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Preapproved by Allah
A religious awakening is spreading among bankers and mortgage lenders hoping to woo a largely untapped market: American Muslims. Though the country's millions of Muslims tend to be well educated (62 percent have bachelor's degrees) and prosperous (43 percent earn more than $50,000 a year), their home ownership rates lag behind those of most other groups. That's because the Quran prohibits charging or paying interest. According to Azizah (Vol. 4 #2), novel financial products called Islamic mortgages are gaining popularity with six big lenders and are now available through the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation in more than a dozen states.

The mortgages vary but always involve some kind of noninterest mechanism, such as a rent-to-own arrangement or a partnership plan that transfers a small percentage of ownership from seller to buyer with each monthly payment. Banks also consult with Shariah boards and Islamic financiers to make sure everything's halal.

Protection in Prison
The fact that sex takes place in prisons is fodder for countless bad jokes, gritty prison dramas, and tirades aimed at scaring young men straight. But federal and a majority of local governments continue to turn a blind eye to the reality by refusing to allow inmates condoms. In its January issue, POZ reports on efforts to pass federal legislation that would break the condom barrier in American penitentiaries. As the numbers show, the bill is particularly crucial for African Americans.

In the United States, one-third of African American men pass through the penal system, where 40 to 60 percent of inmates report engaging in sexual activity and the HIV virus is eight times more prevalent than among the general population. Black men are incarcerated at such high rates that they are still 3.5 times more likely to die from AIDS in prison than their white counterparts. More than 90 percent of all inmates are eventually released, many of them unknowingly infected with HIV, which almost certainly contributes to the fact that AIDS is the number one killer of black women ages 24 to 35.

Waterlogged Women
Water is an essential element for health and sanitation, and in the developing world it's usually women who bear the burden of providing this crucial resource. According to Peace Review (Oct./Dec. 2006), a 2004 study by Consumers International found that poor rural women in developing nations spend eight hours a day collecting and carrying more than 40 pounds of water (a load that can damage women's spines and cause various health problems). Manual flush latrines or caring for a patient with AIDS can quadruple what a woman has to carry. The study also found that 10 percent of girls do not attend school when they're menstruating and many drop out altogether once they hit puberty, because of lack of sanitation at school. The situation takes a financial toll on women as well. In India, for example, women spend 150 million workdays each year fetching water. If this were paid labor, it would add as much as 10 billion rupees ($227 million) to women's income.

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