When the Landlord Is Muslim - New York Times

Back in May, our redoubtable blog member Always on Watch posted an article titled Once Muslim, Always Muslim? that used the dispute of ownership of India's Taj Mahal to launch into a discussion about Muslim ownership of land. Now comes this article from the New York Times, via Dhimmi Watch, When the Landlord is Muslim, about how Middle Easterners, flush with petrodollars from rising oil prices, are investing in real estate using sharia-compliant financial instruments.

Is anyone indignant as I am that the Transpoint Building in SW, which houses the U.S. Coast Guard, has been purchased by a Kuwaiti financial services firm? No building used by the Federal government should be owned by non-U.S. individuals or companies. It's especially appalling to me that U.S. Coast Guard, which is one of our first lines of defense, is being housed in a building purchased through sharia-based financing!

Also interesting is the fact that self-storage centers are attractive to Muslim investors, for the ostensible reason that owners do not have access to individual units that tenants might be using for haram activities.