Pyramid scheme

The author describes the huge losses faced by Egyptian investors in the collapse of so-called Islamic banks. These banks drew in the life savings of perhaps a half million investors and called themselves Islamic because they did not use or charge interest, which is banned in al-Qur'an. The author cites a number of causes of the collapse--amongst them are fraud, unwise investments, inadequate government regulation (due to the government's fear of seeming anti-Islamic, he holds), and unsophisticated investors. The investors apparently committed great amounts of money to these banks without any clear understanding of depositor rights. The banks involved are understood to have undertaken a pyramid scam operation.