Hacene Chebbani – Fiqh Of Business, Cryptocurrency(Bitcoin) And Halal Investing
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The speakers discuss the use of cryptocurrencies in various political and cultural settings, including cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrencies, and cryptocurrencies. The potential risks of the pandemic and the need for employees to stay home are also discussed. The impact of the pandemic on their business and the need for employees to stay safe is also emphasized. The speakers mention their recent acquisition of Skyflow and how it will help their business model in the future. The importance of being flexible is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Salam Alaikum Hello workato
from New Layer blood aminos salatu salam, ala chef Hussain see no Mohammed while he or Saudi as you may.
Today we'll talk a little bit about money,
the Islamic perspective about money or the nature of money in Islam. And then we'll talk a little bit about cryptocurrencies being lighter.
And what many Muslim scholars have said about them?
Try to understand this new technology.
Now, basically, yeah, and so this is
in front of me here, this is the definition of,
of money from a Britannica. He said, It's a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange.
So the word commodity, of course, it's debatable is controversial, there are people who don't believe that money should be a commodity.
And sometimes money was a commodity, other times it was not a commodity, because commodity is something that has value. Right. So by looking into the history of money, we try to understand we say, Okay, this term here used by this,
the source at least it is, it is controversial. It's not something that is agreed upon, but we are not going to stop at it. But it is something it's a mode of payment, that is accepted by general consent as a medium of exchange in any specific society in any specific community. Right.
And it is the medium in which prices and values are expressed as as currency. So currency is the expression of money, money is expressed most of the time, in the form of currency.
It circulate and anonymously from person to person, because it doesn't have a name, when you give $20 a bill of $20 $100 to someone else doesn't have your name, right. And this person will give it to someone else, and then the other person will give it to another company or a business. So it doesn't have to have an identity here, even though there are people who said these bills have serial numbers, but no one is paying attention to the serial numbers, right? No one tried to memorize them or know that you're worried about the value of the money, how much it you can buy with it,
and the purchasing power. So and from country to country to facilitate trade. So, the purpose of using money is to facilitate trade which is which is exchange of goods and services. And it is the principal measure of wealth, it is the principal measure of false
Allahu taala. And
now, when we talk about the functions of money,
whatever the root mn scholars Muslim or non Muslim scholars, all of them, they said these are the main functions of money medium of economic exchange, people use it to exchange as I said goods and services, it is a store of value. When you have 1000 or 10,000 Canadian dollars at home or in your bank account, you know how much you have, you own and it is a value. It has some value, you know that you can use it to buy things you buy services or good or goods. So it is a store of value. Maybe it's not a perfect, not all forms of money are perfect stores of value. Right but this is something else but in general money is supposed to be a store of value and it is a unit of account.
Now, what are the different types of money?
There is commodity money.
It's money that has an intrinsic value like gold and silver. This is what is called commodity money.
And this is the money that the Quran mentioned. And it is
it's the money that
It used to be, it used to be used at the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Salah Sam was born in Makkah I grew up in Makkah, he moved to Medina. During his time people were using the Roman dinars made of gold and they were using Durham the Persian Durham's, it was made of silver, that was their money at the time.
Later on, there are some some Khalifa or some rulers who created the third type of money it's called the from copper. And it is the started using Cohen's copper coins. And in Arabic is called the flus.
So this is what it follows the term flus is coming from these copper coins. But this is all commodity money.
Representative money is a certificate or a token that can be exchanged for the underlying commodity. And this ended in 19, to the best of my knowledge in 1971.
Right when President Nixon
you know, decided that there will be no connection between the US dollar and the gold. That's it, there was no connection from that time, it was disconnected. But before that time, supposedly, by law, if you have method and a bill of 100, American dollars, if you go to the bank, you can you have the right to give them this bill, and they give you its value in gold. In theory, Allah Allah if it was possible in practical life, I'm not sure if people used to do it, is to go to the bank, give them money, and then they receive gold.
You know, I'm not sure about that. But in theory, at least, that was the case. That was the case before 1971. fiat money, it has no intrinsic value.
And it does not represent any underlying commodity, which is paper money. So the money that we're using these days is called fiat money.
So it has no relationship with gold or any other asset. It's a money that was decreed and declared as an official money by the government, or use as a legal tender they call it they call it a legal tender, that means it is legally accepted by the government accepted as you know, tax payment accepted for, you know, credit payment for anything like society in a specific society. This is the official money, it's called legal tender. And nowadays, as I said, it is fiat money.
Why we it has no intrinsic value, because if
the government decide not to use Methodist Canadian dollars, this bills that we have nowadays,
if they create a new form of money, then the money that you have at home will have no value, just paper.
So it derives its value from the decision of what of the government or the central authority, they decided that they should be used as a money. And that's it, it has no real money, real value in itself.
Now, you know, characteristic characteristic of money.
By looking at the history of money, it has to be durable, durable. That means
if you if you take it from one place to one place, you use it, pass it from one hand turn hand is not affected, it's still good in a good shape. And if you go to some countries, they give you some old bills, but they're still using them. But in general Money, Money should be durable, should be easily portable. In the old days during the time of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi salam. They used to use this golden dinars and their hands and they used to put them in bags. So if you have a big quantity of dinars, you have to carry a bag and people will pay attention that you carrying something.
