This was surely in the works anyway, but the timing is noteworthy as interest rates on student loans are set to become more expensive next year in Britain. “Separate” will indeed be unequal, and anything that doesn’t err on the side of resulting in a better deal for Muslim borrowers will likely be decried as punitive, discriminatory (never mind the self-segregation inherent in the demand) and Islamophobic.
One also can’t rule out hearing at some point that any delay in finding a solution could result in alienation and “radicalization” by supposedly denying education and discouraging integration. “Muslims demand Sharia student loans because paying interest goes against Islamic law,” from the Daily Mail, August 22:
Muslim groups are calling for a separate student loan system because the interest due to be charged will conflict with rules of Sharia law.
The changes to tuition fees, which come into force next year, will see students charged higher rates of interest on the loans they take out to pay for university.
Until now they have paid the market rate of inflation but the reforms mean students who go on to earn more than £21,000 will have to pay interest of up to 3 per cent.
The humanity!
But in some interpretations of Sharia law, which is Islam’s legal system and governs every aspect of Muslim life, loans are forbidden.
Loans with interest, or riba are forbidden.
The National Union of Students has said it could be two years before an alternative system is worked out, leaving some Muslims fearing they cannot go on to further education.
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies told The Independent that the rate increase was a ‘pressing issue’.
A spokesman said: ‘Because the rate of interest is above the rate of inflation, it is quite blatant usury.’
Usury means the practice of lending money and charging the borrower interest, possibly at a very high rate.
Three percent, according to this story.
Mohammed Ahmed-Sheikh, 17, says the changes will discourage him from applying to university next year.
‘The fees are the reason I’m having doubts. I’m Muslim and loans are against my religion,’ he told The Independent.
Ahmad Mitoubsi, 21, who graduated this year, added: ‘We’ve just had to adapt to the British system or else I couldn’t have gone to uni.’
The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills says discussions are ongoing with student groups about a solution.
But it is thought an alternative, such as already happens with mortgages in which education could be ‘rented’ instead, may not be agreed until the 2013/14 academic year
Sharia law is Islam’s legal system. It was derived from the Koran, as the word of God, the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad and fatwas – the rulings of Islamic scholars.
Whose prophet?
It is different to [sic] the legal traditions of the Western world because it governs – or informs – everything about how a Muslim lives.