Thread by @Realoilsheikh

THE POSITION OF ISLAM ON CRYPTOCURRENCY & FOREX TRADING by our Shaykh, Dr. Bashir Aliyu (May Allah preserve him).

The rulings with regard to Crytocurrency (Bitcoin, Infireum, CMDX & so on) is the same as Forex in Islam, in that certain conditions have to be fulfiled before it

can be permissible in Islam. For anyone who wants to deal in this type of transaction, when you want to buy or sell, it has to be hand to hand exchange. You pay at the time, and you receive at same time, without delay. It is also not permissible to say you will buy that

of, say the month of October, (now that we are in September), so that you purchase now, make the payment in September inorder to present your option in October to receive at that time. Again, this violates the principle of hand to hand. Also, leverage is not allowed.

Meaning, you cannot take a loan from someone to buy what is beyond your own financial capacity & you give the person some commission in return for the loan he has given you. Because that 'commission' you are paying the person is Riba (usury) and it is Haram.

Because the leverage he gave you was in form of a loan. So if the Forex trading fulfills these conditions, it is permissible to deal in it.

In the same vein, Bitcoin takes the same ruling with Dollar or any other currency. Though here in Nigeria, the CBN has declared that it is

not recognised as money. This however is the position of the CBN, not the position of Islaam. Because what the CBN means by not recognizing Bitcoin as money is that if you get yourself involved & you are being cheated, you cannot come to them to claim anything from them.

That however didn't invalidate it as a means of transaction, because many people to transact in it as a legal tender. The globalization we are in today, has made it almost impossible for any central bank in the world to decide what people use for transactions as a legal tender.

This is one area where some scholars made a mistake, when they declared that Bitcoin is not money. There reason for that declaration is that the authorities did not recognize it as a legal tender. However, it is not compulsory that the authorities have to agree on what can be

recognised as money among the people and used for their own transactions. Imam Maalik (Allah be pleased with him) said: If the people were to agree to use the skin of an animal as money, we will consider it as one, and if asked about its rulings, I will say, a transaction in it,

in such a way that an exchange with one type of animal skin should not be done with one with a higher type of animal skin, because usury (Riba) can be found in that. (Just the same way it occurs when you transact in the same type of currency)."

So it is not a condition that the

authorities have to endorse what the people choose to transact with as monies. The requirement is, the people should agree between themselves that this material we are using as money is something worthy, and this applies to Bitcoin because many companies transact with it.

Also, several people do transact in it, and even demand that it is an option for you to pay for services or products. Therefore, if one is transacting in this Bitcoin or Forex, and the transaction is free from what Shariah has not allowed, like Network Marketing and some Ponzi

Schemes (investment frauds that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors) them it is permissible.

May Allah reward Dr. Bashir Aliyu abundantly for this.