Nowadays, if you have like 1000 Canadian dollars in your wallet, no one will pay attention
to you, right because it's in your wallet. So money should be easily portable. At a certain time in history. cows were using
as a form of money, flowers, shells. So imagine a cow taking because you want to buy something from the market. You take your cow, so give it to someone and he would give you something. So it's not easily possible. It should be divisible. Because I mean, people the goods that people use, have different values. There are things that are expensive. You need to spend a big amount of money
But there are things that are very cheap and you cannot spend like metal and you cannot buy them with let's say at the time of Rasul Allah Azza Selim they had this golden dinar which has the weight of this dinar was four point 25 grams of pure gold. That's the value of what around these days around 320 350 between 320 to 350 Canadian dollars so if you have this dinar only and you don't have the Durham's, because it was equivalent to tender house, then it will be difficult for you, you know, to buy something cheap milk, or some or bread or something very cheap that doesn't need like you don't need one golden dinar to spend on it. So anyway, it has to be divisible. It has to be
uniform uniform, it's all the same. The same golden dinar that is used methadone in this city should be used in the other city in Edmonton in Ottawa, the same bills that are used being used in Calgary they are used in different cities, different towns, so it's uniform and it should be it should come with limited supply because if it is widely available, then it has it will have no value. Right, it will have no value and people have to carry a big amount of money to buy to buy something
a car will I have seen I've seen
watch the news in Lebanon, just a few weeks ago, someone was talking
someone who was supposed to import cars from from a different country, you know, the amount of money that he was sending to the airport to pay for the cars like this money was carried in boxes. Yeah, because they live on his money. Now. They use the lira or the rial, the lira, right lira years, so has no value. So they had to carry their money in boxes, to send them to the airport and to make the payment for a few cars that he was supposed to receive from a different country.
Anyway, so it has to be it has to come with a limited supply. And it is accepted as a payment. And this is the most important thing. It is accepted as a payment by looking at the statements of the Obama
years this is the most important statement. What is surely our money. Now this is very important. As I said at the time, for Salah Salem, it was commodity money, gold and silver.
Then we had the Islamic dinar, who mentored the Islamic dinar. The books of history are saying it was Abdel Malik of number one, the fifth Umayyad Caliph.
But there are some other Muslim scholars who said Omar Pablo, the Allah and himself tried to mince on dinars.
Bye, but I'm not sure why. I shouldn't say he was not successful, but his dinners were not popular will not known. Maybe because he didn't create a specific department like Aberdeen medical Number one, he created a specific department for this operation. And he hired judges judges to supervise the minting of the Islamic dinner. So he hired people to work in this department. It was a separate department in the government. And that's why maybe his dinar was very popular and it was used in different places, different towns. So also, Abdullah Zubayr tried to make some some money during his time. But he was a colleague for a short period of time, and that's why his money was not very
popular. Anyway, most of the Muslim scholars attributed this invention to Abdul Malik ignore one they said there was misunderstanding between him
and between the Roman emperor who wanted to because they wanted to, because of this misunderstanding. He wanted to place an insult for the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in a golden dinar.
So Abdul Malik one on one at a time, he became very upset. And he decided to stop using the Roman dinars at that time said we're gonna make our own dinars. And then it created this department within the Muslim state at the time, and they started and it was the first dinar was minted in the year 77 After the Hegira of our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam 77 in the Hijiri calendar, that would be
77 plus 622.
That will be
A 679 679
says 99 699 in the Gregorian calendar, that would be 699. And that was the first Islamic dinner that was mended under the rule of Abdul Malik even more one. Radi Allahu Allah Rahim Allah He was not as a hobby. It was an Omega Calif and he was a scholar. He said he was a scholar, he was a fucky.
And then the, during the basket era, the continued using the same
currency, dinars and Durham's. During the time of Lima Muhammad, I'm not sure if it was within his community, or he was asked about a different community
who wanted to start using the copper coins and flus and he said, If they agree on it, that's fine. If they agree, if they make an agreement, and they are fine with using these copper coins, then the Mamluks also the Mamluks, they are the kings, they were kings of Egypt. During the time they kept using the same
commodity money, the Ottomans, were using the same thing. Of course, with different writing with different printing with different sometimes they would write some in an air from the Quran, or the same Muhammad Rasulullah who say La Ilaha illa Allah on the dinar, or sometimes he would print their name, they meant it with the name of the color, and the date of minting. So, so this money came in different forms, but it was a commodity money. Now representative money was used later on, and then we ended up using fiat money during this time, which has no intrinsic value, and it doesn't represent any asset.
Now the question is, did Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam tell Muslims,
about gold and silver about you know the golden dinars and this their hands they were which were made of silver? Did he say that this is our money?
This is very important question.
Our money should be made from gold and silver. Did he say that there is nothing there is no Hadith
no Hadith, nothing in the Sunnah that suggests that Rasulillah Salam said anything about the form or the shape of money, no comment at all.
So he left it, as it is, he did not interfere with the nature of money. It was He was born in Makkah people were using these golden dinars and Durham's made of silver and he kept using the same currency. But he told people about the rules of riba he told me to he taught Muslim the rules of zakat he explained
you know, he taught them about how to use money in a halal way. He talked about different transactions that are halal. He mentioned different transactions that are haram, but he did not say anything about the nature of money and this is very important. Why? Because there are some Muslims
who believe that this should be the golden silver is sunnah money.
What do they mean by sunnah money, that we Muslims are not supposed to use paper money, that our money should be made of gold and silver.
