As it's being said, all 3 Abrahamic religions forbid interest, but then even the Papal States ran a bank even back at the Rennaisance, and in most of Europe it was made so that one of the few professions jews could practice is money loaning. While loans and interests have never being a big part of arab and persian history (although you must notice that development and invrestment have also being historically much smaller in the muslim world than europe and america, which decreases the need for loasns), but nowadays even banks on saudi arabia, which is ruled by the Sharia, do charge interest.
As for interest being immoral, loaning money is a much needed money in today's world, and like any other service, it deserves to get payed. Interest is that payment. By saying it's wrong to charge interest, you're saying it's wrong to be payed for working.