Excerpt:
A Parramatta co-operative specialising in financial products compatible with sharia law has spruiked Islamic schools as a profitable investment venture that's failsafe because the Australian government ultimately backs them.
In a speech delivered via video to Islamic Co-operative Finance Australia Ltd last December, Sheik Tawfique Chowdhury said investment in the schools offered a high rate of return.
He said investment in the schools would generate huge wealth, which would put an end to so-called bullying of Muslims.
Sheik Chowdhury, a medical doctor who also established worldwide Muslim charity Mercy Mission, suggested applying the same principles to investing in retirement villages because mainstream facilities were where a lot of people "lose a lot of their Islam".