That is the opinion and the view of some Muslims. And they are a very small minority. Overwhelming majority of Muslim scholars accepted the representative money. They accepted fiat money. They said this money that is accepted by societies now and commune different communities. And it is fine to use this money and we shouldn't feel guilty. We shouldn't feel guilty. Even if we believe that fiat money is not a perfect system. That's a different story. If you believe that fiat money is not a perfect system, that's fine. We know that it has a problems. It has issues inflation and the printing of money and stealing actually their governments are stealing from people. Right. But But
still, it is it was accepted by Muslims scholars as a form of money. Why? Because even the Quran when you met her in the Quran, the Quran spoke about gold and silver, but he didn't say this should be your money.
Your money should be in the form of gold should be made of gold and silver. The Quran talks about collecting gold and silver and not
Things a cat about the dangers of collecting golden silver and not paying zakat that's very dangerous. So the Quran talks about zakat, but doesn't tell us that this is your money. And in Surah 10 calf, they will use to use coins at that time.
One of them or some of them told one of the youth who escaped and they went to the cave, take this coin, go to the town and buy some food for us.
The coins were made of gold and silver Allah Allah maybe I think silver work because of what I mentioned work and this is silver so it was made of silver. But but doesn't tell us that this should be your money, right it should be made of gold and silver. The Quran talks about protecting the importance of protecting wealth that we are not allowed to devour the property of other people without a valid reason to take the property of other people.
No instructions about the shape or form of money clear instructions about Riba and zakat, plenty of a hadith as in the Quran about the rules of riba right, but nothing about the form of money.
We have the story of Omar hardtop Ravi Allahu Anhu. During his time, he said look at the hem to an asthma Adara he means you do the evil.
Fucking Rella who is a labor ear for me sick as someone who Duffy Multimatic, who to help build and in military. So on top, he said I I thought about making money out of the skin of camels.
He wanted to slaughter camels, take their skin and make money out of the skin of camels. So people around him told him then there will be no camels left.
All of them will be slaughtered. And then there will be no camels left. So now we change his mind did not do it. Now there are some some. If you read the research of some Muslim scholars nowadays, they said this story is not they're not sure if it is reliable or not. Yeah, and either by looking at the chain of transmission, the chain of narration. The one who narrated the story is an Hassanal bursary, and it hasn't busted he did not live or he was born when he died and wouldn't normally have died because he was three years old. So they said it's impossible that has already heard anything from a marble Hatha, which means that this narration is disconnected. This is something that we
study in the science of Hadith, right. But it is found in multiple Imam Malik, when I used to study in the city of Medina.
Our teachers used to say that many scholars of Hadith have looked into the book of Lima Malik and they verified all the narrations of this book, they said they are connected from other sources. So they looked at them and they found that their chain of narration the chain of narration of all these ahaadeeth are connected. This verification happened in different sources.
But we have the statement of Lima Malik himself, he said if people decide to make money, they were to agree to make money out of his skins, I would I would dislike for them to use it as a deferred payment for euro to buy another form of currency you know, if you if you buy
if you buy currency with another currency, it has to be a spot to trade. The delivery has to be immediate. This is Sarah. This is app the self it's called the app the surf. If you buy Canadian with American you know to make it halal to avoid the river of delay, the transaction has to be on the spot. So the delivery has to be immediate delivery. So everyone will receive the counter value within the transaction within the same transaction cannot be delayed. So Imam Malik he said if people use money out of skins, I want them to follow the rules of riba right which means that it means that Imam Malik would be fine if people decide to create another form of money other than gold
and silver. This is what it means.
And this is the conclusion of many Muslim scholars like Chef Istanbul Tamia everyone Kamal Ghazali and many classical scholars, the V have a decision they said that money does not have any defined or specific condition
It is left to the earth to the customary practices of people and understanding and agreement of people this is a decision that was made or a conclusion that was reached by these Muslim scholars.
So that if people agree on any form of money, then if it is accepted within that specific society, then it should be used as a form of money and all the rules of riba have to apply to this form the new form of money and people have to pay zakat on it if the audit because people have used Chels have used many things in the past right.
This is the also the Hanafi legal school the the assert that currency is that which people deem by common usage and social Congress social congruent care, social agreement. If they agree on something to be used as a form of money, that's fine. And they have to respect the rules of Riba and pay zakat on it. And that was also the statement of Imam Ahmed, as I said, when he was asked about copper coins or flus. Now let's talk about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency.
Now cryptocurrency this is the definition of Investopedia. They said it's a digital or a virtual currency
secured by cryptography, which is a hidden language, a very special language used by computers nowadays, and based on a network that is distributed across a large number of computers.
This is the definition if you want to study about cryptocurrencies, I think Investopedia is providing good amount of information, you can go and read what they say about crypto currencies.
Now, why do we care about Bitcoin? This is a very good question here.
Because people I mean, might say,
you know, many people are doing things creating different modes of transactions, they are inventing different forms of money, why should they care as a Muslim?
If I feel I don't feel confident about these kinds of transactions, or these kinds of products? Why should they care about them? I will just stick to the traditional form of money. I'll do business in my own way. Why should they care about Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency in the market or any other new new product, financial product?
Why do we care why? Because the rules of Sharia cover every aspect of our life,
the human life, any anything that exists in this universe, the Sharia of Allah subhanho wa Taala has to have a ruling about it.
