The glittering cityscape of Dubai stands as a bold declaration of the emirate's seemingly boundless ambition. The Burj Dubai, a planned office, hotel and residential high-rise, towers over a sea of skyscrapers and developers' cranes downtown; standing 116 stories high in late March and climbing by three stories a week, it is on its way to becoming the world's tallest building. International City, a residential district for 60,000 people that draws on architectural styles from nine countries, sprouts in the desert on the edge of the city. The World, a collection of luxury residences and resorts on 300 man-made islands, is rapidly taking shape just off the coast in the Gulf. Amid this feverish development, Dubai Islamic Bank is easy to miss. Headquartered in a modest low-rise building on the road to Dubai International Airport, the bank sits next to an auto dealership and a kitchen-ware shop. Unprepossessing appearances aside, it is shaking up the local banking industry by offering a broad range of financial services that comply with shari'a, or Islamic law, the region's hottest financial sector. Its ambitions are as grand as anything on the skyline.
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