Zam Zam Cola, the Iranian drink introduced after that country's 1979 Islamic revolution, had huge sales growth a few years ago when a prominent Muslim cleric ruled that Coke and Pepsi were "un-Islamic."
Zam Zam is now exporting to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries, shipping more than 10 million bottles in the last four months of 2002.
Qibla -- named for the direction the faithful face when praying toward Mecca -- has plans to expand into the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and the Far East.
Abdul Hamid Ebrahim, a spokesman for the company, said Muslim countries like Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh are being targeted. Qibla hopes to increase production to a million bottles a month in March.
Mecca says it has sold more than 2 million bottles in France since November and has orders in Britain for 2 million bottles a month. It said it also has orders from Belgium, Germany, Australia and Canada.
Still, that's a long way from Coca-Cola, which sells more than 40 million servings every hour around the world.
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