There are five rules of Sharia.
If you study books of ossola.
There are five rules, anything on this earth, any transaction, any relationship, any action, any type of food has to be included in these five rules. It's either worship and obligation, or Mr. Hatboro commanded, or haram not permissible or disliked macro macro and is not haram but is not encouraged. It's macro. Right? It's not appreciated. It's better not to do it. But if you do it, you're not sinful. When we say macro, when we say disliked if you do it you're not sinful. Right? But if you do something haram, you're sinful.
Or MOBA, MOBA Annie is not worship
is not an obligation upon you to do it. And you're not recommended is not something that is recommended.
And it's not haram
is not mcru that it is muda
like you sit down with another brother and keep talking about politics is moved back talking about whether it's moved back. Yeah, it's halal for you to talk about whether talk about what's going on in the market right? It's not worth it for you to do it is not my crew is not unless you keep talking about business here in the Mercy could be goes to goes to a different level. It becomes my crew right? Sometimes if you overdo it, if you overdo it, but outside in the parking definitely is halal in the parking area.
Eating Mithun Waterman. Is it was it
recommended no right
It's not haram definitely. Watermelon is halal, right? It's not macro you cannot say macro so what is the ruling MOBA okay so this this principle here is moving very important MOBA it's called EBA the original principle or the principles of original permissibility
Allah Sophia Shia, Eva
but not all Eva that Eva that is a different story. Anyway, so the point here Yeah, who are if you bring me anything,
anything you bring anything, then the Sharia has to have a rule about it or ruling about it. Even if we don't know it.
We might know it right. We might know the ruling of this transaction, or this relationship or this whatever arrangement, we might know the ruling. But sometimes maybe we don't know the ruling. We're kind of confused. We're still looking for it. So what is the job of the old ama is to discover the ruling. The job of the odana our early Muslim scholars is to look into the Quran. Look into the Sunnah use this for key Maxim's and discover the ruling. This is their job. So by the way, they are not making rules rulings by themselves. People are the next hill where they don't like the statement of some rhythm or the advice of some rhythm. We will look at the nurse how to hurry Rama Elena
quality, they're making everything Hara they don't have the authority to do that. No one has the authority to make a ruling or issue a ruling without any proof actually to say something haram you have to have a valid proof but to say it could be MOBA.
It's easy to say MOBA because last last year a and MOBA and Eva, the original principle of original permissibility
by default things are supposed to be permissible. But if you told me this water here this drink here is haram What is your proof? You have to have a proof
right? So I have don't have this authority to make things haram but maybe some of them
actually exaggerate. And you make mistakes why? Because they are
they are humans
are humans. We might say about something haram but in reality, it's not haram in reality is not haram it could be hunted in the sight of Allah subhanho wa Taala but their job still is to discover the ruling
okay. So now Bitcoin we have to know the ruling of Bitcoin and the rest of cryptocurrencies.
So, here we have the principle of original permissibility
it means that everything is permissible unless
unless it is stated otherwise. And it has to be stated in the Quran or the Sunnah, or included in a general statement, a general rule that is found in the Quran, or the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Now this
principle here, maybe some people could be confused about it.
What are the proofs these maximum 15 Maxim's all of them have background. Their background is found in the Quran and the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad Sal Sal for example, here
some approves, who will lead the Halacha Kumar field or the Jamia.
So, it is He Who created for you all that, which is on earth, this is in Surah Al Baqarah, who will let the Halacha Kumar fill out of the Jamia your Gurunath Rama Rama Quran when Allah subhanaw taala speaks in this language it's a killer V Mara v. And many Anna Eva here Moon Allah EBRD
which means he's reminding his servants about his favorites upon them.
And a favor cannot be
cannot be haram.
A favor cannot be haram if it is haram that is not a favor. It's a restriction. If it is haram,
Sophie Murrayville many Allah a bear the heat. So this is the context of this ayat, have you not seen that Allah and I'm turtle and Allah, Sahara, Sahara lecom. And made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth
with Asperger Alikum near mo via Ratan robot in an employee bestowed upon us favors. So this is an Iron Man
There are some other ions that some other ions which indicate that acidophilus here and EBA data loss criteria is create a created everything on this earth for people to benefit from it. When it comes to Mohammed we are being tested with this haram items items can receive alcohol, meter dead meat or meat of a dead animal
anything that was slaughtered
you know with
something else dedicated for something else besides Allah subhanho wa taala.
So, they are counted, they are named and Muhammad are named and the owner man he said you know the US as I said he had to to reach conclusions about different things.
Now, there is an exception all actions of Ebola, all actions of Ayurveda are an exception. Which means when it comes to riba you cannot come and say, I can create any form of Ayurveda.
We don't have the freedom to add to the deen of Allah subhanho wa Taala we don't have this freedom. That's why Rasul Allah says LM, Parliament added every every now Ha ha, man Mellissa, Amin HuFa, who wanted whoever introduces something new into Islam will have it rejected. So we cannot create a new celebration.
That's why we have this debate about alimony. They never wait every year,
celebrating the birthday of the Prophet size and why because he did not celebrate his birthday. The Sahaba did not celebrate his birthday. Right? It did not exist during his time. So those who are saying It's haram is not valid, they are telling the other group of people you are adding something new to the religion.
