury limit when I was growing up
Inflation in the 1970s prompted rises in the usury law in most states
Usury in Michigan is set at 25% per year
Credit card companies charging 36% are immoral in my opinion
So, in summary, there is great agreement among the faiths that there are issues charging interest. Catholics and Protestants are a little more liberal on this point than Muslims or Jews. But we are all in agreement that usury is bad and immoral.

As to why we stopped having a Christmas party and don’t serve alcohol, well if you know any alcoholics or recovering alcoholics or any lawyers, you know why it’s a bad idea for a company to serve alcohol at a party. As to the Christmas party, it isn’t really appropriate for our bank to promote religion of any type, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish or otherwise, so we don’t have any parties like that anymore. Just because we sell them services doesn’t mean we promote religion – quite the contrary! It’s true that our bank is targeting Muslims for Islamic Banking however, at the Kroger I walked down the aisle with the supermarket’s international food aisle, and I saw the following ethnic food:
Mexican
French
Southern
Kosher
Italian
Middle Eastern
Chinese
Thai
Etc.
It was evident to me that Kroger is attempting to increase sales by offering a variety of products. We are doing the same. There are 2.4 million Muslims in the U.S.
We do have a Christmas tree in the lobby nicely decorated during the Holiday Season from the day after Thanksgiving to Epiphany, but since that has become rather generic, it offends nobody (actually in the beginning the tree was a Druidic religious symbol since adopted by Macy’s for Christmas decorations at their NYC store in the late 1800s).
Best wishes,
Stephen Lange Ranzini
President
University Bank

Stay tuned for part 2.