A proposal to build a Montreal-area housing development aimed at Muslim homebuyers is taking heavy criticism from all three of Quebec’s major political parties. Nabil Warda, the Egyptian-Canadian behind the idea, says many Muslims consider it a sin to pay interest, making it difficult to buy homes. Born a Christian, Warda converted to Islam in his forties and voted for Quebec sovereignty in the 1980 referendum, The Toronto Star reports. “A lot of Muslims interpret bank interest as usury and consider it a very, very, very bad sin,” Warda told the Star. “So a lot of people have $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, but if they need to buy a house at $150,000 they have to wait another 20 years.”

The Montreal suburb of Brossard, on the city's South Shore. (Photo: Tino Rossini/Creative Commons) Warda’s plan is to build 80 homes on 100 hectares of land in the south-shore suburb of Brossard. Buyers would be offered Shariah financing, under which the bank officially owns the house and collects “rent.” “Let us call it a technicality, for me as an accountant, but for the believers it is not a technicality,” Warda told the National Post. But many politicians in Quebec have come out against the proposal, calling it discrimination. “It’s called a ghetto,” said MNA Eric Caire, a member of Coalition Avenir Quebec, as quoted at the Montreal Gazette. “It’s not acceptable for our society to build a place reserved to religious people. Just think if we built a place reserved for white people, would that be acceptable? The answer is no.”