Right? Or this rule could apply to anything that is newly introduced in the religion. Don't touch the religion. Religion comes from
Allah subhanho wa Taala and His Messenger Salallahu Alaihe Salam there are two main sources of guidance, Quran and the Sunnah, right? So we cannot add something new. But when it comes to muamalat, then it's a different story. So you see the difference between more AMOLED human transactions and between a bar that acts of worship, there is a big difference. Is that is that clearly a one?
Now feel people's positions about Bitcoin.
The first position is that it is not permissible to own it, or trade it and that is the first opinion. And this is the opinion of moved to Egypt and moved the taxpayers money from Pakistan, Mufti of Turkey, they call it the religious affairs of Turkey, among others.
The second position is that it is permissible to deal with it within the boundaries of Sharia within the boundaries of Sharia. This is very important.
So and this is the opinion, the recent opinion of Asia, Asia is assembly of Muslim jurists of America.
The hold V used to hold the US to hold the talk of the third opinion, unable to issue a fatwa about it for years.
For a couple of years, but recently,
I guess in 2022, last year, they made a different fatwa and it and they believe now it is permissible after doing research about it, extensive research about it, and now they believe that it is permissible to deal with it within the boundaries of Sharia. Mohammed Hassan do he's a Muslim scholar scholar. He's originally from Mauritania, but he lives I guess, in Turkey or Qatar.
And he's a big name in the Arab world. Yeah, he's highly qualified scholar and many people in the Arab world believed that he could be the most knowledgeable person on earth. I don't believe in that, but, but I would say that he's a highly qualified scholar.
Allah alum who is the most knowledgeable person on earth nowadays, but at least he's a highly respected and highly qualified Muslim scholar Muhammad has an doing he believes it is permissible economics for him. Islamic economics for him, this group of big group of Muslim scholars, most of them are PhD holders,
and the Council of North America
and others. So this group of Muslims calls in different organizations. They believe that it is permissible to deal with it within the boundaries of Sharia, unable to issue a fatwa about it
When we say we are unable to issue a photo photo about it, that means this technology is not clear for us. We're not able to say It's haram. We're not able to say it's halal. Right? I tell walk off it's called in Arabic at wakaf.
And this is the position of Islam q&a Question and Answer and some other some other Muslims calls this
a respect this position, I respect this this opinion. And it's not hokum at the work of Israel to hokum they're not this is not a ruling Sharia ruling is just saying that we're not able to issue a fatwa about it because we don't have enough knowledge about it. This is what they're saying. We don't have enough knowledge about it, we need to understand this new technology the block chain technology the proof of work system and and the you know, many questions about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Many questions is a big domain now.
And it's not easy to understand you need to spend time with it to research it.
Now, those who are saying bitcoin is haram, this is their this theory, these are their arguments. Okay, so no one is using an Ayah from the Quran. No one is using a Hadith from the head of the Sunnah of Rasulullah assassin why, because there is nothing about Bitcoin in the Quran. There is nothing about Bitcoin in the Sunnah of Our Messengers are seldom to make sense right? We cannot use there is nothing is something new, right. So, they have to look into different things, different arguments, they said it can be easily used for illegal activities, money laundering, tax evasion, and so on and so forth.
This is the first argument it can be easily used for illegal activities. Number two, it is speculative, very speculative, highly speculative, amounting to gambling speculative is to guess, when you speculate you're guessing about the price movement without enough knowledge.
So you spend money invest money, hoping to make quick, quick, you know, profits, while taking some high facing at the same time, some high risks. So basically, these are the these could be the definition of speculation.
Move out of a travel blog and Ardabil Mudaraba insr. third argument, they said is not real currency, because it's a digital asset
is secured by cryptography is is in the computer, you cannot you cannot carry it in your head, Bitcoin, you cannot carry it in your head.
So they're saying is not real money,
it has no intrinsic value,
which means it has no real value. This is these are their arguments and it is not controlled by illegitimate central authority. So, what is what is about
I think this is the main feature one of the main features of all cryptocurrencies and they are they are decentralized. They are not controlled by any central authority, no bank, Central Bank, no government is controlling these cryptocurrencies. Of course, they're trying to make their own digital currency like the US dollar, American government, they have their own digital currency. Euro has a digital form. Some other countries, Japan, different countries, they have their own digital currencies, but that's a different story. When we talk about a digital form of the US dollar is still controlled by the bank, but by the government, the US government, right? But he were talking
about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that are out of control of the control of any legitimate central authority. Now, Bitcoin is halal. These are the arguments who have those who said it's halal. They use the principle of original permissibility and I explained it to you, right the last last year Alaba.
Things are by default are halal or MOBA. Unless otherwise, you know, stated in the Quran or the Sunnah. These are nothing in Sharia Quran and Sunnah suggests that money has to be issued by central authority.
There are opinions filthy opinions like Imam Muhammad. He did not allow people during his time to mint money he said It's haram to mint money. But he didn't use like an Ayah from the Quran or Hadith what he said. He said a nurse either Ruhi Salah
I'm at Toby lava and what he meant is he used the delille of set Devorah. So to vary what is the varia is blocking the means of evil. That means if we open the door for people to make money to mint dinars out of gold and Durham's out of silver, they will start what
doing what?
Cheating, they will start cheating, they will mix gold with something else. And then money is not a pure anymore and people will lose trust in money and they will be a big problem. You get a golden dinar you don't know if it is pure or not.
Right because everyone is making his own golden dinars. Everyone is making his own Durham's. So Imam Muhammad believed that is not permissible during his time.
