(Newswire.net — March 21, 2018) — According to statistics from the Pew Research Center, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Muslims make up about 25% of the world population with a population of almost 1.7 billion.
Muslims are regimented, and their daily activities must be in line with the teachings of the Quran and Prophet Muhammed. Also, they must consume halal food and use other things that are only in line with their religion. Bitcoin has prompted a question by many Muslims. They ask, “Is Bitcoin halal”? Can it be used by Muslims?
There are no clear grounds on this as there are various doubts and various arguments in support of and against the notion that bitcoin is halal. Even Islamic countries like Pakistan and Indonesia have not issued a fatwa or said anything about bitcoin. This has caused a lot of confusion.
In this article, we will tell you why bitcoin is not halal and why Muslims should stay away from it.
Bitcoin is yet to be accepted by Governments
Bitcoin has not been legally recognized by a lot of governments as a form of payment. Money must be recognized by the government as a legal tender before it can be used for payment. Plus, some governments have banned it. Governments of countries like Nigeria, China, India etc. have spoken out against bitcoin.
Bitcoin is subject to speculation
Islam is against gambling and things related to gambling. There is a lot of gambling and speculation involved in bitcoin. Sometimes last year, the price of a single bitcoin was as much as $20,000. But this year, it has dropped to as low as $8,000. The price is not stable at all, and there is a lot of speculation involved. The price of traditional money is quite stable and hardly subject to speculations and fluctuations.
Bitcoin is not money according to Islam
Islam has a definition of what money is, and bitcoin does not fit into this. Islam believes that only intrinsic commodities should be used as money. Most paper money is backed by commodities, so they fit into what money is. For example, the United Arab Emirates currency, Dirham is backed by gold while the Dinar which is used by some Islamic countries is backed by silver. Islam also accepts things like rice, wheat, barley, salt, dates etc. as commodities. Bitcoin is not backed by any commodity, so it is not money according to Islam.
Bitcoin is used for a lot of illegal things
A lot of criminals and evildoers support the use of bitcoin as it affords them a means of carrying out their evil deeds without getting caught. The Silk Road was a website on the dark web where people sold drugs, bought weapons, hired criminals and committed other atrocities. Bitcoin was used as a medium of exchange on The Silk Road. The Silk Road has long been shut down, and its founder is now in jail, but that has not stopped other people from using bitcoin for nefarious activities. People use it for money laundering, dealing in drugs and other wrong things.
Conclusion
As you can see from the arguments above, bitcoin is not halal and should not be used by Muslims. Now some may come up with a lot of arguments to support the use of bitcoin. They may say that experts predict that the value of bitcoin will become stable in the future and will be less subject to speculation. But the reality is different. We have seen that little things like government prohibitions or shutdown of exchange services can affect the price of bitcoin.
Some may also argue that “real” money is based on the principle of fractional reserve where private ledgers are used, and there is no guarantee that the originator owns the underlying assets. They then go on to say that bitcoin works with the certainty that the originator of the transfer owns the underlying assets. There is no confirmation of this at all. So, it is best to stay away from bitcoin for now.