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Claim: An Islamic bank is the majority owner of the Caribou Coffee chain.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2002]
Origins: In 1992, newlyweds John and Kim Puckett, both recent MBA recipients, developed a vision for a gourmet coffee company while "hoofing around Alaska's Denali Park." Pursuing that vision, they raised the capital to open the first Caribou Coffee shops in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1993. (If you're wondering why anyone would challenge the now-giant Starbucks in this line of business, note that at the start of 1992 the Starbucks chain had a mere
Unfortunately, the new venture was plagued by problems nearly from the start, and by 1996 Caribou board members were expressing concern about the company's operating problems. In 1997, Jay Willoughby, an operations expert from Pepsico, was brought into the fold; although the chain opened nearly Should any of this be a cause of concern to coffee lovers, especially since Caribou Coffee is second only to Seattle-based Starbucks (albeit a distant second, with a couple of hundred stores to Starbucks' 4,700) as the USA's largest chain of non-franchised specialty coffeehouses? The impression many people are taking from the message quoted above is: "Oh, no; Caribou is owned by Islamic militants, the same people who are trying to kill us!" That isn't what the message claims, however. The protest was that the chairman of the First Islamic Investment Bank's supervisory board (which advises First Islamic on issues of Islamic law regarding its investments) was also on the supervisory board of the Union for Good, a coalition of charities (such as the London-based Interpal) providing various means of relief to Palestinians. The message notes that there is "nothing wrong with a charity to help Palestinians" but then suggests Caribou Coffee should be shunned because of two sentences from the introductory paragraph on the Union for Good's English-language web site:
The continuing aggression from the occupying forces against unarmed Palestinians coupled with the blockade, the destruction of the resources of state, not to mention random attacks on innocent children, the elderly and women as part of a collective punishment campaign has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the wounding of thousands more. The
Certainly the statements that Al-Aqsa Intifada "is the latest of a long line of affliction faced by the people of Palestine," that Palestinians were "massacred" at Deir Yassin, and that Palestine has been "Moreover, the blockade has a crippling effect on the labour force resulting in the loss of the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian workers. This can only be termed a human catastrophe. Not only that, an economic disaster, a state of famine, the paralysis of all national institutions and public services, the destruction of the education system and a deterioration of the health situation are the natural outcomes. In the light of what is mentioned above a group of international charities have collaborated in launching a human relief campaign to expand the circle of support to avert the threat and danger posed by the occupying forces. The aim is also to raise public awareness of the real tragedy of the current situation and to endeavour to ease the effects of the unjust and discriminatory sanction imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This is done in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters in support of their steadfastness in what is called the I’tilafu All the participating charitable organisations have agreed to form the Coalition of Charities which will However, Dr. Al-Qaradawi "has certainly said he does not think acts of violence against Israeli citizens is terrorism," and he is noted for his virulently anti-American stance and other viewpoints that many westerners find abhorrent:
An Egyptian-born theologian, Sheik Yusuf Abdullah al-Qaradawi, with a history of anti-American militancy even longer than Sheik Fadlallah's, expresses a similar view. From his base in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, the 75-year-old sheik has issued Islamic fatwas, or decrees, on issues like the need for Muslims to boycott McDonald's restaurants, and on husbands' right to beat their wives as long as they do not draw blood.1
Granted, Dr. Al-Qaradawi's views were made as a private citizen rather than as an office of Caribou (and we've discussed on In July 2002, the First Islamic Investment Bank announced that they had severed all ties with Last updated: 17 November 2006 This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
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