Imam nawawi this is what he said. They said this is the position of the chef Imam, Imam Abu Hanifa said no during his time in Abu Hanifah Rahmatullah Allah He said, people are allowed to make money make their own currency if they don't cheat.
If they do it, if they do it in the right way, that was his opinion. And I guess he was not worried about inflation, because the amount or the gold supply is limited.
Gold is limited on this earth, right? So there will be no inflation. Maybe we'll law on and this is my personal understanding.
Their argument the third argument is, of course, when when they say nothing, in theory, I suggest that money has to be issued by a central authority. They looked at the Sunnah of Rasulullah Selim, they found nothing. He didn't say anything about who has the authority to mint
you know, money who has the authority to make money to produce money, he didn't say anything. So they're looking at the Quran and the Sunnah, and there is nothing that says, you know, this should be done by a central authority or the government.
But when we study the opinion, female, we understand why why he said it's not permissible.
Imagine now, if people are allowed to make money to print Canadian laws, what will happen?
no value at all right? No volume inflation, so people will be affected, there is no doubt about it. So understand these rulings, right?
We said number three bitcoin is acceptable as a currency for real estate, real sale transactions in many shops around the world.
And this is true. In America, there is a real estate company in Alberta. They're accepting bitcoin as a payment for real estate.
There are many shops many restaurants are accepting Bitcoins. One brother told me in a country again, the financial system in that country collapsed, collapsed their money has no value the automation names of different countries but their money has no value. The bank is telling them you have money in the bank, but you cannot withdraw it you cannot withdraw the money. So now people in that country are looking for other options doing what they're using Bitcoin. So the brother told me he was with my office yesterday. He said I was there in the summer you go to a restaurant and you buy food when you're gonna pay to give you a receipt in different different currencies. US dollar
the local currency I guess the local currency and Bitcoin
Bitcoin you can pay in US dollar you can pay in the local currency of course local currency, you have to carry
a big box
you have to carry a big bag with you right if a local if you're using American dollar is few bills in your in your wallet, or Bitcoin you use your phone, your machine and that's it. You make the payment.
I told him in the capital city No, he said in small villages. In small villages people are accepting and this is a Muslim country. I'm talking about a Muslim country. I'm not talking about a Salvador. I'll tell you about Salvador.
The other way about Salvador I'm talking about the Muslim country where
the and this is happening in many countries, the value of their money has collapsed so they don't have trust in this fiat system anymore. People and they're looking for alternatives.
fiat money, this is a very important argument. If you go back to the argument of the first group of people, okay can be easily used for illegal activities speculative, not real currency.
It has no intrinsic value. They're saying fiat money is exposed to all the issues raised against Bitcoin with the exception of the official recognition.
This is the only exception.
So money laundering.
People are doing it with fiat money, tax evasion. They're doing it with fiat money. All the crimes that are there in the society are being done with fiat money is the same thing. You tell me money is not real money. But the fiat money also, you know, the creation of money within the banking system
in our banks create money out of nothing.
They create money.
That's why when there is a crisis, they say the economy has lost two trillions of three trillions dollars how?
How this money? I mean, if it was a real money, it was paper money, physical money, how can we lose it, it should be there within the same used being circulated within the same society?
No, they tell you, because of this crisis, the economy has lost these three trillions, $4 trillion. Why? Because it was money that was created out of nothing within the banking system.
Through the lending transactions, when they lend money to corporations and government together, they create more money with numbers, these are electronic electronic money.
So anyway,
it has no intrinsic value. They said fiat money has no intrinsic value, it's just paper. If the government stops, as I said, decides to stop using paper money, this paper that you have in your pocket will have no value, you can give it to your children, they will play with it, it will become like a Canadian Tire money, Canadian Tire money, I put it there in at home, and he leave it there for years. No one cares about it, right? You might use it if you want to get a discount of $1 $2, but no one cares about. But if this money if the government decides not to use it, then this money that we have will have no value at all. So there is no intrinsic value. So these are all this issues
that you raised against Bitcoin, all of them are found with fiat money with the exception. One exception, that fiat money is has been made officially the official legal tender through the decree of the government. Yeah, only the government decreed that this year. Now the exception now is the Salvador is an exception since June 2021. Now they accept Bitcoin as a legal tender. And of course, besides the US dollar and the local, and the local currency, so bitcoin is not the only form of money that is used in Salvador, but it is officially now accepted as illegal, tender, in in Salvador.
Now those who said it's Helen, by the way, if you asked me my opinion, I'm with the second group of people who said it is halal.
Because the principle of acidophilus Shia and Eva principle of original permissibility is very strong.
is very strong. The principle? Yes, well, let me continue and then we give you some time for questions, or finish within five minutes.
So now when it comes to restrictions and recommendations,
these are those who said it's halal to use it.
Bitcoin I'm talking about Bitcoin, by the way.
I'm talking about Bitcoin, I'm not talking about the other cryptocurrencies maybe Aetherium. There are some scholars said both of them should be accepted should be valid. Bitcoin and Aetherium. I'm not talking about the other cryptocurrencies. There are 1000s of cryptocurrencies in the market, some of them are not real. Some of them are scams, some of them are used for haram purposes. So there are different types of I'm talking only whatever I said today is about Bitcoin.
Right?
