Many investors are praying for relief these days, but one entrepreneur is taking a more systematic approach. Ramzi Abu Khadra is CEO of iHilal.com, a year-old Dubai company that's marketing mutual funds and online stock trading to strict Muslims. Says the 34-year-old Abu Khadra, "We want to be the Islamic equivalent of Schwab or E*Trade." iHilal.com - which takes its name from the Arabic word for "crescent" - aims to reach the estimated 140 million Muslims worldwide who have at least $1,000 to invest. Devout Muslims follow shari'ah, religious precepts that cover all aspects of daily life, including finance. To comply with shari'ah, investment vehicles cannot lend or collect interest; hold debt; or profit from gambling, pornography or alcohol. And because shari'ah requires that profit and loss be shared by both parties to a contract, derivatives and bonds are off-limits. Fortunately, more than 1,000 Big Board stocks make the grade, says Abu Khadra, a former project manager with Washington-based boutique investment bank Carlyle Group. Given what's happened to the Nasdaq composite index, "there is something to margin-free, debt-free types of finance," he says. So far iHilal has some $6 million in capital, courtesy of Accenture Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of the former Andersen Consulting, and Rasmala Private Equity Group, a Dubai-based financial consortium. Abu Khadra, who hopes to raise an additional $10 million, puts iHilal's odds for success at 100 percent, "inshallah (if God wills)."