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Fatwās - Contemporary :: 19 Rabīʿ I 1442 / 4 November 2020

Dr. Mohamed Ali El Gari and Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar on the Permissibility of Cryptocurrency (2020)

Dr. Mohamed Ali El Gari and Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar, Edited by Intisar Rabb, Posted by Abtsam Saleh, 28 April 2022

In this panel titled “Crypto Conundrum in Islamic Finance: Digital Assets and Shariah Compliance,” Dr. Mohamed Ali El Gari and  Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar consider the question whether cryptocurrency is permissible from an Islamic legal perspective. Dr. Bakar opines that cryptocurrency is an asset and not considered currency because it does not fulfill three conditions: use as a valid medium of exchange, stable stock value, and known unit of measurement. Although he acknowledges that cryptocurrency is in use as a medium of exchange, the electronic product currently lacks a stable stock value and known unit of measurement. However, he adds that if cryptocurrency comes to be backed by gold or silver, it could be deemed to be a rival to traditional currency and thus be understood as valid currency. Dr. El Gary opines that cryptocuruency can be permissible only if it is possible to establish that that it qualifies as wealth (māl) or as an asset according to the Islamic law (sharī'a). Doing so requires determining the presence of three conditions: the currency must be in use with a societal desire to normalize its usage, its use must be permissible under normal circumstances, and its must have a value assigned to it in habitual and customary practice. Applying these criteria to cryptocurrency, he concludes that it does meet all three conditions and thus determines that, while it is permissible to use because it is fungible, all the rules restricting the use of money under the rules of excessive interest (ribā) must apply. He further notes that one must be cautious in its use due to cryptocurrency’s speculative nature, which could border on gambling, but that this is not sufficient to say that it religiously impermissible (ḥarām) at presence. Collectively, the panel advises that those who are not very knowledgeable on the cryptocurrency and its attendant issues are to avoid it.  

Karnataka High Court Interim Order Restricting the Wearing of Headscarves in Colleges in the State in response to the Petitions Challenging the Ḥijāb Ban (Feb. 14, 2022)

Edited by Intisar Rabb. Contributions by Abtsam Saleh.

Amicus Brief submitted by faith based organizations concerning the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2021)

Edited by Intisar Rabb. Contributions by Cem Tecimer.

Commentary

Popular Documents

Historical Primary Sources :: 1443 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1443 / 30 June 2022

Abū al-Qāsim al-Jawharī, Musnad al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, 286–87

Abū al-Qāsim al-Jawharī, Posted by Hadi Qazwini, 01 September 2022

This is a reference to how Mālik b. Anas (the eponym of the Mālikī school of law) remembered Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq: exceptional in his manners and religious devotion.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

Akhbār Miṣr

Contributions by Mohammed Allehbi.

al-Aḥkām al-Kubra

Contributions by Mohammed Allehbi.

Featured Collections

Special Collections :: 16 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1443 / 14 July 2022

Online Companion to Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law by Hossein Modarressi (Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Harvard University Press 2022)

Online Companion to Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law by Hossein Modarressi (Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Harvard University Press 2022)

Edited by Hossein Modarressi, Hadi Qazwini, Rami Koujah

Online Companion to Mālik's Muwaṭṭaʾ: Translated by Mohammad Fadel & Connell Monette (Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Harvard University Press 2019)

Edited by Mohammad Fadel, Connell Monette. Contributions by Daniel Jacobs, Rami Koujah, Ari Schriber, Cem Tecimer.

Online Companion to Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar Rabb & Abigail Balbale (Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Harvard University Press 2017)

Edited by Intisar Rabb, Abigail Krasner Balbale. Contributions by Daniel Jacobs, Abtsam Saleh.

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