Because the other the other Solana and Cardano and all the other I mean, you have to if you have a question about any cryptocurrency, then you need to approach a scholar who has knowledge about this field and he will tell you if he knows about any new cryptocurrency but what I'm talking the debate now the debate that I shared with you, and I'll tell you about the sources, you can review and look at the debate and study it and read it. There is research that has been done you can read it by yourself is about Bitcoin. Okay, I'm not saying the other ones that haram there could be some Halal cryptocurrencies. It's just this discussion is about Bitcoin.
So these are all the rulings of free
Well, we'll apply to Bitcoin as they do for fiat money. So, if we accept Bitcoin as a currency, then we have to apply all the rules of riba to it and exchanging Bitcoin with other currencies, cryptocurrencies or fiat money must be done at spot as a spot trade.
So, the delivery of both counter values has to happen within the same session.
So, that means you have to pay attention to the slippage you have to deal with if you want to buy and trade Bitcoin, you have to deal with regulated exchanges.
Because careful about you know, trading Bitcoin, the US, the market here is more regulated in Canada is more regulated, it's safer to buy and trade Bitcoin here than in the US. You have to be careful, you have to do your due diligence by saying it's halal. He said they are saying permissibility does not mean that Bitcoin investment is a good one.
It doesn't mean that these Muslims callers who said it's Khaled they're not saying is safe. They're saying you have to do your due diligence if you decide to invest in Bitcoin, you have to do your homework. And you have to be careful about the rules of Riba. So there is a difference between buying Bitcoin through an exchange a regulated exchange, and buying Bitcoin through an ATM. The transaction is not completed on the spot through an ATM. There are some ATMs here in Calgary and Edmonton and Alberta in Canada. So that when you buy bitcoin through an ATM, the transaction is not completed on the spot. But through exchanges regulated exchanges, yes, you might even at it you you
own the money right away. There could be a delay few seconds it doesn't affect the transaction few seconds, 10 seconds, more than 10 seconds a little bit doesn't affect the smoother, it's still accepted. But if it is one hour two hours is a different problem. So you have to you have to be careful about the rules of riba visa it is permissible to mined Bitcoins, Zakat is viewed in bitcoins investment, when you pay zakat, you have to look at the value of your Bitcoin investment, and, and pay the Zakat and also there is something else but then Wealthsimple here in Canada, the the they have Bitcoin investment, but it's not real money, their investment is about CFDs we talked
about CFDs last time Contracts for Difference.
So people you know, invest in the the, the the chalk, the price movement of Bitcoin, and they get rewarded if the batting is right, on the difference of the prices. So if the price goes up by like $20 We received these $20 as a profit, but he don't own the Bitcoin itself. You have to be careful this is haram. We said the no it's not it's not permissible. So you have to be careful there are different types of
of investment when it comes to Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. But the point is, what I'm trying to share today is a basic principle is a basic ruling that it is permissible to own it, and it is permissible to trade it if you do it in a halal way.
And they when it comes to Halal way you have to be careful you do your due diligence, and you study the market and you try to learn and educate yourself, see what how to do it in Halal way, if you want to if you want to be involved. And also we pay attention to the rules of the cat, you have to pay the cat if you own it as an asset. Well Allahu Taala Allah.
Now these are the resources. As I said, Investopedia if you want to study about cryptocurrency, they will give you a
good amount of knowledge there. Islamic Economic Forum's Declaration on Bitcoin. It's a low declaration, a long discussion that is found on council.org is the full council of North America. So you can go just search for Bitcoin on their website. And there are two fat hours there. One of them is the declaration of this Islamic Economic Forum.
It's a long discussion to tell you about all this research and the opinion of aroma decrypting cryptocurrency affect perspective on cryptocurrencies by Jemelle zarabozo It's a research paper that was done by Jamal's proposal. He's mashallah very good Muslim scholar from the United States of America. And it was done. It is available on an Mg online.org The website of Asia assembly
Muslim jurists of America is a good paper you can read it, maybe 20 pages 30 pages and and he talks about these different opinions and discussion between different scholars. It's a very good paper you can read it and get a perspective Inshallah, but as I said, if you asked me my opinion, I believe it is permissible because of the principle of EBA while asleep Olivia hollows li effing Mahama let you know the principle of original permissibility Allahu Allah. If you want more knowledge about different products in the market like cryptocurrencies, or Bitcoin from,
from a financial perspective, Nigeria perspective, we can do workshops. Are you Are you do you think it's a good idea to invite some people who know more about these things? Because I have two people who approached us one of one brother, he wants to do a workshop about personal finance, personal insurance and RRSPs and on all these accounts that are found there in the market, not from a Sharia perspective, so I'll come with him sit down, he was not he will not the brother will not talk about Sharia halal or haram. But he will try to educate the community about dif different products that are found in the market, including Bitcoin, we have a group of brothers who wants to do a
presentation about it. Are you interested in this kind of representations?
Okay, so we'll we'll learn sha Allah will let you know shallow will give you an update about this will give you a date, and most likely it will be in the in the youth center. We'll have our screens, their sisters, one one side brothers in one side. And then it will be a sort of workshop like for two hours, maybe three hours. And then we'll talk about this. This insha Allah Who thinks in detail. Now do you have any questions?
Yes, brother, you raise your hand first Mallesh he raised his hand before you
Bitcoin houses about
which is
yeah, they said it's limited. Bitcoin supply is limited 21 million Bitcoins. But every bitcoin is equal to 100 million Satoshis.
