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In one major American city, new rules may force banks to comply with Shariah law on lending and interest. One of the major tenets of Shariah law is that Muslims cannot pay interest on loans. In countries with large Muslim populations, there’s something known as Islamic banking, which manages to get around this through various machinations. However, the banks still make less money off of the loans, and under Shariah-compliant banking, there can be no late fees charged. Needless to say, this would create a massive new layer of bureaucracy for American lending institutions that for some reason wanted to give out loans that would underperform, so even in cities with large Muslim populations, it’s rare to find Islamic lending institutions. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray wants to see that change, and he’s apparently willing to force banks into Shariah-compliant lending if necessary. Only 30,000 Muslims live in the greater Seattle area, out of roughly three and a half million re