Thread by @harris_irfan

IDK who needs to hear this but in the world of finance and economics, academics & scholars s'times work against the good of the people.

This fatwa declaring #BTC haram by Intl Union of Muslim Scholars is misinformed, harmful and must be rebutted.
🧵 1/

iumsonline.org/ar/ContentDeta…

At a recent industry workshop in a room full of fiat academics, almost every comment was nebulous pontification. One quoted the IMF on the environmental impact of BTC. It’s hard to keep a straight face in the light of such speciousness. 2/

Their knowledge of financial markets is so theoretical that it has limited application IRL. Not intended as a flex but here’s an eg: summary judgement on litigation rebutting the other side’s expert witness (an academic). Result: like punching a baby.
3/

nysb.uscourts.gov/sites/default/…

Their forte is repeating common economic dogma/Islamic finance theory without any fundamental examination of monetary system or real world financial mkts. Their extensive footnotes are peer-reviewed by each other but develop nothing practical in the crucible of the real world. 4/

This circle jerk of tired clichés is a result of having no skin in the game. They do not live and die by the practical implementation of their ideas. Worst of all, they are paid not to question. 5/

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

Now another group of scholars has issued a fatwa against #BTC.

6/

The sad thing is the Chairman of IUMS, Shaykh Al-Qaradaghi, was my very first scholar at Deutsche Bank at the inception of the early-2000s boom in Islamic finance.

Huge respect for him but he is tragically wrong on this issue.
7/

I won’t bother rebutting the fatwa in detail (not issued by “a central bank that guarantees them”🤣🤣). I’m tired of creating a false equivalence.
But this pnt in particular boils my blood: making CBDCs halal, endorsing the worst form of ultra-surveillance, riba & oppression. 8/

Much has been written elsewhere refuting the usual tired nonsense they’ve recycled in their fatwa (I think I wrote one of the earliest rebuttals in 2017 – pls ignore my reference to “crypto” in this islamicmarkets.com/articles/an-op…)
But here’s the thing I want to say to them most: ...
9/

You ban bitcoin if you like. Go ahead. Tell us it’s haram.

But remember that when you make policy about people’s wealth, you open yourself to potentially oppressing the people and for them to consequently claim their rights against you on the Day of Reckoning.
/End