profitable ‘‘Shari’aa-compliant’’ products, which were designed and ap-
proved by no less than the superstar scholars, who were of course present
at the conference as speakers and as supporters of the ‘‘marketing and
sales’’ cause.
After this practice became the norm, LARIBA’s board of directors de-
cided not to participate in any conference that required that we pay to
speak. Our position has always been that we do not believe in the practice
of ‘‘pay to play.’’ We consistently told the organizers that if they thought we
could add value and substance to the seminar or the conference because of
what we achieved, we would be happy to participate. The result was, of
course, that not many of these organizations invited us to such conferences.
RF Banking Consumers and Potential Users
Four types of customers have contacted us for RF financing:
1.The puritans. These customers ‘‘shake in their boots’’ when the word
riba is uttered. They contact us because they are looking for an RF solu-
tion to a financing situation. They are willing to pay more to save them-
selves from participating in the haram act of dealing in riba. These are
the best customers any financial institution would hope to add to their
books. They have some of the best credit scores and are devout custom-
ers who are the best in fulfilling their contractual obligations. However,
it takes extreme patience and knowledge of the products and services,
as well as a long time, to explain the models used and to convince them
of (and make them comfortable with) the true RF nature of the
transaction.
2.Average consumer. These are customers who would be interested in
RF financing if it were made available at competitive prices, costs,
and terms as compared with conventional riba-based banks. These cus-
tomers can be Muslims or non-Muslims. At LARIBA and the Bank of
Whittier, we have had the great honor of adding many of these custom-
ers, who come to us from all faiths and backgrounds through referrals
because they appreciate the unique, sincere, and high-quality service as
well as the added value of the RF bankers.
3.Customers who claim that they are coming to RF banks because they
want RF finance, but after further investigation it is discovered that
they have been to every bank to seek financing, and after they failed to
get it, they came to us, the RF bankers, to see if we could help. These
customers need to be handled with great care and scrutiny. One such
experience was a potential customer who had a printing shop. He stated
that he liked RF financing because the RF bank ‘‘participates’’ in theRF Banking Model for the 21st Century 243