So
yeah, it is limited here. And that's why some people allow him I don't want to speculate but that's a different story. It is limited. Yeah. 21 million.
And the issuer or the one who created this, this new technology. I mean, he used a blockchain technology. His name is Satoshi Nakamoto. I think that's the name.
And it's a mysterious person. Why? Until now, he's unknown. They don't know who he is he Allahu Allah. I don't know if it is a game. It's a real person and they know who is hiding his personality. Or they really don't know about him Allah Allah He white he wrote to author the white paper because every cryptocurrency has a white paper. It's like a manual, right? It tells you about give you information, technical information about the coin. So he authored the white paper of Bitcoin in 2008. It was launched in 2009.
It was 2009 and now in 20. In 2023, the value of Bitcoin is in Canadian dollars is around close to 50,000 is around 47,000 Canadian dollars
the value of one bitcoin
there are people that are watching this
there's been no
he would own these wallets. There is no movements on these Bitcoins there.
Yeah, hello. And so this is not this is not important, because there are some Morona who had an objection against Bitcoin D raise this objection about they said the issuer is unknown. But the protocol is no. And how the technology works is no, it's not a secret. Yeah, who cares? I mean, who cares about the person who wrote the white paper or the one who launched this technology? I mean, they said the some brothers are saying his contribution was the proof of work system. That is is because blockchain technology existed before before this person came into the picture by
another question then we allow sisters to ask if you have questions, sisters, yes, brother.
Now
it's not really
a business. So like, let's say like, to deal with like, like specific diseases like
Do like goodbye, all that stuff
I just want you to do what marketing for them
help them to get more clients. Yeah. So the basic basic ruling regarding these kind of jobs is that Helen, you're not responsible for their actions, right? Because they could be they could be selling this car cash like in a halal way they could be selling this car in a haram way. But at the end, it is their responsibility. If you are doing marketing in a halal way, especially when you are dealing with a company that deals with halal and haram, you are not responsible for their haram activities. If your service is halal, and your work is Heller, you're not directly involved in any haram transaction, then your job should be fine. Allah to Allah. Let me give a chance to someone else.
Sisters, do you have a question? Okay.
Any other question? Because we have only 10? Five minutes for the other?
Five minutes? Yes, brother.
Thank you for the presentation.
I'm a new Muslim river. So there's a lot of things I'm learning. What is the high level? I'm sure you've explained before, what is the high level overview of
what do you mean high level overview? What is what is the most methylene? Most?
Well, I mean, if you want to talk about definition of river, there are different types of river right? But the most dangerous type of Riba is the one that is mentioned in the Quran. In the book of Allah subhanaw taala, you go to Surah Al Baqarah. Page,
the area from 275 to two
to 81. It's a full page 275 to 281. And this is these are the last verses revealed about river. This river is called the river a dune river of deaths. Right? So you give a death alone to someone and you ask him to pay a premium.
On the capital of the low interest, yes, a premium, something extra, right?
Either for above the loan, the cat, the capital amount of the loan or for extending, extending the maturity of the law, let's say Matheran, you told him, I'm not going to charge you you make a credit sale and you tell the client I'm not going to charge you riba or interest for one month after one month, if you want to extend this transaction or this agreement, you want another extra three months, I will charge you every month $10 For example, this $10.03 months the total is $30 is riba so the extra money that we pay, we pay above the capital amount of a loan or the price of a credit sale.
Because when when you make a credit sale, you the customer will receive the commodity but he will pay later he will pay later after one month or two months or he will make part of the payment upfront and portion of the payment will be delayed. So if you charge him some extra money, I mean if you are again if you are someone who is selling and you increase the price for financing that is halal.
If you increase the price from day one, say I'll sell you this car for 10,000 but if you pay me within two years, the price will be 12,000 this is halal This is not riba
right. But if you tell him if you default or you want to extend the maturity of this,
this agreement, then you pay extra money and that is when you take a loan from the bank. Do the does the bank give you a free loan?
Bank will never give you a free loan they will charge you 5% 10 4% This is the river.
So and this is the most dangerous form of Riba is called riba Do you riba have debts and loans. And this is the one mentioned in the Quran.
A mortgage in itself is Helen mortgage is called Ron in Islam.
Right pledging something as a collateral or as a security
This transaction itself is her as Helen what is haram about conventional mortgages to buy houses in North America is the interest that is applied to the total amount or the capital the initial price of the house. So the house was sold for 300,000 The bank will charge you let's say 500 Half a million. So 200,000 is driven by the 300,000 which is the initial price of the house
is the capital amount of the loan. So the bank is giving you a loan and charging you interest, these interest is the river is haram. Not every type of interest is riba right, but every Riba is haram, every form of Riba is haram.
Yeah, as I said, financing, one increase the price from day one, while doing financing, financing. It's valid if it is within the same within the original agreement within the original agreement.
Is that clear?
But you can study riba I mean, there are different forms of river river boo that is found in a hadith of Rasulullah Salam. But as I said, the most dangerous form of Riba is river Do you and it is the one that is mentioned in the Quran.
Allah Akbar fish
by Jay Sekulow Heron Baraka lofi come, make a plan inshallah. So, we will do workshops in sha Allah in the future with the light Allah. But next week, Sheikh Hamza is supposed to come and start a new program about Jerusalem and the legacy of the city in the Islamic history. Baytril Mark, this is a common law