Religion adds wrinkle to Iowa flood recovery

By - Associated Press
Monday, July 14, 2008 - Web Link
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July 13, 2008

Tayeeb Foods Inc. always enjoyed a modest profit, but Nazar Osman said running his six-year-old Sudanese grocery was never about the money.

Now the survival of his store in Coralville depends on finding money, but unlike hundreds of other small Iowa businesses affected by last month's flooding Osman can't accept low-interest loans from the federal Small Business Administration.

Like many Muslims, he takes a strict interpretation of the Quran's prohibition against paying interest.

Osman, 41, was among the thousands of Iowans pushed out of their homes and businesses by flooding last month.

Prepared for flooding, but not eight feet deep

He had prepared for the likelihood that about a foot of water would hit his business, hurriedly raising his freezers, refrigerators and everything else a foot off the ground.

However, the Iowa River eventually filled his store with water 8 feet deep, soaking everything for days.

"I was serving 400 to 500 people from Sudan and other parts of Africa," Osman said. "It was a small store, but it was important to that community. For the last six years this was the only store surviving in this area for these people."